Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
Scarlet
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
higherall7
Donnie Yen comes across as a Chinese version of Shane. Instead of a Western, IP MAN 2 is a true Eastern. Humble and unassuming, it is easy to see how Bruce Lee reached international status after encountering the calm, self-controlled mentorship of such a Master Martial Artist. Donnie Yen's Ip Man is one of the most memorable characters to appear in Cinema in the last 25 years. Only Jet Li's Wong Fei-hung from the ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA trilogy rivals this portrayal.Donnie Yen's performance in the original IP MAN had me thinking Oscar; something I don't usually associate with Martial Arts movies. Loved the scene where Ip Man sets up his first Martial Arts school in Hong Kong. Truly enjoyed Donnie Yen as Ip Man demonstrating his level of knowledge to potential new students and gradually building up a body of students. To have individuals come to you to learn what you know must be a very gratifying feeling. This came across very poignantly in the scenes where Ip Man the Martial Arts enthusiast slowly becomes Ip Man the Martial Arts teacher. I loved the scenes where he was in his Dojo going over and correcting techniques with his students. I would have wished there were more scenes of him mentoring Bruce Lee in his school.Enjoyed also Ip Man having to meet with the Martial Arts Masters of his community and having to earn his right to teach and practice in their territory. The scenes of contest between him and them make a memorable and brilliant directorial set piece. These scenes where Ip Man starts his own school and meets with the Masters makes the whole movie to me. Sammo Hung as Master Hung Chun-Nam orchestrates very impressive Martial Arts choreography and presents a true three dimensional character. The climatic fight between Ip Man and Twister is simply a plus. People have likened it to the ROCKY IV movie, but I don't believe this particular action sequence suffers from the comparison. I never got the feeling that Ip Man was fighting for anything more than a restoration of community standards of civility and respect. There was no cocky posturing or desire for self aggrandizement in his body language. He fully came across as a teacher seeking to teach an arrogant Westerner an important lesson in Respect. Darren Shahlevi as Twister plays his role a little broad, but comes across as a worthy villain for Ip Man. The only thing I could have wanted more would have been to have Bruce Lee in the audience rooting him on to win.When Ip Man speaks at the end of the fight you know he is delivering the moral of the story. This is something heroes used to do in my youth. Returned was the idea that right makes might rather than the other way around. Fascinating to observe a man of high moral stature speaking through his most exhaustive effort to restore community order through the practice of his Art.
Wikingking
...And not only in the life of our protagonist, Grandmaster Ip Man (Donnie Yen), but Ip Man 2 fails to become as good and soulful as the first movie.It's like you'd watch Rocky 2-3-4 in a Hong Kong setting. The plot is pretty much the same. Ip Man and his family moved to HK. They are poor, are expecting their second child and Master Ip struggles to set his feet here as a renowned martial arts master. When he finally finds some students, he quickly finds himself in a hostile environment, as rival masters want him to pay fee and join their club to become an 'official' master. But after dealing with this situation, there comes the third act, and it's bad foreigners disrespecting and abusing Chinese all over again.---SOME SPOILERS FROM NOW ON---I had to ask myself while watching this the first time ever: am I watching Rocky 2-3-4 or is this Ip Man 2? The similarity is exceptional here: the financial struggles, the pregnant wife, the adversary (Sammo Hung) who proves to be an equal of Ip, but later they became friends and they respect each-other, the unbeatable foreign fighter who hates this culture and beats said friend, the revenge match under heavy circumstances, the final speech given by Ip Man with the used to be hostile British accepting and praising him after-wards. The list might be longer, but these are the cornerstones of this movie's story.---SPOILERS END---And don't get me wrong, I like Rocky 2-4, I liked this one as well. Even when it was increasingly difficult to take this seriously. My problem with the movie is different though. You see, while Ip Man had amazing fight scenes, it also had a heart, a great atmosphere and a message. It was nice to see how Ip stands against the Japanese, defends his culture while being so humble and elegant. Actually, the story is the same here but without the elegance. Much of the fight scenes are over the top (I know, it's what you expect when watching a kung-fu movie, but it's at least one level over the first movie), and they follow each other without much logic. The only reason here is to have a good fight. "You claim to be a master? Prove it. Beat me" - says the student. "You claim to be a master? Prove it. Avoid falling" - says the guild of masters. "You claim that Chinese kung-fu is superior to boxing? Beat me." - says the British champ. Everyone wants to fight here. And this sadly shadows the soul of the movie and also Donnie Yen's great performance (example: Ip vs 10 Japs was believable under those circumstances. It was a serious and sad scene, powerful. Ip vs 20 students trying to kill him at the fish market is not.) Ip Man 2 is not a bad movie, and is highly recommended to anyone who loves martial arts movies! But if you only enjoyed the first film because of it's atmosphere and soul (while tolerating the action), you may want to avoid this one.
