The sequel takes the originals strengths-but also its shortcomings-to the next level.
What They Say:
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 trouble continues when he is forced to enter a brutal “King of the Ring” boxing match against Twister, a Western-style boxer who insults Chinese locals, in an East versus West knock-down, drag-out fight to the finish.
The Review:
Audio:
The Collector’s Edition of Ip Man 2 contains six audio tracks spanning three languages as each of the three languages-English, Cantonese and Mandarin-each get both 2.0 and 5.1 options. For the review the Cantonese 5.1 track was selected. It is a fairly solid track that provides the fullness of the background in any given situation as well as picking up the quieter moments of dialogue. While the dialogue is mostly center speaker focused there is directionality when called for both with effects and the occasional off screen dialogue. The track is free from dropouts though there is one distortion present.
Video:
Originally produced in 2010 the video is presented in its 16:9 widescreen format but isn’t as fortunate as the audio as there are a number of issues present. Chief among the distractions are the occasional screen jitters which cause the whole picture to shake-they aren’t omnipresent but they are around often enough to be rather annoying. Also present are noise which the film grain doesn’t completely cover up, dot crawl, occasional print pops, some aliasing and some odd color distortions on faces as pixels seem to occasionally be a different hue every couple of seconds. The film does handle other colors and blacks well though in a solid manner and the action comes off well even in the fastest scenes.
Packaging:
The release comes in a standard two disc DVD case with a disc on either side of each other. The front cover has Donnie Yen standing on the left side of the picture swinging his fist which is caught in a motion blur on the right side. Above his fist is a bright diffused light that is cutting through the clouds present in the upper background while below his fist is a dark picture of Hong Kong as the far right also has the names of three of the stars of the feature. Also present below and to the left of Yen’s fist is the title, again like the first movie written in gold block letters with the Chinese title subtly behind that in a grey color though this time a bright red “2” that looks like a brushstroke crosses it and it features the subtitle “Legend of the Grandmaster” and has a critic quote below that. At the top of the DVD cover there is a gold banner with white letters proclaiming this to be the Collector’s Edition like with the first movie. The back features an image of Yen on the left side again practicing with a wooden pole/man in a high empty room that’s space is used to insert six stills from the feature that have a thick gold boarder around them with the copy and title logo to the right of that. Underneath that is a small gold box listing the bonus features with the movies credits being listed under that and then Well Go’s logo and the disc specs at the bottom of the cover. The spine uses the English title with number “2” written horizontally while the Chinese title and number are written vertically against a faded gold pattern.
The two discs themselves are similar in their appearance except for a reversal of colors with disc one being black with a white Chinese logo on the left side and the number “2” in red over it and the English logo in the lower center right and disc two being white with a black Chinese logo but the English title and sequel number being the same. The release also has an insert which features a black image on one side with the Chinese logo in white and the English logo in gold as well as movie credits at the bottom. The reverse side features Yen with the wooden practice tool as the chapter stops are listed to his right with four stills being present above that. To add one last touch to the product Well Go includes a slip cover that mirrors the front and back covers and has the English and Chinese logos on either side raised up a bit against an ornate but not ostentatious gold with black highlights floral pattern.
Menu:
The main menu for disc one features an image of Yen and Sammo Hung standing together in martial art stances in the center right hand side of the screen with the light from the sun peaking out and shining on them. Dark clouds form a frame against the top of the screen on the left and the city of Hong Kong is at the bottom of the screen. Different scenes from the feature play within that frame and a Chinese music theme from the film is present in the background. The four selectable options are at the bottom right of the screen with each letter of the words in a small red block and the title logo in English and Chinese present just over that with the number “2” looking as if it were on fire. The scene select uses a grey toned picture for its background with red splashes of color in the top left and bottom right. The chapter stops are represented by stills from the chapter and are listed six at a time as the same music track as the main menu plays. The language selection screen features Yen’s first apprentice taking a fighting stance from the feature surrounded by a red boarder as some of the newspaper pages from the feature are used as a backdrop. The extras menu features Twister in his boxing gear also with red boarder and against the same newspaper background as used on the language screen. The current selection is highlighted usually in yellow though blue is also used as well and the menus are quick to respond to changes in selection and implementing choices.
The second disc uses the image of Yen and Hung from the first disc and the same logo in the lower left corner and different shots of locales intermixed together for the rest of the screen as the same main menu theme plays. The behind the sets screen uses a profile shot of Yen is martial arts stance on the left while the right side of the screen uses a background image from the feature. Both the shooting diary and deleted scenes go straight into playing so the last separate menu screen is the interview screen. This screen uses a profile shot of Yen this time in the bottom right as the selectable interviews are placed over another local image from the feature on the left side.
Extras:
The biggest extra on this set for me is the inclusion of both of the Chinese audio tracks as the standard version of the release is English dub only. Extras present on disc one are a teaser trailer, an original theatrical trailer, an international trailer as well as a making of featurette. While these would be a pretty good selection for most releases Well Go takes it up a notch with a second bonus disc containing a shooting diary, a behind the sets look at four sets, deleted scenes and twelve interviews with the cast and crew.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The events in this feature begin 13 years after Ip’s confrontation with the Japanese commander in the last film. The year is 1950 and Ip and his family have made it to Hong Kong but life hasn’t gotten any easier for them as they have just arrived and are too low on money to even cover their son’s schooling and rent at present. Ip has one bit of luck as he has found a place spacious enough to train though since he has no students at present it is only being used by a neighbor to dry cloths. His luck shifts a bit when a young and brash young man challenges him promising to pay the school fees if he losses. The young man quickly discovers he is seriously over matched though his pride forces him to take hits from Ip rather than acknowledge Ip’s pulling his punches early in the fight.
