Movie Buzz : Iron Man 2 VS Ip Man 2

A quick review on both movies that I caught recently. It’s the battle between the IM 2.

Iron Man 2 – Even though I’m not exactly a hardcore comic book fan, it was rather easy to catch on the characters with its brief build-up and backstory scenes between the characters. One scene that I thought was superbly done was the grand prix scene in Monaco with the introduction of the character Vanko aka Whiplash. Another would be the scene whereby WarMachine and Iron Man battled against the Vanko and his droids army. Overall, the movie was really enjoyable but I thought the fighting scenes could be longer (like seriously, fighting against Vanko took less than 1 minute ?! That’s…noob.)

Of course, you can’t resist the charm of Robert Downey Jr and stunning Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman. Apparently The Avengers will be out in 2012, I believe this is a good intriguing ‘trailer’ for fans out there. Jon Favreau (Director) handled the action and special effects with real skill, I have to say it was better than what I’d have expected.

Ip Man 2 – A real dramatic martial arts film, in terms of plot and characterization, it portrayed how Chinese people were treated by the British back in those days, as well as the western perceptions towards Chinese martial arts. A random rush of Chinese pride after watching this film, especially when you recall the history of how the Chinese have always been ‘bullied’ by the Japanese then British during that period. Patriotism much. (Jackie Chan should just step aside with his crappy police beat them up action flicks)

Sammo Hung is one of my favourite martial art actor and I think his character was terrific. It’s a shame that it won’t be a trilogy as to build up the characters more and there would be a better focus in Ip Man 2′s story. Impressive use of technology to showcase the traditional martial arts and I really enjoyed the fighting scenes. As usual, the villains in most movies are rather astonishingly dumb, like how 20 men would wait patiently for their turn to whack Donnie Yen or having one ignorant boorish British man offending the entire Chinese population, but that’s how movies do it – unfolding the next events.

If you’re not exactly into the action, I must add that Huang Xiaoming (Leung) is rather cute as Donnie’s first student. Too bad there wasn’t much worth-watching scenes of him except being a troublemaker (which instigated the fight that brings Yen and Hung together)

I’ll give this movie a 4.5/5 !