Sammo Hung Kicking It Old School In Ip Man 2
It’s rare that a sequel surpasses the original, but a recent casting announcement concerning the follow-up to Ip Man (see Reed’s review here) seems to indicate that director Wilson Yip is gearing up to do just that. Legendary action star Sammo Hung has signed on as Donnie Yen’s opponent in the film, playing a macho master of Hung Gar who takes exception to Ip Man’s introduction of Wing Chun to the streets of Hong Kong, a style dismissed as being too feminine. I’m a great admirer of Sammo Hung, having spent the past few months going over some of his early work, so this is quite possibly the best movie news I’ve heard so far this year.
It’s amazing to see movies of this sort making a comeback. Aspects of traditional martial arts have been used to great effect in enhancing modern action movies, but the pure spectacle of watching two different styles clash in a ballet of fists and kicks has been all but lost for years. What’s especially interesting about this news is the faith being placed on Ip Man as a character outside of his connection with Bruce Lee. I can only imagine that the chance to appeal to both mainland China and Hong Kong with the spectacle of watching their respective combatants square off was a deciding factor. Is anyone else excited by the triumphant return of old school kung fu?
Comments (5)
I don’t know anything about old school stuff, but I loved Ip Man. It was epic on bluray, too. I could really get into this stuff. The style-clashing sounds interesting.
Posted by joe on April 6th, 2009Sammo was the bomb. Nowadays he could probably smuther one.
Posted by TheAllKnowingGod on April 6th, 2009Badasssssssss!!!!!!!! Sammo rules!!!!
Posted by numbnuts on April 8th, 2009Sammo Rox! ò.ó
Posted by Kendier on May 22nd, 2009Sammo Hung the best.
Posted by Rubens on November 3rd, 2009Leave a Reply