Man of Tai Chi

Greetings hustlers of Kung fu! Hope you had an amazing Halloween! On this day of November first, I will be reviewing Man of Tai Chi. This movie was directed by Keanu Reeves, and personally, he did a pretty acceptable job over all. This movie is a decent kung fu flick all around and I enjoyed it. Let's get to the story shall we?

Man of Tai Chi is about a man who does tai chi. End credits! Just kidding, actually, there's more to it than that. Tiger Chen is a tai chi student who is trying to control his actions, but he's quick to anger and uses force to solve his conflicts instead of being peaceful. His master warns him of the consequences he makes because of this. Donaka Mark, played by Keanu Reeves, is a millionaire who runs an illegal underground fight club. Donaka's attention is grabbed by Tiger in a kung fu tournament. Donaka takes Tiger into this under ground fighting club and pushes Tiger to his limits, trying to make innocent Tiger into a cold blooded killer. The Hong Kong Police are trying to stop Donaka's illegal fight club, but always seem to be there too late. Sung-Jing, played by Karen Mok, refuses to give up and gets to Tiger before Donaka kills again.

The Good:

Overall, the story's actually pretty decent. It's much more than a simple learn kung fu/ know kung fu revenge story. It's questioning the fact can an innocent man become a killer if he's pushed too far? Will he kill because he doesn't have control over his actions? These questions are asked in the film and I like it. The fight scenes are visually stunning and amazing to watch. Even though Tiger doesn't necessarily use Tai Chi, it's still pretty good. In some parts of the film, Keanu Reeves can be a believable bad guy, and he does a good job as the film's villain. Tiger Chen, played by Tiger Chen, does well also, playing a man who slowly becomes headed in the direction of becoming a killer until he realizes killing is well, bad. Even the scenery is pretty to look at. And the use of sexy cars like a Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Bentley, make me like this film. Seriously, look at the Bugatti:

Sexy.


The Bad:

Keanu Reeves' acting. <sigh> There are some parts where Keanu over acts and is very unconvincing which is sad because Reeves' is a decent actor. There's one scene where Tiger tells Donaka that he's done and doesn't wish to kill. Donaka laughs an evil laugh....more like forced evil laugh and it's not good. CGI car wreck. Look, I don't mind CGI. I really don't. But if it's crappy CGI, well, it just tells me "lazy worker who didn't care". If the wreck had been shorter, I wouldn't have minded, but they made the scene long enough to where you knew that it wasn't real. Also, asian mullet.

Conclusion:

Man of Tai Chi is a good film. The story's compelling, the fights are wonderful, and I like the message in the story. It's not perfect, but it's enjoyable. Check out Man of Tai Chi. Hopefully, you'll enjoy it too.

4 no shadow kicks out of 5.