International superstar Donnie Yen reprises his iconic role as the real-life kung fu Grandmaster Ip Man, widely known as the man who brought Wing Chun to the world with the help of his star pupil, Bruce Lee. Master Ip, a new arrival in British-occupied Hong Kong, wants to open a martial arts academy to teach his unique Wing Chun style. A corrupt group of martial arts masters, led by Master Hung (Sammo Hung) refuses to allow him to teach in peace until he proves himself as a kung fu master. Ip s troubles continues when he is forced to enter a brutal King of the Ring boxing match against Twister, a Western-style boxer who insults the Chinese locals, in a East versus West knock-down, drag-out fight to the finish.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3137 in DVD
• Released on: 2011-04-19
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dolby, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Original language: Mandarin Chinese
• Dubbed in: English
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.com
Donnie Yen continues to exert his status as the magnetic and skilled star on the international martial arts cinema scene in Ip Man 2, the sequel to his blockbuster 2008 biopic of the iconic Wing Chun grandmaster. The film, also directed by Wilson Yip, picks up where its predecessor left off, with Ip Man (Yen) and his family relocating from China to Hong Kong in the early 1950s. There, he attempts to establish a Wing Chun school, but is challenged at every turn by potential students like Wong Leung (Huang Xiaoming), who later became one of Ip's greatest disciples, and other schools, including a Hung Ga school led by Hung Chun-nam (the legendary Sammo Hung, who also serves as the film's martial arts choreographer). Ip's astonishing skills help him to defend his school's honor, but in order to truly establish roots in Hong Kong, he is forced to participate in a city-wide boxing competition, where he faces a variety of styles and competitors, including an unscrupulous British fighter (Darren Shahlavi). Fans of the original Ip Man may be disappointed by the scope of the sequel, which focuses more on fighting and less on the political and societal tensions that gave its predecessor an emotional gravitas. But for those who simply want to see Yen unleash his seemingly supernatural talents, Ip Man 2 consistently delivers, and ups the ante by including such cult figures as Shahlavi, Louis Fan Siu-Wong (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky), and Shaw Brothers veteran Lo Mang (Five Deadly Venoms) among its cast members. And for those hoping to finally see the connection between Ip and his most famous disciple, Bruce Lee, the film's coda gives a brief glimpse of their momentous first meeting.

The two-disc Collector's Edition set includes an 18-minute making-of featurette that includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew; all major participants are also featured in a sizable gallery of individual interviews that range from brief chats to 30-minute conversations. A quarter of the deleted scenes offer a few extra minutes of fighting trimmed from the theatrical release, while a trio of trailers and a lightweight shooting diary round out the supplemental features. Sadly, genre expert Bey Logan's commentary, which appears on the UK version of the disc, is not included here. --Paul Gaita

Review
"A sequel that truly delivers the goods in every aspect possible" --Film Stage

Most helpful customer reviews

52 of 62 people found the following review helpful.
IP Man - good, classic kung fu!!!
By Haunted Flower
I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this new film starring Donnie Yen (You may remember him from "Hero") entirely in Cantonese with English subtitles which will be out in theaters in the U.S. and Canada on January 28th. Donnie Yen is reprising his role here as the real-life kung fu grandmaster Ip man in this martial arts film. I never saw the original but apparently in it, he escaped the Japanese occupation of his hometown and with his pregnant wife and family have moved to Hong Kong which is living under British colonial rule.

Ip Man begins his life in Hong Kong barely making ends meet renting an apartment and trying to start a martial arts school to teach his Wing Chun style. He is challenged by several neighborhood ruffians who eventually grudgingly give him respect and ask to serve under him as students. Being a kind-hearted man and pleased with the opportunity to teach, he does not push them very hard for their student fees knowing they are also struggling financially under British rule. His school is put up against other martial arts schools in the area competitively and they all clash and fight with territorialism. Eventually all the schools must unite together in order to face the British for their honor.

The British are demanding payments from the schools in return for allowing them to stay open (like offering "protection" in gangster movies). The British do not respect the Chinese and often ridicule them in public. A Western-style boxer named Taylor "Twister" Milos comes to town to fight and entertain the British and by mocking and insulting the Chinese martial arts demonstration opening act, Ip must step up to defend the honor of his people and his own kung fu, Wing Chun.

I know that was a lot of summary, but it seemed needed to really get across the themes in this movie. This film is a delightful throwback to the good ol' days of kung fu. Though I love the wire martial arts styles in films like "Hero", "House of Flying Daggers", "Fearless", and "Iron Monkey", classic kung fu battles of men hitting and kicking each other in defense of their homes, family, country, honor, etc. still are a pleasure to watch. I loved Donnie Yen in "Hero" (basically loved EVERYTHING about that movie) and it was so enjoyable to see him in this role and to find out it was based on a real person's story who eventually went on to train a young Bruce Lee. Wow! This probably won't be a very wide release in the U.S., but if you happen to see it is in your area and you love martial arts movies, go have a fun afternoon in the theater! Yes, you will have to read subtitles, but that's ok. I felt like I could have watched the entire movie muted without subtitles and still understood easily what was going on since everything is so physical not only in the fighting scenes but in acting and reacting in conversation.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful.
Not quite as fantastic as the original, but still incredibly entertaining.
By C. Sawin
Ip Man is still the only martial arts film I've ever given a perfect score. Similar films usually throw in those silly bits of humor that come off as lame rather than actually being humorous. It probably hits its target overseas audience well, but the difference in culture probably has something to do with how American audiences don't appreciate those bits as much. Either that or the storyline is usually fairly simple or borderline atrocious while the fighting scenes are spectacular. If you're a fan of martial arts films, you see these types of films for the action scenes. A good storyline and exceptional acting are usually just a bonus. Ip Man broke those boundaries. It had an intriguing storyline and a fantastic cast to compliment its jaw dropping action sequences. The only flaws the film seemed to have was that it eventually had to end and left the audience wanting more especially the way the film ended. The desire for a sequel was extremely high and, for the most part, the sequel doesn't disappoint.

