Triple Threat (2019) - A Review

 

Look at the cast of this movie!

Triple Threat is an American/Chinese/Thai/French action movie released in 2019. It stars Tony Jaa, Tiger Chen, Iko Uwais, Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Jeeja Yanin, Celina Jade, Michael Bisping, and Michael Wong. The movie was directed by Jesse V. Johnson, with action/fight choreography by Johnson as well.

In Triple Threat, Payu (played by Tony Jaa) and Long Fei (played by Tiger Chen), both ex-Special Forces, help a mercenary group free prisoners in a Thailand village on a humanitarian mission. Or so they think. This group, led by Devereaux (played by Michael Jai White), includes Mook (played by Jeeja Yanin), Joey (played by Michael Bisping), Steiner (played by Ron Smoorenburg), and Dom (played by Dominique Vandenburg), are not good people. In actuality, they are there to free their leader, Collins (played by Scott Adkins) only. A lot of innocent people die in this mission, including Jaka's (played by Iko Uwais) wife. Jaka fights back, but is defeated early on.

After Collins is free, the mercenary crew rig the prison to explode, leaving Payu and Long Fei for dead. Time passes, and Jaka is on a quest for revenge. He encounters Payu and Long Fei in an underground fighting tournament. All three of them decide to team up to find the mercenary group and seek revenge on them. When it seems they are all on the same page, Jaka seemingly betrays them the next day! The mercenary group are on another mission. A mysterious crime boss wants wealthy philanthropist Tian Xiao Xian (played by Celina Jade) dead. The mercenary crew find out from Jaka that Payu and Long Fei are still alive, and immediately search for them to eliminate them. From there, a violent game of cat and mouse commences, with Payu, Long Fei, and Xiao Xian constantly on the run with Jaka pulling the strings.

The cast of Triple Threat is amazing, but they are let down by the story. The story is a bit lackluster, I must say. The heroes aren't really given much of a personality. Iko Uwais as Jaka wants revenge for the death of his wife, but is not trustworthy throughout the movie. Thankfully Tiger Chen and, especially Tony Jaa are likable, so you root for them to overcome the odds. Only Collins and Deveraux have personalities on the villain side. Collins is just a raging a-hole, and Deveraux is a cocky jerk (with good taste in bootleg movies). Michael Jai White is amazing as Deveraux. He can talk some mean crap!

The fight scenes are good, but they are not amazing. When you see all these amazing martial artists in a movie together, you expect to see some incredible fights. As I said, the fights are good. They could have done so much more! I have read that they only had thirteen days to shoot (either the whole movie or just the fight scenes), so I can forgive the lack of amazing fights. Iko Uwais has a nice short fight with Tony Jaa, and then with Tiger Chen. Tony Jaa's fight with Ron Smoorenburg (the kicker from Who Am I) was pretty cool. Iko Uwais vs. Michael Jai White was good too, but it was kind of ruined by the constant inter-cutting with another fight scene. The final fight is pretty good, too. Wish it could've went longer. Jeeja Yanin was totally underutilized in this, though! I wanted to see more of her in this setting. 

So, should you see this? I would say yes, if you want to see all these martial arts superstars in a movie together. The plot is basic, yet kind of convoluted. It visually looks good, too. There is a lot of gunplay in this, if you like that kind of action. I just hope all these actors come together in a movie again, and the story and fighting action live up to their talents. I don't hate this movie, I'm just disappointed in it.

The Blu-Ray I watched for this review.

Back of the slip case.

Blu-Ray disc. No cool artwork or designs, unfortunately.

Reviewed by David Williams

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