Tai-Chi Master (1993)

As a t'ai chi player, I watched this film hoping to see a lot of t'ai chi (I'd already started running scenarios in my head where the brash young Jet Li learns t'ai chi from Michelle Yeoh). In this respect, and only in this respect, I was disappointed, as this is not a t'ai chi film but a story about how t'ai chi came to be. In every other respect, I was supremely satisfied. This is first class wuxia, alternating crazy fights with goofy humour, with a little tragedy and philosophy thrown in. Of course this mix will probably be insufferable to anyone who isn't into wuxia, but if you like the kind of martial arts films where combatants call out the name of the move they're about to do, you'll love this. Incidentally, you'll notice the inspiration for a fight in Charlie's Angels in one of the early scenes: "And this one's called knocking you on the head."

This is one of the jewels of my Jet Li collection; the film is awesome in itself, but when Jet's character Junbo loses his mind it's the funniest piece of acting I've ever seen from him. Considering that most of his roles are serious, this is a welcome (and unexpected!) change in pace.The exchanges with the Tao dummy and the ducks especially had me in stitches. And where he mistakes a pole for his Sifu...well, just watch and you'll see what I mean.On that note, if you enjoy the humour in this film, then you'll also like 'The Legend 2'(region 2 title) with Jet and Josephine Siao.

This is a classic, modern, kung fu movie which draws inspiration and improves upon all your old favourites from the 70's. Of course the distributors have done a bad job of packaging, so I don't blame people for not liking this because it doesn't meet their expectations. From the front cover it looks like a modern setting film with guns and car chases etc.. But what you do get is a cool story about two young shaolin monks who go their separate ways and discover hugely different styles of fighting. The first scenes; set in the temple, are the best seen in a long time and give a real sense of power for the style. yuen woo ping is up to his usual tricks so there is lots of imaginative fighting throughout, always demonstrating great skill whatever the characters are up to. My only minor grudge is that yeun Chuang Yang (daoist priest) doesn't have a fight scene (see drunken Tai Chi!!). I will definitely recommend, but then, any real kung fu flick fan will already have bought this and watch it 100 times!!.

Twin Warriors succeeds as a martial arts film because it keeps us entertained with almost a constant stream of highflying action sequences. However, due in part to poor dubbing; the drama scenes between the fights are laughable.The story follows that of two friends, Chin Bo and Juanbo (Siu-hou Chin and Jet Li), two monks that becomes friends at, and later get thrown out of a Shaolin Temple. After this, they meet up with the leader of a group of rebels (Michele Yeoh), and Juanbo joins them, while Chin Bo goes off to join the emperor's army. Naturally, they meet up again along the way and their friendship is basically the main plot point of the film. As I mentioned, though; the dubbing is awful, and the script is no better. The characters talk as if they're from an upmarket part of London, and when they're both of Asian origin; it makes it very hard to take seriously. It's hard to tell whether the script is bad, or if it's just that it has been lost in translation. Because some of the lines of dialogue are cringe worthy, but that could be due to English translation; I don't know. It's the same story with the acting; none of the cast excels in the drama sections of the film, but their performance is masked by awful dubbing. Everyone deserves credit for their martial arts, however. The action sequences are generally imaginative, well crafted and entertaining; although they do have a tendency to go over the top at times; the prime example of this being when two characters are fighting in a dining hall, and a table falls apart and somehow manages to become stilts for one of the characters to stand on while fighting. I admit that it's entertaining...but come on.Credit to the cinematography department; this film does look very nice. And it does keep the audience entertained for it's duration, but that's all this film is; a crowd pleaser. It's just too silly to really be taken seriously.