[QUOTE=Jimbo;1015086]Rather than create an oversaturation of Ip Man/Wing Chun films, why don’t they make movies about other historical KF figures? How about films about Chan Heung, or Kuo Yun-Shen, or Dong Haiquan? Or any of a number of others. .[/QUOTE]
They could make a movie about that Eagle Claw guy master beat senseless about 5 unarmed missionaries and bragged about it 
watched it last night in Melbounre.
Great fighting seq.
It shown the bad tradition and the good tradition of Kung Fu culture.
When Sammo Hung fight, i told my friends: that’s MY STYLE!
The 8 diagram plam and monkey fists are entertaining.
I thought there will be praying mantis, CLF or Eagle Claw cos that’s the popular styles back then.
just picked up the dvd from the bookstore.
and viewed it
it is kind of a depressing movie. no money, 9 month before first student showed up------
some good things I like
monkey style, ba gua, wing chun, hong fist—
smartly, the students practicing in the public park, no rents, no people harassing you to shut down the school, there is no school yard to close—
the spirit of –
eating the dinner with family is more important than winning the challenge fight–
actually there are many more important things in life than just winning a fight –
the theory of cutting into or occupation of the center line/road
from ankle, knee, thigh to hip/waist (from inside of the opponent both legs)
from wrist, elbow, shoulder, neck, temple (from inside of the opponent both arms) to the center on top of the head.
monkey style is about tumbling, and changing postures fast, however the dinner table was too small and slippery to do a monkey style, WC protected its center line.
ba gua was not able to attack from side and the back, YP protected its center line from the ankle to the top/head and faced ba gua si fu with his front facing. ironically, YP was able to cut into his centerline by grabbing his leg and go along the center line of his back all the way to the head and hit his temple—
hong si fu wanted a son, so he kept trying and ended up with many daughters and the last kid being a son–
bruce lee entered the movie at the end. BL was a child actor in HK. He certainly brightened the movie, it was kind of depressing till BL showed up and the rest is history.
$34 million (USD?)
Yen emerges from shadow of Chan, Li
By MIN LEE (AP) – 12 hours ago
HONG KONG — For years, Donnie Yen worked in the shadow of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Having fought both on-screen, the 47-year-old actor was considered a worthy opponent but not necessarily a leading man in his own right.
The dynamic changed after Yen took on the role of Bruce Lee’s kung fu master in 2008. “Ip Man” was a hit and two years later, the sequel was also successful. “Ip Man 2” is the top-grossing local film in China in the first half of the year with a box office take of $34 million, second only to “Avatar” and beating other Hollywood blockbusters like “Iron Man 2” and “Clash of the Titans.”
With Chan and Li cutting down on output and seeking more dramatic roles, Yen is now the most prolific action star. Last year, he had three releases. This year, four are scheduled, including “Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen,” which was chosen as one of the two opening movies at the Venice Film Festival in September.
His breakthrough role as Ip best showcased his personality and was right for the times, Yen told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
Yen said Chinese viewers have tired of the superhuman feats of action heroes like Lee, Li and Chan and found Ip more accessible because he “just comes off as your friend, a friendly neighbor.”
“What people want to see is someone closer to the people, someone with family values, maybe even a man who’s afraid of his wife, a domesticated man. We crafted this character — but at the same time he excels at kung fu. He’s powerful. He can protect his family and the people around him,” he said.
Film scholar David Bordwell said it’s exactly that pedestrian quality, the lack of a “star persona” that has defined Yen’s career.
“He isn’t fierce and short-tempered like Bruce Lee was, or a comic figure like Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung,” said Bordwell, a leading expert on Hong Kong cinema.
“He can play many different roles, so in a sense he might be considered the first top-rank Hong Kong martial arts star who is a character actor rather than automatically a hero,” the retired University of Wisconsin at Madison professor said.
“Ip Man” marked a “major step forward” for Yen because it was a good fit and the veteran actor skillfully handled Ip’s transformation from a reserved martial arts teacher to fearless defender of Chinese pride, Bordwell said.