I had originally thought that Ip Man 2 wasn't able to capture the same amount of heart that the original film had, but I no longer believe that to be true. Ip Man 2 still has all the heart and emotion that the first film did. Everything from Ip Man realizing his friend Quan (Simon Yam) is brain damaged because of him to Ip Man trying to restore honor to the east by taking on a western boxer, the emotion is still there. It just isn't as strong or as powerful as it was in the first film. The same atmosphere is established quite easily, but the struggle to show the world that Wing Chun is a respectable martial art seems to take a backseat to other plot points that aren't necessarily less important but seem to take away from what made the first film so special.

The sequel is still very solid and extremely entertaining. Any scene in the film featuring Sammo Hung is gold. His adamancy for the Chinese culture is half of his character's charm. The other half is split between him trying to provide for such a large family and the amazing action sequences he's a part of. The sole reason to see this film is for the Ip Man/Master Hung match that takes place on a table top. If you've seen S.P.L. Killzone, you know how fantastic a battle between these two can be. However, the Yen/Hung match in Ip Man 2 tops the one in Killzone though. Their encounter will be the thing fans will remember and be talking about the most after walking out of the theater and for good reason.

Just a few sidenotes and nitpicks, the sound effects seemed to be off at times. The main occurrence being when Ip Man goes to meet Master Hung at his dojo after their pupils get into it for the second time. After Hung tells his pupils to leave, the sounds of their footsteps just didn't feel genuine and seemed like the sound was too loud or excessive or something. The film also features the fastest baby delivery ever in recent film memory. The woman goes into labor one scene and two scenes later, she's holding a baby. No mess and no 27 hours of labor? Why have an old fashioned pregnancy when you can just DVR it and fast forward through it later? Lastly, the film leaves you wanting even more than its predecessor did. Mostly due to the Bruce Lee tease featured at the end of the film.

Ip Man 2 doesn't sweep you off your feet and smack you in the face quite as hard as its predecessor, but it's still very worthy of carrying the "Ip Man" name and is a joy to watch. If you enjoyed the hard-hitting action of the original film, then you'll have no problem being entertained by this sequel.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Ip Man Meets Rocky IV
By Redwaltz
I really enjoyed the first Ip Man movie, but there seems to be something missing from this installment. There aren't as many interesting supporting characters as the first movie and many of the returning characters from the first movie are relegated to the background roles of little importance. For example, Ip's family, especially his wife, played a huge role in the first movie as it stressed the tension between the combative life Ip Man led and the stable and happy family life his wife desired. In the second movie, the family is there, but it is more of a side note and hardly a main component to the plot. Character development certainly isn't a focus in the movie as it was in the first.

The plot, that is another major barrier I found with getting into this movie. Not only does it seem to use the same plot points as the first movie, only done in a less polished fashion, but it seems that the writer(s) of the movie had watched one too many Rocky movies, especially Rocky IV. (*minor spoiler alert*) This movie imitates so many things from Rocky IV, it becomes borderline absurd. I mean, it has everything from a reenactment of the Apollo Creed match-fiasco to the "If I can change, you can change" speech after the penultimate fight, with the subsequent conversion of the hostile crowd to his philosophy -- though, I must admit the training montage before the final fight was a lot more subtle as you didn't have to watch Ip Man running up any large mountains.

Also, just like Rocky IV, Ip Man has a strong nationalistic message at the root of its plot, just like the first movie. It attempts to show the viewer that Chinese culture is superior to the "foreign devil" Brits, who are just like the Russians in Rocky IV. Just as the Japanese were portrayed as vicious inhuman two dimensional villains, the Brits are portrayed as uncultured two dimensional barbarians that act like comic book villains, maniacal laughter included. It's fine if the writers want to write about the British occupation in Hong Kong, but the writing makes the British into caricatures that are unbelievable outside of a movie script and there seems to be a pro-Chinese culture agenda similar to the pro-American agenda of Rocky IV, which I guess is fine if you are from the country being portrayed as the superior, and not so much for the country being portrayed as the inferior. It doesn't help that the British actors in the movie are atrocious at best.

Also, I'm sure there were Western Boxing vs. Eastern Boxing matches that took place in the past, but I doubt they were as drawn out and absurd as they are in this movie. I mean, seriously, you put a guy with boxing gloves on, who follows traditional Western Boxing rules, against a guy who kicks, knees, grapples, throws, and is allowed his full range of martial arts ability, which includes punching a guy in the face while he is being held on the ground, and we are to expected to believe that would be a good fight? Maybe in a Street Fighter game that is believable, but in a "loosely-based" biopic, it is laughable. I guess it is as believable as Rocky winning a boxing match by just blocking with his face.

Anyway, people watch Martial Arts movies for the fighting and this movie has a lot of good scenes, in particular the one between Sammo Hung and Donnie Yen, but there aren't as many good scenes as the first movie. In fact, there just aren't as many fighting scenes as the first movie and that is a shame, since they are a beauty to behold.

I think the plot drags the movie down too far and is not as well told or put together as the first movie. I do suggest watching this movie at least for the fighting scenes and just laugh off the plot as I do when I watch Rocky IV.