IP Man is now in Hong Kong to start a martial arts
school. A British boxer is looking to
rough up the locals and Chinese Rocky IV is upon us! Donnie Yen reprises his role and does a
terrific job. I believe he did better in
the original but that’s due to a more in depth story. He still does great though; I’d hate to make
it sound like he dropped off which he didn't.
 |
| Needed more of Fan Siu-Wong |
The
fight scenes get more outrageous in sole comparison to the first movie. The fights are longer and it felt more often
than before. There was a sort of Jackie
Chan prop related goofiness to some of the fights that felt too silly for the
world of IP Man. I also loved to see Kam
Shanzhao back and a married man at that!
He bailed out his buddy Master IP from jail early on in the movie in
quite a hilarious scene. Yes they’re
friends now! We don’t get to see him
fight this time around and that’s really a shame. He provides great comedy support and he’s
sorely missed as his screen time is less.
He
opens his school on a roof with his first pupil being an arrogant young man named
Wong Leung. This person insists on
fighting IP Man to beat him but fails embarrassingly. The way IP Man toys with him is funny to
laugh at. He eventually begs IP Man to
be his master. Things go well at first
until his “not so bright” pupil starts trouble with another martial arts school
led by Hung Chun-nam (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo).
IP Man is informed his foolish pupil is being held captive by the
opposing school. He heads down to a
fishing market to retrieve him when the other school attacks him. It seems like such disrespect to assault a
master with no knowledge of whom he is or where he is from. That’s when IP Man, his pupil and for comedic
purposes Kam get’s arrested. Kam was
trying to stop the fight and ends up getting thrown in jail as well.
 |
| Earning passage in Hong Kong |
This
leads to the “table fight” with the other masters in Hong Kong. Master IP proves himself but declines to join
the club due to not wanting to give money to support a man’s gain. He believes in what Chinese Martial Arts
really is, teaching your pupils the right way in life. Master IP has a horrible feeling of remorse
for his friend Chow Ching-chuen, the man who owned the mill back in Foshan, who
was shot in the head and left with memory loss and brain damage. You can feel his pain as he interacts with
and even pays for a chicken his friend stole, considering Master IP is
broke. I wish more scenes of those two
were in the film. It gets emotional as
IP Man watches a man who was once someone who aided him in his desperate time
before.
 |
| I'm too old to finish this movie, avenge me! |
Let’s
introduce the boxer named, The Twister, who is as smug and arrogant a man can
be. He arrives to Hong Kong to flaunt
his western boxing style and it’s superiority to eastern fighting. After the first scene with this guy you know
he’s the villain and all you want from then on is for IP Man to beat this guy
into submission. Twister ends up killing
Hung Chun-nam, the leader if you will of the schools in Hong Kong. IP Man watched as the boxer downed his Chinese
comrade. Hung Chun-nam won Master IP’s
respect by fighting for Chinese martial arts and not standing for Twister
mocking it.
 |
| Muscle head vs. A Legend |
The
funeral scene was touching as you could feel the Chinese spirit for what they
believed in. Master IP obviously
challenges Twister in a media circus in which the boxer adds fuel to the fire
with more mockery of the Chinese culture.
The final fight is typical as IP Man gets pummeled by the boxer in the
early going and told he can’t kick. He
gets beat on more after that before he decides to use those quick hands of his
to decimate Twister. He spares his life
as the good guy he is and gives a short somewhat disappointing speech about
change. At the very end a special guest
appears before Master IP in demand to be taught. His name is Bruce Lee but he is told to come
back when he grows up.
The
movie is far more predictable than the original which deflates the fun of
watching it for the first time. I
believe a bit too much fighting took the screen time. Added character development or some back
story could have filled in those scenes nicely but alas this is a martial arts
film after all. It’s a solid film but I
feel that too much was being crammed into a small movie time frame. It’s possible the film makers wanted to
attempt to outperform the previous movie instead of focusing on creating
something new with similar characters.
If you enjoy martial arts in any way this is a good one to watch.
The labels just below can link you to similar posts about this one so check them out!
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