Viewed in
2012
Formats
Netflix streaming
Premise
In the sequel to Ip Man, Donnie Yen reprises his role as the titular character who tries to open up shop in Hong Kong post WWII.
Loved
Roundtable fight scene.
Liked
Other fight scenes.
Hated
Lame and implausible story.
Thoughts
While the first film was a pleasant surprise, this was a sad disappointment.
Overall, the action was well-done, with a masterpiece in the form of a gauntlet for Ip Man on a small dining table. I also enjoyed the interesting fights in the fish market and boxing ring. Sammo Hung was a nice addition to the cast. Meanwhile, it was cool to see the progression of some the minor characters. Although the excellent Lynn Hung was grossly underused.
Unfortunately, the lack of Hung was far from the worst offenses in this movie, which were chiefly a lame story and cringe-worthy cheese. No matter how hard the movie makers tried, Ip Man's struggles to start a school was far from the life-and-death stakes of the original film. The plot just meandered with him and a pupil, until the subplot of the British suppression took over.
Which leads me to the ridiculous boxing climax. It was crammed with every boxing trope, practically ripping off Rocky IV. In addition, the white colonial bully versus the humble Asian native cliche has been played out so many times. The boxer character was so over-the-top that I didn't even find it unintentionally funny.
Part of me wondered if they were influenced/pressured by the popularity of MMA to have such an implausible matchup. I'm not even going to bother trying to think about rules. Instead I was more bothered by the unrealistic aspects of a pre-steroids/pre-dietary-aware 1950's boxer who had the physique of Georges St. Pierre and the punching speed of Mike Tyson. Yes, you can call me out for the double-standard I just placed on white boxers with Asian kung fu masters who can defy gravity.
How cheesy was this story? It even included an obligatory Bruce Lee scene. (We learned from the first film that Lee was a star pupil of the real-life Ip Man.)
After really enjoying the original, I had high hopes for the sequel. Pity that Ip Man 2 underwhelmed me with its corny story.