BA_Harrison
Life is never easy when you're a martial arts master: there's always someone on your case, insisting that you prove your skills. Take Ip Man for example…Having been wounded by the Japanese, Wing Chun expert Ip Man (Donnie Yen) escapes to Hong Kong where he sets up a school to teach his style of kung fu. The first potential pupil to show up is Wong Leung, who says he will only pay for lessons if Ip Man can defeat him, which he does; ashamed, Leung runs away. Leung returns later with several of his friends who team up to try and beat Ip Man, but to no avail. They realise that Ip man is a true master and beg for him to become their sifu.Word soon spreads and Ip Man's class grows steadily larger, but when Leung is kidnapped and held to ransom by the students of a rival school, the Wing Chun master must once again prove his worth, by freeing Leung and beating the rival students. This brings him to the attention of master Hung Chun-Nam (Sammo Hung), who runs the local guild of martial arts schools. Ip Man is told he can only continue to teach Wing Chun if he takes a test against the other masters. Yet again, Ip Man has no choice but to show what he's made of, beating several masters and matching Hung in a one-on-one.Ip Man is accepted by the guild but is told that he must pay a monthly fee of $100; he refuses to accept their terms, but continues to teach, which causes more friction that results in a massive street brawl.Ip Man goes to smooth out matters with Hung, and earns the guild master's respect. Hung makes a peace offering in the form of tickets to a western boxing match being organised by Superintendent Wallace, a corrupt British officer in the Hong Kong police force. At the match, star boxer 'Twister' Miller (Darren Shahlavi) insults the Chinese fighters who are demonstrating their skills, saying that kung fu is no match for boxing. Hung enters the ring to defend his culture and accepts a challenge from Twister. Sadly, Hung is killed during the match. During a press conference to try and placate the Chinese, Twister once again boasts that he can beat any of their fighters. Guess who accepts the challenge…This sequel to the hugely popular Ip Man (2008) once again blends fact with fiction to tell the exploits of the Chinese national hero who would later go on to train superstar Bruce Lee. Taken with a pinch of salt, it proves to be hugely entertaining stuff, with Yen exercising both his acting and his fighting muscles to the fullest. The fish market fight against the rival students is a little far fetched, and the martial arts scenes rely a little too much on wire-work for me to find them fully satisfying, but with Sammo Hung as action director, and super fast moves and incredible athleticism from star Yen, there's still plenty to make the jaw drop.Sammo Hung also shows that he's still got what it takes in front of the camera, with his fights against Ip Man and Twister being a lot of fun, but it is the Wing Chun master's fight against the Ivan Drago-style bad guy in the final act that inevitably proves to be the highlight—a brutal smack-down guaranteed to please all but the most fussy of martial arts fans.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.
p-stepien
Ip Man (Donnie Yen) immigrates to Hong Kong after the Communists take over mainland China. Here he hopes to set up a Wing Chun martial arts school, but soon encounters difficulties with gaining students, with the main obstruction the lack of acceptance by other such institutions led by Master Hong (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo) as well as with the British authority.The first instalment was an overreaching take on the legend of Yip Man, whereas the sequel flings us even further away from recreation of past events and deeper into fictionalised accounts. The story itself is unfeasible and clichéd to an extreme, offering little in emotional reward, but a lot of unflinching kung-fu pummelling, unfortunately extrapolated to almost wushu type flying in the air. Not enough of what happens seems to actually be biographical, more of it can be deemed as mythical glorification, which in the end actually decreases Ip Man's achievements (the necessity to sugar-coat his biography is a double-edged sword). As expected the worst performances in a Hong Kong movie is privy to British nationals, who are adequately cringe-worthy in true local cinematographic tradition.Nonetheless Donnie Yen is pretty endearing in his role and does his best to win the role, despite not being offered much dramatical context. Still a far cry from "Once Upon a Time in China" or the similarly biographical "Fearless" (even has a similar white foe), which managed not only to delivers spectacular fight sequences, but also tell a story deeply laden with Chinese history, the ignominies of foreign occupation and the pains of victory.
