Ip Man 2 (5/5 Stars)

The British Boxer has thrown down a challenge. In an “apology,” to the Chinese people of Hong Kong for having killed one of their grandmasters during a Chinese-Western Boxing Match, he announces in a brash snarling voice that he allow any yellow man with a wish of revenge to step into the ring with him. Be warned though he declares, he will not hold back as he did when he killed the first man. The British Boxer is a daunting physical specimen. He has the type of body that you would think is impossible outside of a video game or a comic book. He fights in boxer garb. Large gloves exaggerate his fists and advertise the power of his haymakers. Shirtless, he confidently tromps around the ring showing off to the audience that he is indeed the strongest man in the room. With a condescending glint in his eye he pulls out a very large incense candle. In accordance with Chinese culture, he mockingly explains, the challenge will be open for as long as the candle burns. And that is where he makes his first mistake. From the back of the room we hear a calm unassuming voice. It is of a man, certainly not the biggest in the room, dressed only in a simple full-length black robe. He respectfully explains that the candle is not used or meant to tell time. Instead, it is a symbol of the inherent modesty in Chinese Culture. And with nothing more than that, the Ip Man solemnly accepts the challenge. He will fight the British Boxer.

We have a tendency in our Western Culture to categorize people either as Jocks or Nerds. You’re one or the other (and according to nerds there are plenty of clues as to which one you are). To those of us who would rather not be either, the lure of Eastern Culture is a strong one indeed. The Kung Fu master combines the best of both worlds. He is intelligent, educated, and polite, but not a pushover. He is strong and confident but not a dumb asshole. “Ip Man 2,” directed by Wilson Yip, is a biopic of sorts that heaps praise upon the real Ip Man, the guy who started the “Wing Chun” Martial Arts school in Hong Kong in the 1950s. You may not have heard of him or his school exactly, but you probably are familiar with his most famous pupil, Bruce Lee. Anyway the real Ip Man must have been one hell of a guy. He has almost certainly been exaggerated (especially his fighting skills) in this movie as the actor Donnie Yen has decided to portray him not merely as a great man, but as the Ideal Man. Whether this was true in real life is anyone’s guess, but I think this much we can assume: He probably was a really nice guy and he probably could kick your ass.

The story is very simple. Ip Man moves to Hong Kong with very little money and opens a Martial Arts school. He gets push back from other Martial Arts schools in the area and has to pass a test in order to teach. Then there is a subplot with a British Army Officer who is bullying one school in particular into providing a free boxing match. He gets very irate very quickly whenever the Chinese ask if they will get paid. He threatens to shut down the fish market if they don’t do it. The British Champion Boxer, played by Darren Shalavi, then insults Chinese Martial Arts (he describes it as weird dancing) and to save the pride of Chinese Martial Arts, the master of that school fights the boxer and is killed. That will take us to the beginning of this review. This may have been inspired by something in real life. What probably didn’t happen was how it happened in the movie. There are plenty of fight scenes and they are all ridiculously creative, elaborate, impressive, and spectacular. The exceedingly talented choreographers are the same guys who designed the kung fu from “The Matrix.” There is a scene where Ip Man takes on ten men with knives and poles in a fish market. Then there is a scene in which Ip Man has to accept challenges from the other grandmasters in order to open his own school. This fight takes place on top of a wobbly circular table. It gets really interesting when the fattest and oldest grandmaster jumps onto the table and it starts getting really wobbly. That fat old dude can really move. The last two fights take place in the ring with the boxer. Each subsequent fight is better than the last. There are about six main fights and they come at regular intervals. This is an exemplary Kung Fu movie. The best I’ve seen since “Ong Bak.”

There seems to be a large disconnect between movie critics and regular moviegoers when it comes to action movies. For instance, Transformers 2 was aggressively panned but made a huge amount of money at the box office. I would suggest that movies like “Ip Man 2” are the reason for this discrepancy. As movie buffs, movie critics see lots of movies. Every now and then they will see a movie like “Ip Man 2,” which raises their standards and expectations for action. I’m sure it was surprising to many people who saw Transformers 2 and loved it to then read numerous reviews that complained about how boring the fight scenes were. You wouldn’t understand why a Michael Bay movie is boring if you haven’t seen a great movie like this one. It’s like putting on glasses for the first time. You really have no idea how bad your eyesight is until you actually get a glimpse of how good your eyesight can be. In my review of “Tron: Legacy” I suggested that they should have gotten rid of the whole evil person taking over the world subplot and just focused on small motivations that made sense. Watch this movie and see what I mean made manifest. The final two fights are much more exciting and suspenseful than anything in Tron because the emotions behind them are based on not vague plans to take over the world but merely something as fundamental as an insult towards one’s culture and country. A disparagement directed at a person’s sense of identity is perhaps the most provoking type of insult there is. You don’t have to be Chinese to understand why it is so important for Ip Man to win the fight.

As it usually is in most movies, the bad guy has a tendency to steal the show. Here, Darren Shavali puts in what should be one of the great performances of the year. He’s got a screen presence (not to mention serious boxing chops) that is on the level of Al Pacino in “Scarface.” Surprisingly, this is his first main role. He’s been in other movies like “300” and “Watchmen,” but always as an unnamed extra in the background. I hope to see more of him in just as good movies in the future.

This movie is playing in only one theater. City Cinemas on 2^nd Avenue near 14^th Street. The original “Ip Man” is instantly streaming on Netflix.