Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars Donnie Yen, Lynn Hung, Simon Yam, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Xiaoming Huang, Siu-Wong Fan, Kent Cheng, Darren Shahlavi, Amber Chia, Jiang Dai-Yan, Hark-On Fung, Calvin Cheng Ka-Sing | Written by Edmond Wong
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £17.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 104 minutes | Directed by Wilson Yip
After being blown away by the hard-hitting masterpiece that was Ip Man, I couldn't wait to watch the sequel. And you know what? I saw them both in the same day, each for the very first time. That premier viewing experience of the original 2008 film gave me one heck of an appetite for more of Donnie Yen's straight-faced, modesty-exuding nobleman with a predilection for martial arts and a tendency to kick some serious sacrum.
Following very much its own and somewhat backward rules for a sequel, it's a noticeably smaller film than its predecessor, lacking the same sense of scope as it deals with the British colonisation of China, rather than the Second Sino-Japanese War. The fight scenes are less epic, although Sammo Hung's action choreography is still nothing short of brilliant, and it's far tighter on characterisation, resulting in a much smaller and intimate cast. One thing that is stepped up a notch, however, is the comedy factor: the smattering of dead-wood-dry humour is genuinely hilarious and the way the predominantly excellent cast play the gags so straight is a joy to watch, let alone a smart way of relieving a touch of the story's high drama in all the right places, instead of watering it down or giving it a farcical edge.
The first half of Ip Man 2 has it right on par with the four-star effort of the original, but what unbalances the scale of quality is the subsequent part of the film. It suddenly takes a precarious approach that pushes it dangerously close to jumping the shark. Thanks to their less than competent performances, the cast of British expats stick out like sore, English-speaking thumbs from the moment they are first seen, which triggers the film to fall into a Rocky IV-esque trap – complete with boxing matches and a predictable, overly set-up in-ring fatality – as it begins to lose direction.
It's certainly a shame that the film couldn't match up to the might of what came before it, but it's still far from an unworthy sequel. With outstanding fight sequences, rich characters and a charming nod to Bruce Lee at its denouement, Ip Man 2 is highly enjoyable and teeming with fun and spectacle.
EXTRAS ???? The first disc in this double-DVD set contains a gallery that includes the UK and Japanese trailers, the original Ip Man UK trailer, and two TV spots; a brief shooting gallery of specific scenes; a making-of feature; the production breakdown of four major scenes with Kenneth Mak and Wilson Yip; three deleted scenes; footage from the gala premiere; an audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan; and a selection of trailers for other DVD and Blu-ray releases from Cine Asia.
The second disc on the other hand is comprised of 12 separate interviews with cast and crew members Wilson Yip, Louis Fan/Fan Siu-Wong, Sammo Hung, Youe Hong, Donnie Yen, Kent Cheng, Huang Xiao-Ming, Aston Chen, Lynn Hung, Pierre Ngo, Simon Yam and Darren Shahlavi; plus three meaty UK DVD world exclusive documentaries: The Legacy of the Master, Wing Chun in Action (both with senior Wing Chun instructor Phil Morris), and The Wing Chun Connection: From Bruce Lee to Hollywood. You can usually rely on Cine Asia to take care when putting together these packages and this stacked release is certainly no different.