For those that are turned off by typical martial arts fantasy fare, this movie is a welcome relief. Humor in these movies can sometimes mean, "Let's pile on more and more completely cartoonish, ridiculous stunts until the audience can't take it anymore." It's like watching a Roadrunner and Coyote cartoon: it's a collection of ridiculous, physics-breaking stunts that are pretty silly, and don't connect you to the character or the movie at all. That sort of thing is kept to a minimum here. The wire-fu is used quite sparingly, and for the most part, the fights look real. Ok, there may be the occasional fight with a wooden pallet, but it's the exception, not the norm. All this allows you to really get into them, really believe in what's happening. This is a very good thing for Ip Man 2 because the story is bare-bones and comprised mostly of fighting. For example, when Ip Man starts a martial arts school, his students get in a fight. He has to fight to rescue his student. This, in turn, starts more fights with the other local martial arts masters in the city. You get the idea.
Because the fights, the heart of the movie, are done so well, Ip Man 2 rises above its simple plot. The culmination of the tension in the movie comes in the big "Western vs. Chinese Boxing" match. Throughout the movie, several different styles of martial arts are pitted against one another, but this is a rather unique fight for not only this movie, but martial arts movies in general. Ip Man basically takes on an entirely foreign style of fighting. Since the movie is set in Hong Kong during the time of British occupation, the fight represents more than a match of curiosity. Ip Man fights for honor, and he fights to quell the rising animosity building between the Chinese and the foreigners. But even without the backstory, this fight is a good one - a really good one. Each fighter sticks to their respective styles, with each style's strengths and weaknesses being perfectly played out. The boxer hits with sheer power, staying with stamina, and using defensive footwork. Ip Man wears down the opponent, going for specific weak points, and upsetting the balance with surprise tactics the boxer never dreamed of training for. The fight goes back and forth, and it's all so good looking, it leaves you to wonder if this might be the way a real fight between these styles would go.
As for the quality of the cinematics, the quality of the Blu-Ray does come through, but you may need to look for it. There isn't nearly as much sweat or fine details as you might expect, but the details look dead real when they need to be. Faces looked pretty well smashed at the end of a fight. Little details like the patterning in fine robes come out crisp and clean and the lighting and scene framing is done quite well. The main thing I noticed was that gleam in everyone's eyes. It's especially nice when each fighter is glaring the other down, as they should be before these intense fights.
It's also worth noting that the British characters in the film are pretty shallow and one-sided (and pretty evil). They also seem to be delivering their lines in a very slow and deliberate manner. It's as if they were trying to teach an English class, not act as real, thinking, feeling characters. As an English speaker watching the film, every part where the British showed up was a bit painful and wince-inducing. The fact that nearly every other character besides the British ones in the movie are allowed room to grow, well, it brings the movie down a bit. Still, Ip Man deals with these characters in a respectful manner, and in the process, displays a very important side of martial arts.
The bonus features of this DVD set are decent. There are a good amount of deleted scenes, interviews, and other special features. It seems that just about every character is covered in the interviews, and they're pretty lengthy to boot. I found it particularly interesting that Darren Shalavi, the actor who played the main villain of the movie, was such a huge Hong Kong action film fan. Basically he was playing with his childhood heroes here, and this movie was something of a dream for him. There's also a feature that shows the thought that went into the sets. If you're looking for a behind-the-scenes feature showing how the fights were done, well, that's about the one thing you won't find in the bonus features.
Ip Man 2 is pretty entertaining, even for people who aren't action or martial arts fans. That's a pretty big deal, because it means the fights can't be silly, they have to be realistic. The stunts have to be believable. And not least of all, the characters have to be real enough to enjoy watching. Though it's not perfect, Ip Man 2 delivers a great experience, and something you can show to non-fans of the genre to draw them in.
