Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster
Another movie by Chollywood about their recently declared national treasure, Master Ip Man.
Although the plot is a rather simple – it’s essentially Ip Man fighting against a series of prejudices, escalating to a major conflict that pretty-much is an overt “China vs Britain” allegory.
The fight scenes are fantastic though – what the plot lacks, the choreography makes up for in spades!
Sammo Hung plays a major character, but is also the choreographer – and his work is still fantastic. The different Kung Fu masters in the competition scene all distinctly show their respective styles when combatting Ip Man who is fighting for his right to teach. The conflict between Hung Chun-Nam (played by Sammo Hung) that eventually develops into friendship is decently played out, and shows a lot of Chinese ideals in play.
This is a must see for anyone interested in Martial Arts – although there are a lot of fantastic fight scenes (which are meant to portray Master Ip as superhuman), there are some great concepts shown. I believe that Donnie Yen does one of the best portrayals, as there are so many more coming out – including an Ip Man 3.
Score: 3.5 out of 4
