A sequel to ‘Ip Man: Kung Fu Master’, ‘Kung Fu Legend’ sees director Li Liming and star Dennis To return for another round of Ip-sploitation. We join Ip Man (To) attempting to open his own martial arts school, undergoing trials set by his peers and town elders, when they’re interrupted by a brash Westerner (Dasz) and his goons. He wants to buy the already established kung fu schools so he can knock them down and build boxing gyms that he thinks will be more profitable (and ply his illegal trade through!). The masters refuse and the Gweilo thus sets on a campaign of terror and destruction, roping in a defected kung fu master from the local schools, until he gets what he wants. Seeing his fellow masters and townspeople struggle under the threat from this marauding Westerner, Ip Man has no choice but to defend his town and fight back.
This quickie sequel is nothing we haven’t seen a hundred times (even in the Ip Man movie subgenre) and delivers much the same as the first instalment, albeit with a lot less action this time. Taking more of a dramatic approach with this instalment, ‘Kung Fu Legend’ puts most of its emphasis on the plight of the townspeople and machinations of the villains. This is all good and well but does slow proceedings down, especially for those expecting loads of crisp action promised by the trailer. The drama is ably performed by the cast, though it is somewhat at odds with the pantomime villains who ham it up with constant cigar smoking and fixing their hair in an over-the-top manner: so, we know they’re evil! It’s a slight tonal mismatch as the film would have benefited by either being a straight drama or leaning into the over-the-top action/genre elements.
What action occurs is all too brief, choppy, and just not enough. Even the final showdown is all over rather too quickly. There is creativity there but unfortunately scuppered by truncated pacing and choppy editing. ‘Ip Man: Kung Fu Master’ and Liming’s similar-themed sort-of-prequel ‘Young Ip Man: Crisis Time’ were at least saved by pacey momentum and solid (and frequent) bouts of kung fu action. ‘Kung Fu Legend’ is a reasonable effort in attempting to squeeze more juice out of the Ip Man cinematic universe, but unfortunately the varying mix of potboiling drama, exaggerated villains, and minimal action doesn’t quite gel into a satisfying whole.
