Ip Man 2: Donnie Yen & Wing Chun Return

After the breakout success of Donnie Yen’s Ip Man, the martial arts based film which hit the big screen in 2008 and ushered Wing Chun back into the spotlight, the sequel is already well under way.

Wing Chun master Ip Man (also known as Yip Man), is well-known in the West for providing martial arts instruction to a young Bruce Lee – one of his most famous disciples. [See picture at bottom right.] The 20th century kung fu Grandmaster is credited with helping to make Wing Chun one of the world’s most widely practiced Chinese martial arts today. Ip Man 2 is the second film in a planned semi-biographical trilogy on his life.

Donnie Yen portrays Ip in the first film, depicting the future master in his early adulthood as a wealthy playboy and martial arts practitioner in Foshan, China. The Hong Kong Film Award’s took notice by nominating Donnie Yen for Best Actor and awarding Sammo Hung and Tony Leung Siu-hung for Best Action Choreography. 

THE NEXT VIEW
The crew returns for the eagerly awaited sequel. Ip Man 2 continues the story of Ip’s escape from Japanese occupied China into Hong Kong.

There he opens a Wing Chun school only to come into conflict with another kung fu master, played by martial arts titan Sammo Hung, who is already in the area and highly decorated.  Wing Chun, as taught by Ip Man, is being viewed as a martial style which is too feminine, while Sammo Hung’s more hard style of Hung Gar is seen as a more macho style of boxing.  The rivalry heightens after a number of exchanges between the two.

FIGHTING MASTERS
Where the first film gained hard-to-top recognition for its eye-catching fight scenes, the sequel promises to up the ante with another screen-fighting highlight - a sensational duel between the two masters pitting Wing Chun kung fu against Hung Gar kung fu. The duel will take place on a rather small area (a round table), so there will be an emphasis on the sharpest skills and dexterity.

Director Wilson Yip returns to helm the second installation. The film is expected to release in the summer of 2010.

The film's fight sequences will be choreographed once again by Sammo Hung.

View a classic fight scene from the first Ip Man film below or visit the website of the first film for more information on Ip Man.