Continuing the legend of Ip Man, this 2010 movie continues on the tale from the 2008 movie, and again with Donnie Yen at the lead role of Ip Man.It was nice to see the movie revolve around the early starts of Ip Man's Wing Chun school and see how harsh the terms of such existence turned out to be. And it was an interesting approach with the numerous schools of martial arts and how their structure worked.I loved the interaction between Ip Man and the auntie with the laundry on the roof. Those scenes, although having no big impact on the storyline, were just a really nice touch to the movie.Similar to the 2008 movie, then "Ip Man 2" is heavy on martial arts, and it was also equally well choreographed and executed on the screen. It is always a pleasure to watch Donnie Yen in action in movies such as these, and he does so with flying colors.The acting in "Ip Man 2" was good, and they had a good group of actors and actresses for the various roles. And they did a great job with setting up the bad guy as a person that you really didn't root for in any way, and they had a great guy cast for that particular role, as Darren Shahlavi did a great job in portraying him. And once again, there are some impressive Hong Kong talents on the cast list as well, aside from Donnie Yen, which includes Sammo Kam-Bo Hung and Simon Yam.There is a good continuous flow to the movie, with a great combination of storytelling and martial arts.If you enjoyed the 2008 "Ip Man", then you will most definitely also enjoy the 2010 "Ip Man 2" movie, no doubt about it.

To start, the camera and artwork is done beautifully. I felt that every second was thought out carefully. The perspectives of the shots and what was happening fit very well together. Although those with "lazy eyes" may disagree, the subtitles seemingly disappeared within a few minutes. This effect is only achieved (for myself) when all details, large and small, fall nicely into place. In a way, subtitles can enhance a film. Not a word is lost due to volume imbalances. Despite the rough translations in many movies, the spirit still comes through strongly.The action is executed with obvious expertise, ensuing moments of "OUCH!" and "NICE ONE!" Some may feel much suspense, others will find the conflicts somewhat predictable. For this, I will subtract one star. Now, the most important part; the lesson. There are certain lessons that drive any film to success when finished properly. The movies I adore most are the ones in which I learn the most. I'm sure there are other films that teach this lesson just as well, if not better. I must say though, my throat knotted up and I bit my tongue to hold back tears near the end.My sense of this word (the word being the lesson and also spoken) has greatly attuned. What this movie has taught me is permanently etched into my soul. Hint: The practical wisdom is translated in the last eighth ;)

Ip Man (Donnie Yen) immigrates to Hong Kong after the Communists take over mainland China. Here he hopes to set up a Wing Chun martial arts school, but soon encounters difficulties with gaining students, with the main obstruction the lack of acceptance by other such institutions led by Master Hong (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo) as well as with the British authority.The first instalment was an overreaching take on the legend of Yip Man, whereas the sequel flings us even further away from recreation of past events and deeper into fictionalised accounts. The story itself is unfeasible and clichéd to an extreme, offering little in emotional reward, but a lot of unflinching kung-fu pummelling, unfortunately extrapolated to almost wushu type flying in the air. Not enough of what happens seems to actually be biographical, more of it can be deemed as mythical glorification, which in the end actually decreases Ip Man's achievements (the necessity to sugar-coat his biography is a double-edged sword). As expected the worst performances in a Hong Kong movie is privy to British nationals, who are adequately cringe-worthy in true local cinematographic tradition.Nonetheless Donnie Yen is pretty endearing in his role and does his best to win the role, despite not being offered much dramatical context. Still a far cry from "Once Upon a Time in China" or the similarly biographical "Fearless" (even has a similar white foe), which managed not only to delivers spectacular fight sequences, but also tell a story deeply laden with Chinese history, the ignominies of foreign occupation and the pains of victory.

Continuing from where the first film ended, Wing Chun master Ip Man and his family move to Hong Kong in the early 1950s after their escape from Foshan. There, Ip desires to open a school to propagate his art, as well as to make his living, but he has difficulty attracting students due to his lack of reputation in the city. One day, a young man named Wong Leung appears and promptly challenges Ip to a fight, but is easily defeated. Wong leaves humiliated, only to return with some friends to gang up on him. Ip beats them as well. Stunned and impressed by his skills, Wong and his friends become Ip's first students, bringing more disciples to help the school thrive.Wong is later caught posting promotional posters for the school by some Hung Gar students. One of them challenges Wong to a fight and loses, but his friends take Wong hostage in revenge and demand a ransom from Ip. Ip goes to the local wet market as directed, but the meeting ends in a confrontation with a growing mob of Hung Ga students. Ip and Wong fight their way outside to meet Jin Shanzhao — the martial artist and former bandit in the first film — who comes to their rescue with his own gang. The students' master, Hung Chun-nam, arrives to break up the fight. Ip introduces himself, and Hung informs him that before setting up a school, he needs to attend a special fighting ceremony to test his skill. Ip, Wong and Jin are subsequently arrested by Officer Fatso for disturbing the peace but are later released on bail. Hung and Fatso are then shown to be acting as reluctant collectors for the martial arts schools (including Hung's) as part of a protection racket headed by Superintendent Wallace, a corrupt officer in the Hong Kong police.Ip attends the ceremony and defeats his first challengers, and then strikes a draw with the last challenger, Hung. Ip is allowed to keep running his school on the condition that he pay the monthly protection fees, but he declines. Hung thus has his students loiter in front of the Wing Chun school and harass anyone interested, causing a street brawl between them and Ip's disciples. Ip is thus forced to close up and move the school nearer to home. Ip soon confronts Hung, who blames him since he wouldn't pay the protection fees, with Ip telling Hung that he chose to work with the Westerners. Hung insists that they finish their fight, but during this last encounter, Ip stops Hung from accidentally kicking his son as he suddenly appears, earning his respect from Hung. Ip leaves, and the next day, Hung invites him to a British boxing match he had helped to set up, quietly coming to terms with him.The boxing competition begins with the various martial arts schools demonstrating their skills. However, the event's star boxer, Taylor "The Twister" Milos, a Chinese-hating sociopath, openly insults and attacks the students, causing chaos as the masters try to restore order. Hung accepts Twister's challenge to a fight so that he can defend his culture.The fights are superb. The boxer won against Master Hong because he was old and taking medication (mostly probably for the heart). Therefore Ip Man begged Master Hong to give up the fight(same as Rocky Balboa did to Apollo Creed in ROCKY IV). The white boxer nicknamed "Twister", has a truly awesome physique and uses sheer muscle-power to beat his opponent.Next we see Ip Man challenging Twister. Now we see the effect of technique against power. Ip Man's Wing Shun provides him a counter-tactic against the strength of his opponent. Ip man is no longer young in this sequel, so he takes a lot more punishment from Twister. Had he been younger than Twister wouldn't even had a chance to touch Ip. However the sheer willpower, courage and perseverance see Ip through as he exposes Twister's weaknesses and wins the match(again I am reminded of Rocky IV match of Balboa Vs Drago).Ip Man's closing statement to the audience is powerful and though-provoking. He says that he didn't accept Twister's challenge to prove which style was better but to prove that one person's integrity or worth is not OVER that of another. He wanted also that the English and Chinese respect each others customs.This then is Ip Man 2 a worthy sequel that stands shoulder to shoulder with the original Ip Man. The ending scene shows a young Bruce Lee at Ip's door. Ip inquires as too why young Bruce wants to study Wing Chun. Bruce calmly replies: to beat up people I don't like.Ip smiles and tells him to see him when he is much older and the rest as we say is history.