The Legend Of Ip Man Continues

IP MAN 2 (DVD)
Cine Asia 

Release date: March 7th 2011
Certificate (UK): 15
Running time: 104 minutes

Original language: Cantonese/Mandarin with English subtitles

Director: Wilson Yip

Cast: Donnie Yen, Lynn Hung, Simon Yam, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Xiaoming Huang, Siu-Wong Fan, Kent Cheng, Darren Shahlavi

Anyone who’s been a fan of martial arts legend Bruce Lee will know the name Ip Man. Lee was once a student of his, learning a form of Kung Fu known as Wing Chun, from him.

Wing Chun focuses on contact combat, using quick punches and kicks with a tight defence, coordinated through agile stances and footwork for a quick advance.

This sequel picks up with Ip Man migrating to Hong Kong with his pregnant wife and son and trying to start a new life after feeling the Japanese. He opens a school to teach Wing Chun and waits a long time before his first set of pupils start to arrive.

First, there’s Wong Shun (Xiaoming Huang). He challenges Ip Man to a fight to see if he is any good at Wing Chun but Ip Man easily defeats him and he leaves humiliated but comes back with a group of friends. Together they chalenge him again, but Ip Man defeats them all and they bow, begging to be taken on as his pupils.

When Wong Shun gets into a fight with some local hoodlums and wins, a rival teacher, Hung Quan (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo), sets Ip Man a challenge to prove himself; he must fight every martial arts teacher in the area. No sooner than he proves he is worthy to teach, Hung then informs him hat he needs to pay a fee for running a school or face further consequences.

Later on, their rivalry is put to the side when British boxer, Twister (Darren Shahlavi), arrives to keep the Chinese in line and they team up to defeat him.

Although the movie plays fast and loose with actual events which happened in Ip Man’s life, the fight scenes are beautifully choreographed.

The scene where Ip Man fights his opponents one by one on a constantly shifting table top is one of the best fight sequences I have seen in a long time and it gets even better when Hung joins him. Once Twister comes into the picture, the martial arts action is combined with boxing to great effect.

These fight scenes contrast greatly with Ip Man’s home life. Barely able to pay his son’s school fees or rent, or support his wife, Ip Man is depicted as a man who cares for the greater good and is always willing to sacrifice to see his students excel.

It’s an incredibly patriotic film and doesn’t play coy with demonstrating some of China’s most chivalrous characteristics such as paying respect to your elders, teachers and opponents.

It also takes a very strong political stance where Japan and the West are concerned, but politics aside, it’s great to see the legendary Sammo Hung go up against one of today’s biggest stars in Hong Kong, Donnie Yen. Their fight scenes are exhilarating to watch and even if the real events didn’t play out this way, it’s still great entertainment.