Three years shy of 50, Yen, who was born in China and raised in Hong Kong and Boston, is capitalizing on his new level of stardom and says he has no plans to slow down. In “Legend of the Fist,” he plays the nationalistic fighter Lee made famous in his 1972 movie “The Chinese Connection.” In two other upcoming releases, Yen tackles the Three Kingdoms period general Guan Yu from ancient China and the mythical Monkey King. He’s also working on a martial arts film with Peter Chan, a Hong Kong director best known for his love stories. The actor, who was trained by his mother, a martial arts teacher, is also fight choreographer on all four productions.
“I want to continue to make breakthroughs in kung fu film and action film,” Yen said, adding his biggest challenge now is to combine dazzling fight scenes and compelling storytelling.
“Flashy, fierce and fresh fight sequences are no longer the only requirement. Now they also need to move the emotions of the audience,” he said. “If the drama is unsuccessful, no matter how spectacular your fight sequences, it doesn’t matter.”
However, Yen, who appeared in “Highlander: Endgame,” “Blade II” and “Shanghai Knights,” isn’t interested in a Hollywood career, preferring to focus on cultivating his following in the growing mainland market, calling it a “golden opportunity.”
“For an actor, a Chinese-speaking filmmaker, given how gloriously the mainland Chinese market has developed in the past few years — foreign markets can’t match the kind of creative space that brings,” he said.
Donnie is spot on with this closing comment.
Donnie is, by far, my fav MA actor, period.
Anyone seen Legend of the fist yet?
I didn’t think Legend came out yet.
The last release date I heard was Sep 21 - see here.
Here’s our Legend of the Fist thread.
I just viewed ip man biography before ip man 1 and ip man 2.
really enjoyed it.
Ip Man the Movie 2
I have just seen Ip Man the movie 2. It was great. Although I was kinda of disappointed with his fight with the White guy who does boxing. It almost glorifies western style fighting and gives off the impression that western fighters are stronger and more comptent fighters than the chinese?
What do you think about this movie?
…
you hooked me 
Ok,
If you want to be good, foget about Ip Man, respect yes, understand your history yes, and train you ass off in a constructive and illegient way.
paul
www.moifa.co.uk
Boxing has weight classes. The boxer has sparring partners, training preparation etc. Boxer runs, jumps rope etc. Boxing is a sport. Ip Man is clearly much smaller, and only had “kung fu” preparation. Not used to gloves coming at him, nothing to really engage. His arsenal was limited as shown by the incident where they questioned and made illegal his using kicking. So the hero had so many things making him such an underdog. Now, imagine if Ip man ran 5 miles a day, did cardio, sparred, and weighed within 20 pounds of that guy! priceless..
In your opinion do you believe the Hung Gar guy was beaten that easily? I mean really? In real life someone strong who practices Hung Gar would they be beaten that easily?
Give me your opinion?
[QUOTE=Lindley;1031850]Boxing has weight classes. The boxer has sparring partners, training preparation etc. Boxer runs, jumps rope etc. Boxing is a sport. Ip Man is clearly much smaller, and only had “kung fu” preparation. Not used to gloves coming at him, nothing to really engage. His arsenal was limited as shown by the incident where they questioned and made illegal his using kicking. So the hero had so many things making him such an underdog. Now, imagine if Ip man ran 5 miles a day, did cardio, sparred, and weighed within 20 pounds of that guy! priceless..[/QUOTE]
January 28, 2011
The Ip Man movies have generated a ton of buzz over the last few years, with good reason, as they’re some of the best martial arts films in recent memory. Following the eponymous Ip Man, the founder of Wing Chun, who famously instructed Bruce Lee, the second installment, Ip Man 2 will hit US theaters for a limited release on January 28, 2011. In accordance, a new trailer and poster have been released.
