For one, i didn't really care for the story line. The first movie established Ip Man as a reputable fighter among the schools, and this sequel told that same story again but in Hong Kong. Then, almost out of nowhere, they brought in the 'westerners' as the common enemy to unite all the Chinese that have been fighting each other the entire movie..and of course, the Westerner is quite one dimensional - big, muscular, arrogant, powerful and yells a lot. What also added to the lameness of this whole thing was that the transition to the "western" enemy was quite abrupt and was just tossed into the story to give the story an ending.
On top of this - the fighting wasn't great. The wing chun wasn't as nicely demonstrated as in the first film and got really "posey" throughout - there were also really tight camera shots and wire tricks - there wasn't that gruesome wing chun that was demonstrated in the first film (think of that amazing Ip Man vs. the 10 black belts scene).
It would've been interesting if they would show more realistically (yet still flashy) how wing chun could perhaps deal with a western boxer - the cameras were too close to really get an idea, and only the end of the fight, did they show some true gems (eg. attacking the biceps, shoulders).
Fights against Sammo Hung weren't that great either.
I also noticed that the Ip Mans leg work during the fight scenes were barely involved - it was all upper body. I think it would've been cooler to show the leg work more during hands work..especially against the western boxer.
Ok that's my rant..err review. What are your thoughts?
Until then.
1 comment:
I agree...Ip man 2 wasn't as good. I did enjoy the movie until it became Rocky IV. What I really wanted to see were more training scenes. One funny part was how Jin Shanzhao was all of a sudden Ip's best buddy.
I enjoyed parts and hated others. I can watch Ip Man 1 over and over...2? not so much.
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