By The first IP Man was a traditional martial arts film that followed Yip Man – Bruce Lee’s famous trainer – through his struggles to teach the Wing Chun style during the uprising of the Second Sino-Japanese War in Foshan, his Chinese hometown. IP Man 2 carries on its framework of having three very distinct act sections and also has most of the famous faces from the first movie return for major roles in the plot.
As I was watching I toyed with the notion of comparing this sequel to the Rocky series where the plot fights to be distinct and grander than the movie preceding it, and that’s what hurts the first half of IP Man 2. After fighting dozens of army men at once, nothing in the sequel ever feels like we should be as nervous as we were in the previous film. It’s not the letdown that was Rocky V, but it tries to be both Rocky III and IV and comes nowhere near close to pulling it off.
The first IP Man was a traditional martial arts film that followed Yip Man – Bruce Lee’s famous trainer – through his struggles to teach the Wing Chun style during the uprising of the Second Sino-Japanese War in Foshan, his Chinese hometown. IP Man 2 carries on its framework of having three very distinct act sections and also has most of the famous faces from the first movie return for major roles in the plot.
As I was watching I toyed with the notion of comparing this sequel to the Rocky series where the plot fights to be distinct and grander than the movie preceding it, and that’s what hurts the first half of IP Man 2. After fighting dozens of army men at once, nothing in the sequel ever feels like we should be as nervous as we were in the previous film. It’s not the letdown that was Rocky V, but it tries to be both Rocky III and IV and comes nowhere near close to pulling it off.{{page_break}}
The opening continues right where the first film left off and Ip (Donnie Yen) finally starts a new life in Hong Kong. The war’s conclusion brings the occupation of China by British troops who may very well have been cruel, but were played by such over the top stereotypes that it was hard to stomach. Realizing this shoe is often on an American film’s foot, I let it slide, but just like the first movie there’s no good acting to be found no matter where else you look. Donnie Yen doesn’t feel like he’s trying as an actor at all and his smiling sneer still doesn’t fit the part of a humble trainer.
After eventually finding a group of delinquents to teach we witness less of an instant talent spike than was present in the first film, but the problem this time is that his students continue to be annoying delinquents. At least with The Karate Kid we saw a guy trying to do the right things but constantly being in over his head; these kids were just repeatedly disrespectful to their master with almost no change. Just as I was about to drop the Rocky comparison and jump on board for the Karate Kid one, another blatant act finishing transition occurs and suddenly a British boxer emerges as the main villain. Yes, it’s literally kung fu versus boxing. Think Rocky IV foreign nation fears combined with the one hit knockout danger vibe from Clubber Lang in Rocky III.
Another complaint is that the sequel doesn’t do any better job of making him look less like a bad husband and a neglecting father, which makes me think it might staying true to his life story, but this relaxed commitment to side characters is present everywhere. I know I’m pointing out a lot of flaws but it’s not that both films are terrible; they set out to make really good movies and make serious progress but then get kind of got bored and give up. However, one serious flaw that does do a lot of damage is the music. Nearly every time it’s used it’s painfully cheesy TV soap opera tunes playing alongside acting that rarely goes above wincing while looking in the camera or off in the distance.
If you’re one of the people who called the original IP Man one of the best martial arts movie of all time, then I think you’re absolutely crazy and easily overwhelmed, but I can excite you by saying there’s both more punches per minute in the sequel and also better choreographed fights. The factory fight continues longer than I expected and even surprised me with a few clever tricks. Then there’s a dispute that’s handled with a stylistic table fight that I thoroughly enjoyed. Aside from those two very high highlights, the rest is pretty mediocre, including the final fight which basically proclaims that the world’s best kung fu is no match for some meathead with muscles. Though, to be fair, I did like the weakness that was exploited in the final fight.
IP Man 2 is like the original in that it has the correct plot and character framework to be a really good movie but nothing is done with finesse to make a deeper impact. Combine that with painful acting and poor music and I have no choice but to drop the review down to a bad to mediocre score.
Overall Score: 5.85 – Bad. (5s are movies that either failed at reaching the goals it set out to do, or didn’t set out to do anything special and still had many flaws. Some will enjoy 5s, but unless you’re a fan of this genre, you shouldn’t see it, and might not even want to rent it.)