Here’s a summary:
After escaping the Japanese occupation of his hometown of Foshan, China, Ip Man and his family have arrived in Hong Kong, which is living under the iron fist of British colonial rule. Ip wants to support his family by opening up a martial arts academy to teach his unique Wing Chun style. But a corrupt cabal of Hong Kong martial arts masters, led by Hung Chun-nam, refuses to allow Ip to teach until he proves himself – and prove himself he does, in an intense series of fights against the masters showcasing a dazzling variety of martial arts styles, culminating in a highly anticipated brawl between Ip and Hung atop a rickety table. But even after gaining the respect of the masters, Ip's troubles are far from over. Hong Kong under British rule is a world of corruption, and when a Western-style boxer named Taylor "Twister" Milos comes to town to entertain the British upper-class, and insults both Chinese martial arts and the native citizens in a horrifically violent way, Ip must step up and fight for the honor of both his kung fu and the Chinese people. Forced by honor to enter a brutal "King of the Ring" boxing match against Twister, it's East versus West in an amazing, knock-down drag-out fight to the finish.
If nothing else Ip Man 2 is worth a look to see martial arts badasses Donnie Yen and Samo Hung (who have both been in too many amazing films to name here) engage in an epic battle of legends. That alone promises to be worth the price of admission.
A U.S. release…finally.
poster looks dope.
Off the NYT
Enter the Teacher to the Dragon of Martial Arts Films
By DENNIS LIM
Published: January 21, 2011
NEARLY four decades after his death, Bruce Lee remains one of the most potent symbols of Hong Kong cinema’s golden age. The original crossover martial artist, a local child star turned celebrated creator of Jeet Kune Do, the art of the intercepting fist, Lee made only a handful of films after his international breakthrough. (He died in 1973 at the age of 32.) But kung fu classics like “Fist of Fury” (1972) and “Enter the Dragon” (1973) are the stuff of countless homages and imitations, and Lee’s life and career have been chronicled in dozens of books and films. While the Hong Kong martial arts drama has long been in decline, it’s only fitting that the latest stirrings of a revival are connected to Lee: the most popular kung fu screen hero of the moment is none other than Lee’s mentor, Ip Man.
Born in the southern Chinese city Foshan, Ip Man (1893-1972) settled in Hong Kong after the Communist takeover of 1949 and devoted his life to the practice and popularization of the Wing Chun fighting style, known for its explosive, close-range strikes. Until recently his cinematic afterlife has been confined to brief appearances in films about his most famous student, but a growing wave of Ip Man movies has elevated him to a folk hero in his own right.
First came Wilson Yip’s “Ip Man” (2008), a biopic set in the 1930s, before and during the Japanese occupation, with the action star Donnie Yen in the title role. (A big hit in Asia, it received a brief theatrical run in the United States last year.) Mr. Yen and Mr. Yip reteamed — along with the illustrious fight choreographer Sammo Hung — for “Ip Man 2,” which covers its hero’s years in 1950s Hong Kong, as he contends with rival instructors and thuggish British colonialists. The top-grossing local film in Hong Kong last year, “Ip Man 2,” opens Friday in New York and Los Angeles.
Rushed into production on the heels of the first “Ip Man,” “The Legend Is Born — Ip Man,” directed by Herman Yau, is a prequel of sorts, focused on a teenage Ip. The filmmakers behind “Ip Man” and “Ip Man 2,” in taking on bite-size portions of their protagonist’s life, are leaving themselves open to a continuing franchise.
And Wong Kar-wai, perhaps the most revered and singular of Hong Kong auteurs, is finally shooting the Ip Man project that he has been developing for years. Titled “The Grandmasters” and featuring Mr. Wong’s regular collaborator Tony Leung in the lead role, it remains, as tends to be the case with Mr. Wong, shrouded in secrecy. (The fights are being choreographed by Yuen Wo-ping, known for his work on the “Matrix” trilogy and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”)
Mr. Yen said in an e-mail interview that the films have sparked interest in Ip Man’s biography and philosophy. “People now see Ip Man as a legendary master of his time,” Mr. Yen said, adding that the movies have done “a good job promoting Wing Chun to the world.”
Many a kung fu film is predicated on a contrast of fighting techniques — the saying “Northern leg, southern fist” broadly sums up the regional differences. To prepare for the role, Mr. Yen, who described himself as a mixed martial artist, lost 10 pounds and boned up on Wing Chun, a characteristic of which, he said, is “conquering the unyielding with the yielding.”
He spent hours late into the night practicing with a wooden dummy. Character research was inseparable from mastery of the discipline. “Using your bare fists with this traditional equipment is the best way to experience the character and his martial arts legacy,” Mr. Yen said.
Less a flesh-and-blood character than an allegorical abstraction, Mr. Yen and Mr. Yip’s Ip Man continues the long tradition of the kung fu master hero, exemplified by the much mythologized 19th-century physician and martial artist Wong Fei-hung (incarnated on screen by, among others, Jackie Chan and Jet Li). He also echoes the Bruce Lee persona in being an emblem of racial pride.
Born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, Lee appeared on American television in the late ’60s (on “The Green Hornet” and “Batman”). But it was his Hong Kong productions of the early ’70s that ignited his global superstardom. There was often a chauvinistic edge to Lee’s self-appointed role of kung fu ambassador: his films were designed as showcases of his skill, and by extension, of the superiority of Chinese martial arts. (Still, he was hardly a purist, inventing his own camera-friendly style and often incorporating non-Chinese elements.) “Fist of Fury,” set in the early 20th century in the Shanghai International Settlement, pits Lee against a variety of colonialist adversaries; “Return of the Dragon” builds to a gladiatorial showdown with Chuck Norris in the Roman Colosseum.
Mr. Yen’s Ip Man is likewise compelled to demonstrate the dominance of his technique, facing down northern interlopers in “Ip Man” and a rival master of the Hung Ga school (played by Mr. Hung) in “Ip Man 2.” The main villains are caricatured foreigners: a glowering Japanese general and karate expert in the first film and a barbaric British boxing champion in the second.
The Ip Man films speak to the tricky economics and politics of post-hand-over Hong Kong cinema. For many the return of the British colony to Chinese rule in 1997 brought down the curtain on what was once one of the world’s scrappiest and most vibrant film industries.
The scholar David Bordwell points out in the updated edition of his landmark study “Planet Hong Kong” that the decline was already under way before 1997, thanks to a combination of factors that included piracy, a defection of talent, the iron grip of Hollywood and the ascendance of other Asian cinemas. The upshot: In the past decade Hong Kong cinema, an export business even in its prime, has grown more dependent on the financing power and large audiences of mainland China.
Li Cheuk-to, a film critic and the artistic director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, had a twofold explanation for the nationalist bent of the Ip Man films, which are Hong Kong-China co-productions. “On one hand it is an homage to, or an exploitation of, the Bruce Lee films,” Mr. Li said by e-mail. “On the other hand it is a calculated move to please the audience, especially the Chinese in the mainland market, where anti-Japanese and xenophobic sentiments are stronger than in Hong Kong.”
Mr. Yip, the director of the films, acknowledged that their patriotic tenor might partly account for their appeal. Ip Man, he said, “survived a difficult period in his life, as did China, and still became one of the great masters in martial arts.”
But politics is ultimately secondary. As martial-arts throwdowns, the Ip Man movies live or die on the strength of their fight scenes, and the response from the kung fu cognoscenti has been mostly favorable. Mr. Li characterized the fights as a continuation of the “hard-hitting, dynamic yet intricate style” that Mr. Yip, Mr. Yen and Mr. Hung developed in their first collaboration, the crime thriller “Kill Zone” (2005).
In Hollywood brawls, digitally abetted staccato edits and shaky, off-center perspectives increasingly create a visceral impression of tumult at the expense of coherence (as in the Bourne and Batman movies). But even at their most kinetic the best Hong Kong movies generally ensure that a viewer is able to follow the action in an action sequence. Even in an age of computer-generated imagery, Mr. Li said, the priorities of Hong Kong genre cinema remain “intricate action choreography and a shot breakdown that shows each movement clearly.”
This visual legibility is a point of honor for the martial arts performer, a confirmation of his bona fides. Bruce Lee was often filmed in shots that framed him head to toe, the better to show off his moves. “New technologies should really only be used to enhance the visual quality, not to manipulate the entire fight choreography,” Mr. Yen said. He noted with pride that an especially demanding scene in “Ip Man 2,” in which he and Mr. Hung square off on a teetering table surrounded by upturned benches, took eight days to film.
For the kung fun fan sheer physical ability remains the greatest special effect. “To do an action as simple as standing on a wooden pole takes great skill,” Mr. Yip said. “No amount of technology can recreate that, even today.”
Opens in U.S. theaters this Friday, but only a limited release. I’m sure S.F. will have it. Not sure about where else yet.
From their press release
Ip Man 2
will open in New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco/San Jose, Honolulu, Portland, Dallas and Austin on January 28, with more markets to follow.
Debating whether or not I’ll go to see it on the big screen. I’ve got STRIKEFORCE: Diaz vs Cyborg this Saturday - not sure if I can sneak in a movie that I’ve already seen in there too. I suppose it depends on where exactly it is showing for me. I know, I know, I should go out and support. We all should.
I hope it eventually plays in San Diego. I’d like to see it on the big screen first. I wouldn’t expect it to become a big hit, but maybe it will play in one of the art house theaters.
If it gains enough attention, it may give some impetus for a possible future Donnie Yen/Tony Jaa onscreen pairing.
Now showing
‘Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster’ review
Amy Biancolli, Hearst Movie Writer
Friday, January 28, 2011
Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster
ALERT VIEWER Action. Directed by Wilson Ip. Starring Donnie Yen. (R. 108 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)
Well Go USA/Variance Films
If there is one cardinal rule of action movies, it’s this: Any sneering bad guy who informs the hero that he’s “making a big mistake” is, at that very moment, making an exceptionally big one. That’s doubly true when our hero is Ip Man (Donnie Yen), the hallowed Wing Chun instructor of Hong Kong and the transcendently awesome butt-kicker of “Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster.”
Wing Chun is a form of kung fu that combines offense and defense in fleet, close maneuvers. Ip Man (also spelled Yip Man) was a revered practitioner whose many illustrious students included Bruce Lee. You wouldn’t know it from the movies, but the real Ip Man used opium and worked as a cop, and never went mano-a-mano with a kung-fu fighting Japanese general.
That was in the first “Ip Man,” released in 2008 and directed, like this one, by Wilson Yip. It was a magnificent, ridiculous, audaciously overwrought story, which included a delightful bit in which he uses a feather duster to beat the snot out of a sword-wielding bully.
He can use just about anything to beat the snot out of just about anyone, but he never revels in this ability. He’s a man of modesty. Slim, mild-mannered and committed to the Confucian principles of the Chinese martial arts, Master Ip approaches his opponents with an otherworldly calm that explodes in a flurry of darting kicks and punches when circumstances require.
Whereas “Ip Man” was set in mainland China during the late 1930s, “Ip Man 2” takes place in Hong Kong after his arrival there with wife and son. Instead of sadistic Japanese occupiers, we now have cartoonishly slimy British expats and a clubby old group of rival kung fu masters. They’re annoying and imperious - Ip Man’s martial arts school is muscling in on their turf, darn it - but they’re certainly a limber group of seniors.
Yen brings the same coiled, quiet power he brought to “Ip Man,” carrying himself with grace until the time comes to pulverize his opponents. The fight scenes are super-crunchy fun, relying more on tightly choreographed moves and judicious enhancements than all-out airborne CGI. It honors the law of gravity, more or less. If the movie packs a weaker punch than the original, it has less to do with the action sequences than the script (by Edmond Wong, son of Raymond, who wrote the first), a flimsy affair with subpar villains. Try as they might, smarmy British twits and one overly muscled goon just don’t measure up.
– Advisory: Violence.
@Jimbo - I think Tony Jaa is done for a spell - haven’t heard anything on him since this: tony jaa calls it quits. Nevertheless, we’ll have something on ONG BAK 3 next week. Stay tuned.
I feel ya - it will be fun to see IM2 on the big screen. I hope everyone here can go out and support it.