The young man seems to be a sore loser as he leaves after being defeated and returns a short time later with three friends. The three friends doubt this older man who looks harmless can be what their friend claimed and they are beaten down in very short order. As Ip is about to leave the single man (Wong Leung) he beat earlier gets on his knees and asks to be Ip’s student-an act quickly replicated by the other three young men. Ip finds as he trains his students they also spread word to their friends and Ip quickly has a good number of students, though since they don’t have much money either his financial state still isn’t all he could hope for. His spirit gets a beating as well when he finds an old friend with horrific scars left over from the war who he attempts to payback the help given Ip and his family by hooking the man’s son up with some expatriates from the same village as Ip.
On top of all of this additional trouble will be coming Ip’s way as Hong Kong has a very established system where the martial arts masters have set up a series of rules for them all to coexist, though this brotherhood comes with dues. When Wong is captured by another school’s students Ip goes to rescue him and encounters the council of masters lead by Master Hong Zhen Nan (Sammo Hung) that rule their trade during the escape. Ip finds that justice in Hong Kong is often determined by the size of one’s wallet and who is paid off when he and his allies are thrown in jail for their attempt at freeing his student. Once out Ip meets the challenge of the other masters but due to his financial situation declines to join their association. Due to this there will be many conflicts between his school and others which result in trouble for the neighbors and ultimately Ip, though eventually Ip manages to form a sort of friendship with Master Hung when trying to resolve their differences.
Ip learns that though Master Hung is seen as a great man in the martial arts community and he is also well respected by the citizens of Hong Kong as a whole it does not mean life is any easier for him either. Hong Kong at the time was ruled by the British Government and a number of the individuals who carry out the acts of governing the island are rotten to the core. Master Hung is stuck both paying off one of these police heads and doing free work setting up for the British citizens to see their world champion boxer, “Twister” Taylor, fight. Master Hung tries to use the event to show off local martial arts skills but Twister interrupts the event and embarrasses the discipline. Master Hung attempts to settle the score in the ring but his age and health work against him fighting the much younger man. Once again it will be up to Ip to step to the forefront to defend the honor of Chinese martial arts but this time will the combination of fighting a man with tremendous strength, speed, age and a different discipline than Ip has faced before cause him to falter? And if that were not enough of a problem with Twister representing the British Empire in the fight there are those unscrupulous figures who will use all their power to stack the deck against him. Will Ip rise one more time for tradition and country or will this fight prove to be too much for a man in his late 50’s to overcome?
Ip Man 2 continues the tale of Master Ip in his journey from being a bit of a laid back character uninterested in teaching and brings him to the forefront of the discipline where he embraces what will become his legacy -master trainer to some of the more famous martial artists of the time-including a young man who will become legend in Hollywood and whose name is still spoken with reverence by film fans born long after he passed away. Ip Man 2 has some of if not the most impressive fight scenes available on the video market today as the fight in the fish market is a whirling dervish of action likely to become a high water mark for other filmmakers to try to climb to match for years to come. It certainly isn’t the only scene of action worth mentioning as watching Sammo Hung in his fight with Yen is an engrossing encounter on many levels including one that feels like Hung passing the torch of Hong Kong martial arts legends to a member of the next generation whose skill at fighting and acting look to have him land in the upper echelons of actors spoken of where ever Hong Kong martial arts films are discussed. Ip Man 2’s flaws though are certainly there as there is a glaring lack of character development for almost everyone in the film as characters are brought in for what are almost cameo roles to provide Yen someone to act off in a scene but the lack of development really doesn’t provide some of the punch it should to scenes. There also seemed to be a touch of oversight with the feature as 13 years have passed since the first but not a lot of effort was put into reflecting that in Yen’s appearance and it looks like the same young boy from the first film is present in the second as Ip’s son though he should be well into his teens from a chronological standpoint. One final flaw is that while Yen is superb in most of his fighting scenes the film does suffer a bit when various martial artists skills collide with Twister’s boxing as the two disciplines don’t mix nearly as well against each other when it comes to spectacular choreography as they do when paired with styles more similar to themselves.
In Summary:
Ip Man 2 takes the themes and action of the first film and raises it a whole new level. This applies across the board though as the strengths which include the action scenes are greater and at times just spectacular by the short comings in characterizations are also magnified from the first film. When the story does fall short in the feature Sammo Hung’s choreography and the physical skills of the actors are more than capable of picking up the slack and carrying the film to a strong finish.
Features:
Cantonese 2.0 Language, Cantonese 5.1 Language, Mandarin 2.0 Language, Mandarin 5.1 Language, English 2.0 Language, English 5.1 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: B
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: C
Packaging Grade: A-
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: A+
Released By: Well Go USA
Release Date: April 19th, 2011
MSRP: $29.98
Running Time: 108 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Samsung 50″ Plasma HDTV, Denon AVR-790 Receiver with 5.1 Sony Surround Sound Speakers, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080.