Ip Man 2.

Rachel Pitzer

I wanted to watch Ip Man 2 to try and see if the director used the same techniques, but I did not find a lot to be similar. The plot was basically the same, but this time he was fighting a British boxer. The opening scene was a flashback of when the Japanese invaded their town, and it was in black and white and in slow motion. Then after that scene, it was the exact same as the opening scene in the first movie with him practicing on the wooden post. Also, he started his own school; after the first movie, Ip Man and his family fled to Hong Kong, and this is where this movie is taking place. Throughout this whole movie, the colors were very bright, so I got the sense that there was more hope in this movie than the first one. This time, however, when there was any kind of fighting, the coloring got very dull, and sometimes the lighting would get darker. In the first movie, there was no change in color or lighting when there was fighting taking place. There were a lot of flashbacks in this movie as well. When Ip Man was fighting the boxer, he had a flashback of when another Master fought the boxer and was killed; this gave him much inspiration to not give up and keep fighting. Also, when Ip Man saw his friend from the first movie, he discovered that he was shot in the head, and suffered severe brain damage which made him not remember anyone. During this time, the movie flashbacked to when his friend was shot, and then it made Ip Man flashback to when his friend was normal. For the fight scenes, there were still a lot of close ups like in the first movie. In this movie, Ip Man’s wife was pregnant with their second child. I think this symbolized a new beginning. She had the baby during his fight with the boxer. Then, after the fight was over, Ip Man’s friend that was shot heard Ip Man’s name on the radio and remembered him. When the fight was over, Ip Man ran home to see his wife and new baby. I think this baby symbolized that there was a new, bright beginning for them and the Chinese people.

Both Ip Man movies reminded me of American films because they were both about good defeating bad.