Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (Blu-ray) (2018) |
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Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (Blu-ray) (2018) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Action | None | |
| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2018 | ||
| Running Time | 107:42 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Yuen Woo-Ping |
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Studio
Distributor |
Icon Entertainment | Starring |
Zhang Jin Dave Bautista Michelle Yeoh Liu Yang Naason Kevin Cheng Chrissie Chau Tony Jaa |
| Case | Standard Blu-ray | ||
| RPI | ? | Music | Day Tai |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | Chinese DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 1080p | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English (Burned In) | Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
At the conclusion of Ip Man 3 (2015) Wing Chun grandmasters Ip Man (Donnie Yen) and Cheung Tin-chi (Max Zhang) fought a duel. Ip Man defeated Cheung Tin-chi who then immediately walked away from martial arts. As Master Z: Ip Man Legacy starts Tin-chi, caring for his young son Fung, has become a small time shopkeeper and grocer, refusing to even acknowledge his martial arts skills. Of course, it cannot last! Tin-chi accidentally clashes with Triad boss Tso Sai-kit (Kevin Cheng) when he helps Julia (Liu Yang) and her friend Nana (Chrissie Chau) when they have a problem with thugs. Sai-kit does not take this lightly and orders his thugs firebomb Tin-chi’s grocery store with Tin-chi and his son inside. They barely escape with their lives; the corrupt police say the fire was an accident.
Julia’s brother is Chu Kam-fu (Naason) who owns a nightclub. Julia persuades him to take in Tin-chi and Fung and to give Tin-chi a job. Tin-chi, however, is not prepared to forgive Sai-kit and destroys his opium den by fire. But then Tin-chi gets a surprising visit from Tso Ngan-kwan (Michelle Yeoh), Sai-kit’s older sister and his superior Triad boss. Ngan-kwan has been trying to move the Triad away from crime and violence to legitimate businesses; she is also Kam-fu’s patron and she offers Tin-chi a truce and an end to the hostilities. Sai-kit, however, has no intention of ceasing violence or crime; instead he escalates his activities by joining with businessman and major drug importer Davidson (Dave Bautista), who has the police in his pocket, to flood the Hong Kong bars and nightclubs with heroin, targeting Chu Kam-fu. A showdown with Tin-chi is inevitable, a fight Tin-chi will need all his old Wing Chun skills to win.
Ip Man, Grandmaster of the Wing Chun style, anti-Japanese Chinese Nationalist and Bruce Lee’s mentor, has certainly became a popular figure recently in a number of films including the three Ip Man films that starred Donnie Yen (2008 / 2010 / 2015), The Grandmaster (2013) and Ip Man: The Legend is Born (2010) which is probably why this present film is called Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (Yip Man ngoi zyun: Cheung Tin Chi although, except in the montage at the start, Ip Man does not appear. However, Ip Man has nowhere near the films about him as that other legendary Chinese martial artist / physician / folk hero Wong Fei-hung (123 so far including the three Once Upon a Time in China films with Jet Li) but it seems filmmakers are working on it!
Instead of Ip Man, in Master Z: Ip Man Legacy we get another Wing Chun grandmaster (and fictional figure) in Cheung Tin-chi played by Zhang Jin (credited as Max Zhang). Zhang had appeared in both The Grandmaster and Ip Man 3 working with legendary action director Yuen Woo Ping who is the director of Master Z: Ip Man Legacy. As might be expected, the martial arts action sequences in Master Z: Ip Man Legacy are varied and exhilarating, a combination of wire work and stunts. There is a sequence up and across electronic neon advertising signs and bamboo scaffolding, numerous close combat fights against groups of thugs with much destruction of fixtures, fittings, walls and glass panels, a mass brawl between two and many and a number of brutal and athletic one on one fights. This is where the variety truly comes in with Zhang’s more traditional martial arts matched at different times against Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa and ex-WWE wrestler turned movie star Dave Bautista, each one in their own way pushing Zhang’s Tin-chi to the limits of his skill and endurance. There is also a fight with Michelle Yeoh who welds a sword that looks as if it came straight out of her Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon character’s armoury.
As impressive as the action sequences are, and they are very well staged, Master Z: Ip Man Legacy takes time to reflect on the application (one might say legacy) of martial arts in a changing world as well as the role of family. Zhang is a charismatic actor and a believable fighter but still manages to give Tin-chi a vulnerability, especially in his scenes with Fung, that elevates the film above a straightforward martial arts film, although, as is usual in a lot of these Chinese films, the romance with Liu Yang’s Julia lacks sparkle. The supporting cast gets the job done with Dave Bautista perhaps the best as Michelle Yeoh is underutilised and Kevin Cheng an indifferent villain. Hey, but it is the action that is the drawcard and here Master Z: Ip Man Legacy delivers.
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.
The colour palate is muted with greys / browns dominating although all colours have that digital glossy look giving the print a glossy sheen. However, despite this in the night scenes, of which there are a lot, shadow detail is very good and blacks solid. Daylight scenes have more natural colours, although still glossy, while the sequences with fire are a bright red / yellow. Skin tones were OK, brightness and contrast consistent.
I did not notice any obvious marks or artefacts except occasional slight motion blur.
Non-removable English subtitles are in a smallish white font but are easy enough to read.
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Audio is Chinese DTS-HD MA 5.1.
This is an excellent, loud, enveloping audio track especially during the fights where the impacts of fists and kicks resonate, the destruction of furniture comes with a resounding crash, glass panels shatter, walls disintegrate and bodies hit the floor. The fire effects fill the sound stage. Elsewhere, there was rain and thunder in the rears plus the excellent orchestral and percussion score by Day Tai. The subwoofer supported the crashes and mayhem, the fire and the music.
Lip synchronisation was occasionally off but was not distracting.
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Nothing. The silent menu offers only “Play Film” and “Chapters”.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This release of Master Z: Ip Man Legacy from Icon Entertainment starts with the Well Go USA logo but has only one audio track whereas the Region A/B US release has
A win for the US release.
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy is a good spin-off from the series of Ip Man films. It is nicely paced, with time for family relationships and some thoughts about the place of martial arts in a changing world, but with action master Yuen Woo-ping at the helm the action sequences are varied and exhilarating, a combination of wire work, stunts and different fighting techniques. The film also mostly avoids quick editing so we can watch the actors and the stunt performers at work.
The video is fine, the audio very good; but we miss out on what is available in the US.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony BDP-S580, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
| Amplification | NAD T737 |
| Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |