Man Of Tai Chi (2013) - A Review

 

Man Of Tai Chi rocks!

 

Man Of Tai Chi is a Chinese/American martial arts movie released in 2013. It stars Tiger Chen, Keanu Reeves, Karen Mok, Yu Hai, Ye Qing, and Simon Yam. The movie was directed by Keanu Reeves (in his directorial debut) and the the fight scenes were choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping.

Tiger Chen plays...Tiger, a delivery person who is also the last disciple of  Ling Kong Tai Chi. Tiger competes in martial arts competitions, which he is very successful at. His tai chi style is a popular topic with the commentators! Despite his success with tai chi, he wants to use more power and force in it. His master, Master Yang (played by Yu Hai) wants Tiger to control his chi and meditate, instead of letting his chi control him.

Donaka Mark (played by Reeves) is intrigued by Tiger after watching him fight. He contacts him with a job offer. Tiger is reluctant, but goes to meet him. After an intrusive look over, he gets attacked by a martial arts fighter! Tiger wins, and Donaka offers him a job: fight people for money. Tiger rejects his offer, as fighting for money is dishonorable. Coincidentally, the temple where he trains at suddenly gets hit with violations and is going to be torn down for real estate development. Needing money to repair the temple, Tiger accepts Donaka's offer. Tiger makes a lot of money, enough to fix the temple, but he begins to change. He becomes more aggressive, abandoning his tai chi training.

As you can guess, there is more to Donaka Mark than meets the eye. Sun-Jing Shi (played by Mok), a Hong Kong cop, is investigating Donaka. Despite her boss, Superintendent Wong (played by Yam) closing the case for lack of evidence, Sun-Jing Shi keeps pursuing the case. All of this leads up to a final showdown, with Tiger, Donaka, and Sun-Jing Shi crossing paths...

Tiger Chen is an amazing martial artist.

 

Man Of Tai Chi rocks! I was not expecting this movie to be so good! Of course, the fight scenes are top notch, but the story and the characterization is great as well. Tiger Chen is so good in this. You see him go from an honorable tai chi practitioner to an aggressive, do anything to win fighter. You see him conflicted about what he is doing. You root for him to win, but you hope he doesn't lose himself in the process. Also, Tiger Chen is a fighting dynamo in this. He's got skills (and that's an understatement)!

Keanu did a great job directing, and the character he plays is a bastard!

Keanu Reeves does a great job in his directorial debut. Every character is believable, their actions and reactions are right on point. He keeps the movie going at a good pace; there are actually no boring scenes in this! Now, Keanu as Donaka Mark... Keanu has never been so hate-able in a movie! Donaka is a ruthless, psychotic, manipulative jerk! Never have I wanted to see Keanu Reeves gets his butt kicked so much in my life before! Who knew Keanu had that evil in him?

So many good fights in this movie!

The fight scenes in this movie rule! For some reason, I wasn't expecting the fights to be this good. I had no idea Yuen Woo-ping did fight choreography for this movie! I actually don't have one favorite fight in this movie since every fight is awesome in this! You see tai chi, tae kwon do, Iron shirt kung fu, southern style kung fu, and even some lucha libre moves in there, among the many other styles in the fights. The fights are fast and hard-hitting. You can also see Tiger's fighting style evolve with each fight. Keanu Reeves holds his own against Tiger Chen as well. As an aside, it is great to see Yu Hai in this movie! He is a martial arts legend. It is great to see he's still got the skills. I love that guy!

So yeah, I recommend that you watch Man Of Tai Chi. It's got an interesting story, interesting characters, and amazing fight scenes. What more could you want in a movie? Much respect to Keanu Reeves for making this movie. Tiger Chen should be a bigger star, that guy is amazing!

Reviewed by David Williams