I was quite taken with the original Ip Man when I saw it earlier this year. It starred Donnie Yen in a tailor-made role as the Wing Chun Master (and future Bruce Lee mentor) Ip Man. The first film focuses on events in Ip’s life that supposedly took place in the city of Foshan during the Second Sino-Japanese War and while most of it is probably historical horseshit, the film had an understated style that’s rare to find in a martial arts movie. Yen brought a calm, centered performance to his portrayal of Ip and Wilson Yip’s subdued direction elevated the film to something rather special in the martial arts canon – a serious, well-acted drama with lots of action and well-staged fight scenes.
Something got lost in the sequel and despite the solid reviews it received, Ip Man 2 simply doesn’t measure up to the original, returning instead to its genre roots where the first movie played outside the conventional tropes of the traditional martial arts flick. The story follows Ip’s relocation to Hong Kong in 1949 and his struggles to open a martial arts club at a time when colonial bureaucrats ruled the city, racism was rampant and graft and bribery got things done. The film is basically a re-framing of the original with the Brits standing in as the Chinese oppressors instead of the Japanese this time around. The film offers a fascinating glimpse through an inverted prism at how westerners are seen and portrayed in Chinese film. The cartoon-like caricatures of British bureaucrats, a looney western boxer named Twister and his entourage make parts of Ip Man 2 more than a little cringe-inducing. Their cardboard characterizations are reminiscent of Hollywood’s Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films in the ’30s, only reversed. I guess the West owes Asia a little bit of payback for Number One Son and Dr. Fu Manchu, so we shouldn’t complain.
The action scenes and fight choreography are once again exciting and well-executed making Ip Man 2 an enjoyable, escapist/romp for fans of the genre …. provided you can forgive the overly-simplistic round-eye bad guys. Donnie Yen returns as Ip Man and is the heart and soul of the movie. Yen continues to grow in stature in Chinese filmmaking and I just watched his latest film, the excellent Wu Xia (2011) tonight. A review on that film will follow in a couple of days.
Ip Man 2 (2010)
Something got lost in the sequel and despite the solid reviews it received, Ip Man 2 simply doesn’t measure up to the original, returning instead to its genre roots where the first movie played outside the conventional tropes of the traditional martial arts flick. The story follows Ip’s relocation to Hong Kong in 1949 and his struggles to open a martial arts club at a time when colonial bureaucrats ruled the city, racism was rampant and graft and bribery got things done. The film is basically a re-framing of the original with the Brits standing in as the Chinese oppressors instead of the Japanese this time around. The film offers a fascinating glimpse through an inverted prism at how westerners are seen and portrayed in Chinese film. The cartoon-like caricatures of British bureaucrats, a looney western boxer named Twister and his entourage make parts of Ip Man 2 more than a little cringe-inducing. Their cardboard characterizations are reminiscent of Hollywood’s Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films in the ’30s, only reversed. I guess the West owes Asia a little bit of payback for Number One Son and Dr. Fu Manchu, so we shouldn’t complain.
The action scenes and fight choreography are once again exciting and well-executed making Ip Man 2 an enjoyable, escapist/romp for fans of the genre …. provided you can forgive the overly-simplistic round-eye bad guys. Donnie Yen returns as Ip Man and is the heart and soul of the movie. Yen continues to grow in stature in Chinese filmmaking and I just watched his latest film, the excellent Wu Xia (2011) tonight. A review on that film will follow in a couple of days.
La Sporgenza
Sunday, November 13th, 2011 at 9:23 am