Man of Tai Chi (2013)

A Tai Chi practitioner, tired of the passivity of the art, engages in clandestine fighting to help pay for the temple refurbishment.Keanu Reeves premiere as a director. A very good achievement in the fight scenes, they are very well choreographed and filmed, the viewer being able to discern all the movements and strikes used, thanks to the use of steady camera or glider, instead of shaky camera which is to be praised nowadays. Out of the fight scenes, his direction is quite decent. However, the few parts where CGI was used are really bad because it is to noticeable. As for the story, it is the typical Hong Kong fighting film, with the hero having to choose the path of good or evil and with somewhat predictable development. The dramatic part could be better developed, even if this is clearly an action movie. As for the acting, it's bad: a little more charisma in Tiger Hu Chen, the hero, would do no harm, just as Keanu Reeves in the role of the villain, a little more villainy and malice also would not hurt.Reeves is an avid fan of martial arts films and also a practitioner, and with this debut shows he has the ability to be behind a camera, at least in this genre. It's not a brilliant debut, just decent and not surprising, but I know Reeves has enough years of career to be able to show more - has he should have! And for this reason, because I think that everyone involved in this product should have tried harder in their commitment to the film, I cannot give more than 4/10.

I finally got around to watching "Man of Tai Chi", albeit three years after it was initially released. And I had some level of expectation to it, I must admit. But I am sad to say that the movie didn't live up to my expectations in the least way.This marks the most laughable and generic acting performance of Keanu Reeves so far. I have never seen him more out of touch with a movie or seen him seem more distant than he did here. Sure his body was there physically, but his mind was elsewhere. And it was reflected in both his performance, but also in the way that he delivered his dialogue.The story in "Man of Tai Chi" was quite simplistic, and actually wasn't more than just a shallow story spiced up by martial arts. The story in this movie was just laughable and stupid. And it didn't really help the movie in any way that the dialogue throughout the movie was not impressive.I must say that I was initially a bit excited about seeing Karen Mok, Simon Yam, Iko Uwais, Tiger Hu Chen and Keanu Reeves together in a martial arts movie. But it was a short lived excitement, because "Man of Tai Chi" was an under mediocre experience, to be bluntly honest.While we are on the cast talents, then it was really Karen Mok who was carrying the bigger part of the movie, despite not really being the main character. Tiger Chen did alright, but he was just restrained by having nothing worthwhile of a script to work with, and while his martial arts was impressive, it can only do so little to salvage the movie. It was a shame that Simon Yam only had such a small role in the movie, because he is a great actor. Iko Uwais was also deprived of a proper chance to showcase his martial arts as his screen time was limited as well. And on a side note, then it was also a nice treat to see Sam Lee in the movie, despite only having a small role. And as I mentioned above then Keanu Reeves was nowhere near his usual performance level in "Man of Tai Chi".The martial arts in the movie was quite good, and there was a lot of it. Actually it felt like the movie was crammed with excessive martial arts scenes to make up for the lack of a plausible and entertaining storyline. And while it is enjoyable to watch martial arts, a movie should also have a proper storyline."Man of Tai Chi" was a disappointment, and it manages to score a less than mediocre rating of four out of ten stars from me, solely because of the martial arts and the impressive cast. If you enjoy martial arts movies, then there are far, far better choices available.

Man of Tai Chi is a very enjoyable movie, but it may not be for everyone. The plot and characters are fairly straight forward, and the fight scenes are fairly grounded, so they won't be too exciting if you're in the mood for a crazy, physics breaking,brawl movie, however this compliments the tone of the movie rather nicely. This is a subtle movie, and it has a lot of heart, the action sequences focus less on trying to be big and explosive and more on showing a brutal, fairly realistic struggle that also sheds light on the mental state of the main character, in other words. The fights in this movie are not as flashy and stylized as other movies, this however did not detract from my enjoyment, because of the more tooth and nails style of the fights, it made them feel more like a struggle to survive than a choreographed martial arts show. As for the story, it is much more personal than you'd expect, instead of being focused on crime and criminals, which are certainly big elements of this movie, it's more about the main character's inner struggle about who he wants to be and how he wants to win his battles. This type of story wouldn't work without good actors. The performances are not award worthy, but they are enjoyable and you can't help but be excited to see what the characters do next. This is a straightforward, grounded fighting movie, with a personal story and good characters, not as stylized as other martial arts movies, but this fact adds to its tone and story, all in all, a well done, entertaining movie with an endearing message.

This is an action movie. And even though Keanu Reeves might not be Iko Uwais (who has a short appearance, too short if you ask me), even he's made looking good fighting. This might actually be one of his better performances (definitely in recent years). But the main role is played by someone else. The Man of Tai Chi! And as that title suggests, this man knows his Tai Chi.Or so he thinks, because as with most good action movies, he's actually still learning. Fighting-wise and life-wise that is. The movie is predictable with a sub-police story to hold the rest of it together. It might not be the most interesting movie plot-wise, but it delivers where it should: You cannot fault the action on display here. There are some very amazing action sequences put together ... just sit back, watch and enjoy