Ip Man 2

So many sleeping hours not fulfilled just to do last minute brushing-ups for these last two days just for the the two morning papers which ended this morning and what a waste of my sleep. Totally unproductive the hours spent studying. Not gonna care about it since it's already over until the day results are out.

So, after that paper ended, we went to watch Ip Man 2. By we, I mean this fella and this fella plus unexpected (not really unexpected lar) inclusions of few other fellas. How popular is the movie compared with another massive sequel out on the same day (Iron Man 2, in case some of you had no idea)? Well, Iron Man 2 did extremely well, with the only available seatings for all the time slots from today till Sunday are the front rows. But Ip Man 2 ain't that bad for when we entered the cinema hall, it's was fully-packed.

So, is Ip Man 2 any better than the first movie? Well, basically, for me, Ip Man 2 is just the same as the first one, with the changes in settings, villians, and also with few additional new characters. Watched the first during the CNY, therefore, the story still fresh in my mind but anyhow, I still think it's worth the money spent.

A great martial art movie, it showcased and promoted Wing Chun to people. The dexterity of the hand movement of Donnie Yen was so fast that every punch feels like bullet from a gun. I like how Sammo Hung's character and Donnie's interacted. One was a well-respected but slightly corrupted master whose age had caught up with him while the other was a noble gentleman who believe in dignity and integrity.

The character development for Sammo's was a good one though I don't agree with his action which led to his demise. I mean, yea, accepting that fight with the Ang Moh wrestler to defend Chinese martial art when that Ang Moh talked trash about it show the patriotic side of him and I truly believe that the reason for his corruption was due to the situation of life and not of his want. But to fight till death even he himself knew of his shortcomings and his family, to me, a bit reckless. Too patriotic. Like what Ip Man said to him during their short second fight, " Is determining the winner more important than having dinner with your family? "

The much-lauded fight between Sammo and Donnie truly lift up the expectation. But the stereotypical 'Westerners-look-down-on-Chinese-people' is a bit, well, cliche. Last time it's the Japanese. Now, the Ang Mohs. Even I find the purpose of some new characters reflected back to the first movie. Kent Cheng played what Lam Ka-tung had played in the first movie. The essences of Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (General Miura, the karate expert) and Shibuya Tema (Sato) were reflected by Darren Shahlavi (boxer Twister) and an unnamed actor who played the corrupted cop, Wallace. Pierre Ngo is the new Simon Yam in the movie. The sequences of the movie also somehow a mirror image of the first one. Well, life's a series of repeated same stories with different surroundings and people.

Overall, a very nice movie who had its touching moments and many awesome fight scenes. Luckily, Donnie Yen himself expressed no interested in coming back for Ip Man 3 as he felt there's no more stories worth exploring. Unless it's about Bruce Lee. Read it somewhere.