Movie Review: Ip Man 2

While it may seem miles away in quality from the first film, Ip Man 2 is still a great movie.  Where it seems to lose its steam is the drawn out feud with the Western Boxer, Twister.  While Yip’s confrontation is not overly done, Twister’s challenge and beating of Master Hueng and bullying of people takes away from what was a great semi-biopic.  I don’t oppose the characters inclusion, I just think he had too much focus in the second half of the film and should have been more abbreviated while still keeping the overall content.

While that may sound like a gripe, it is minor and really does not hurt the overall quality of the film.  In the original film the enemies or antagonists are very under developed letting the film focus and progress on the Ip Family.  While this film gave a significant time to develop a back-story for the foreigners organizing a boxing match in town, yet leaving much of their set up unresolved in the end.

Movie Review: Ip Man

When I think Martial Arts I think Bruce Lee, I think Jet Li, now I even think Tony Ja or Michael Jai White, they are great martial artists who act.  When I think of actors who do martial arts the first name that comes to mind is Donnie Yen.  His skills never seem to impress me the way someone like Ja does in his fight scenes, but he always excels in the acting side of the role he portrays.

Ip Man is the story of the well known master of Wing Chun Gung Fu, Ip Man (aka Yip Man.)  Many know him as Bruce Lee’s formal teacher, but few know his first 50 years before teaching a young Lee.

Movie Review: Ip Man 2

While it may seem miles away in quality from the first film, Ip Man 2 is still a great movie.  Where it seems to lose its steam is the drawn out feud with the Western Boxer, Twister.  While Yip’s confrontation is not overly done, Twister’s challenge and beating of Master Hueng and bullying of people takes away from what was a great semi-biopic.  I don’t oppose the characters inclusion, I just think he had too much focus in the second half of the film and should have been more abbreviated while still keeping the overall content.

While that may sound like a gripe, it is minor and really does not hurt the overall quality of the film.  In the original film the enemies or antagonists are very under developed letting the film focus and progress on the Ip Family.  While this film gave a significant time to develop a back-story for the foreigners organizing a boxing match in town, yet leaving much of their set up unresolved in the end.

Chen Zhen Returns

Last time we seen Chen he was running from the school at the authorities and being gunned down as the film closed.  Assumed dead for three decades we now learn he not only survived but became a James Bond style agent for China.

This fall Media Asia released a sequel to Fist of Fury titled Legend of the Fist: the Return of Chen Zhen and it readies for its debut here in the States this spring.  Staring Donnie Yen and directed by Andrew Lau the story works without moving into a ridiculous excuse for a reason to smear a legendary character’s name all over a franchise.   The film would work with or without the Chen Zhen attachment, but it give the character history that fans can appreciate.

While not only bringing to life Bruce Lee’s legendary role they also use his image of Kato as homage to disguise Zhen throughout the movie.  Younger movie goers without the appreation for classics may compare it to the Black Mask not knowing where its imagery was drawn from.

This is not Donnie Yen’s first trip into playing Lee’s character fictitiously or biographically.  In1995 he portrayed Chen Zhen, but he also played Yip Man, Lee’s teacher in mentor.