Interesting story, a relatable main lead with an internal struggle worthy of our attention. Tiger Hu Chen is great in the lead role, and obviously a brilliant martial artist.
Very well choreographed fights, for the most part. Fights do sometimes go overboard with bad wire work.
Best fight in the movie is hands down
the confrontation with Master Yang, a solid masterpiece that will be remembered.
The horrible editing is possibly the worst I've seen in years. The nice camera work and martial art choreography is sometimes taken well care of, yet so often degenerates into a crazy cutting contest.
After a few hundred 1-second long cuts, you start to get quite frustrated and annoyed. This is made absurd by the absolutely gorgeous credits shot which one long slow sweeping panorama of what I assume is Beijing.
The movie is unfortunately let down by a cramped ending. All things considered though, overall, the movie works and is quite enjoyable.
The fighting was nice, flowed well with the story, never seemed over the top and quick. It was consistently entertaining and never overstayed their welcome as a scene. The story was nothing special but then again, not stupid. The real interesting thing about this movie were the two leads. Our hero was flawed enough and the villain was mysterious enough to never be able to predict their intentions or how far they will take it. By the end, the villain get's a little goofy and could've been sold by a better actor.
Overall a worthwhile action film, a good in between film that bridges the gap from american action drama to chinese kung fu flick.
While let down by the third act it's an overall entertaining film. The fight scenes are hypnotising, the 'audition' scene especially had me hooked.
A promising start for Keanu as a director. I think he should have focused on being behind the camera first time around though. There is room for improvement but I will be keeping an eye on any future projects.
Keanu should stay behind the camera. He did well directing but was difficult to watch as the villain, the only negative for an otherwise enjoyable martial arts film.
Man of Tai Chi is Keanu Reeves' directorial debut, teaming up with martial artist Tiger Chen (as a fictionalized version of himself) and his Matrix choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping for what is essentially a pure fighting movie. The script is rather thin, though the idea of a tai chi adept being taken on the "dark path" is an interesting one, and the police subplot is only useful because it features Simon Yam in a small role, and I'm all about Simon Yam. Reeves himself plays the villain, a billionaire who promotes underground fighting that's an evolution towards dark Reality TV, and he channels his inner Nick Cage to do it. Neither he nor Chen are particularly good actors in this, but to be frank, you should be watching it for the fight choreography, which is excellent. A lot of styles, a lot of philosophy, some cool settings, and remarkably, very little blood.
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Comments 1 - 10 of 10
dpanter
Interesting story, a relatable main lead with an internal struggle worthy of our attention. Tiger Hu Chen is great in the lead role, and obviously a brilliant martial artist.Very well choreographed fights, for the most part. Fights do sometimes go overboard with bad wire work.
Best fight in the movie is hands down
The horrible editing is possibly the worst I've seen in years. The nice camera work and martial art choreography is sometimes taken well care of, yet so often degenerates into a crazy cutting contest.
After a few hundred 1-second long cuts, you start to get quite frustrated and annoyed. This is made absurd by the absolutely gorgeous credits shot which one long slow sweeping panorama of what I assume is Beijing.
The movie is unfortunately let down by a cramped ending. All things considered though, overall, the movie works and is quite enjoyable.
Recommended.
CSSCHNEIDER
I want to see Keanu Reeves direct more films.nowhereman136
The fighting was nice, flowed well with the story, never seemed over the top and quick. It was consistently entertaining and never overstayed their welcome as a scene. The story was nothing special but then again, not stupid. The real interesting thing about this movie were the two leads. Our hero was flawed enough and the villain was mysterious enough to never be able to predict their intentions or how far they will take it. By the end, the villain get's a little goofy and could've been sold by a better actor.Overall a worthwhile action film, a good in between film that bridges the gap from american action drama to chinese kung fu flick.
7/10
neocowboy
While let down by the third act it's an overall entertaining film. The fight scenes are hypnotising, the 'audition' scene especially had me hooked.A promising start for Keanu as a director. I think he should have focused on being behind the camera first time around though. There is room for improvement but I will be keeping an eye on any future projects.
palefire
A cross between Bloodsport and The Truman Showaudiopile
Keanu should stay behind the camera. He did well directing but was difficult to watch as the villain, the only negative for an otherwise enjoyable martial arts film.Siskoid
Man of Tai Chi is Keanu Reeves' directorial debut, teaming up with martial artist Tiger Chen (as a fictionalized version of himself) and his Matrix choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping for what is essentially a pure fighting movie. The script is rather thin, though the idea of a tai chi adept being taken on the "dark path" is an interesting one, and the police subplot is only useful because it features Simon Yam in a small role, and I'm all about Simon Yam. Reeves himself plays the villain, a billionaire who promotes underground fighting that's an evolution towards dark Reality TV, and he channels his inner Nick Cage to do it. Neither he nor Chen are particularly good actors in this, but to be frank, you should be watching it for the fight choreography, which is excellent. A lot of styles, a lot of philosophy, some cool settings, and remarkably, very little blood.rhitwick
Keanu sucks in fighting.Predictable story.
Very good action choreography.
Impressive set design and cinematography.
Flops
Cool idea for a martial arts flick. Some corny parts and some wooden parts, but the choreography was pretty solid and the film was stylized nicely.The_Comatorium
http://thoughtsfromthebooth.com/2014/01/01/film-review-man-of-tai-chi-2013/My review