Man of Tai Chi (2013)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Too much of everything

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I didn't have any expectations prior to watching this movie, especially after realizing Keanu Reeves is in it. There are hundreds of movies with this plot (martial artist fights in a dangerous underground tournament to save his dojo, or temple, or whatever). Most of them are totally forgettable affairs. Still, for a second, I was under the impression they'd make the fighting more realistic, or more spectacular. They tried both and failed miserably.However, I learned a lot from this movie. Apparently, Chinese martial arts practitioners are skilled in the ways of the Force. Since they are foreigners, they refer to the Force as "Chi". Chi is in many ways like a Higgs boson beam. It can give mass or remove mass from its target. That would explain the completely screwed up physics governing the motion of the combatants. Also, Chi is a great way to give people hickeys, if you're not overdoing it. Tiger's master gives him a belly hickey during a sparing session gone wrong -- I would not make any assumption on why the master did that, but this reminds me of some scandal in the Catholic church with a priest who gave a choir boy one of those. Us, Christians have our own way with the Chi.To conclude, the good stuff in the movie (the cops who are after Keanu Reeves) gets hidden under a pile of Bullshido: fat master, meditation, no touch attacks, nice guy straying from good, Chi and low gravity fights. To top it all, the weakest of the Merovingian vampires from Matrix Reloaded is a Tai Chi mail man who exacts his revenge on Neo.

The main character is some little ugly dude...no air of importance or heroics about him. Just looks like some random guy off the street. And he's looks 50. Very boring to look at.It's weird how they speak Chinese in some parts and English in others. It's like pick a language and stick to it.The fight seems seem plotted like speed-bumps. 10 minutes of boring story...Fight scene with random person, rinse and repeat.We never once feel for our Hero starting with this awkward unsightly appearance and the unnatural way it seems he runs into everyone who wants to fight him hand to hand. Do thugs not carry guns in 2016? Keanu Reaves appearance is funny because he doesn't say much just uninspired one liners.It's very dark. Everything almost has a greenish matrix-like tint to it. Once again another lifeless post-911 Hollywood Depression fest.

Man, I first caught wind of this flick last year when I saw it while scrolling through Netlfix. Being a Keanu fan (and not ashamed to admit that), I thought I'd give it a shot. Needless to say, I enjoyed the hell out of it! I thought it was a fun, stylish character driven fight flick that we simply don't get to see much of anymore. Keanu plays Donaka Mark, a psychotic sadist who runs an illegal fight ring. He finds himself frustrated by the lack of "interesting" fighters and recruits Tiger (played by Tiger Hu Chen), a young and naive master of tai chi. What follows is an almost Faustian tale of Tiger's rise, fall and struggle to regain his former honour.Maybe I make it sound a bit too grandiose, but it really is a damn good fight film. It has a solid cast, decent cinematography, well choreographed fight sequences and a strong enough script to carry all its action. P.S. Fans of 'The Raid' might be interested to know that Iko Uwais has a cameo towards the end.

This film works on many levels and is not just an excuse for a lot of fighting. Keanu Reeves directs a tight plot with excellent actors all extremely well chosen. There is no flying about on wires or lengthening swords but there is a powerful message at the heart of this film and it is a lesson for China emerging once again as a world power. It is also a lesson at the heart of Chinese culture and Tai Chi. The film feels very slick and is filmed with an eye developed in Hollywood which is an interesting cocktail mixed with the Chinese actors and language - most of the film is in Mandarin but Reeves speaks English - to give a distinctive and interesting flavour. Reeves is the evil character symbolising corruption and a hunger for blood whilst the Man of Tai Chi battles with his inner demons to overcome his own loss of Chi.