Ip Man 2

[Jimbo]

I was finally able to catch this at the theater. I actually enjoyed it, but even though part 2 has more fighting in it, part 1 was a lot better, IMO. Although, as has been pointed out in reviews, there's a lot of foreign stereotypes, I'll bet there were plenty of guys in HK like the British racists in the movie. I guess the stereotyping worked, because this movie had me despising the British boxer. He came across as even worse than the Japanese general in part 1, though not worse than the general's underling.

BTW, the movie takes its biggest credibility hit when "Twister" is announced as the "world boxing champion." I thought in 1950 the heavyweight champ was Rocky Marciano (or Ezzard Charles?). Whoever he was, he wasn't a British fighter taking on Chinese kung fu guys. And I seriously doubt the initially smirking British audience members would have given Ip Man a standing ovation at the end. They would probably have reacted more like that lone guy shaking his head and walking out, or probably a riot. Another credibility hit is that Ip Man can beat like 20 guys(?) who are armed and coming at him with big chopping knives w/out breaking a sweat, but can barely beat one (albeit large) boxer?

Besides Sammo, it was nice to see old-schoolers like Lo Meng, and Feng Ke-an (Cantonese: Fung Hark-On) still making appearances. And I feel that Ip Man is Donnie's best-acted role.

I'm not sure the Ip Man films do much for kung fu in general, since in each film, only Ip Man is able to win against the main foreign fighter. The other CMA teachers get trounced. However, the choreography is both 1 and 2 are leagues above most other kung fu and wuxia films coming out of China/HK in recent years, excepting Flash Point.