Notable Cast: Tiger Chen, Keanu Reeves, Simon Yam, Karen Mok, and a cameo by Iko Uwais
I’m still baffled by the continued existence of Keanu Reeves
as a leading man in film. As I write this, his current film “47 Ronin” is
crashing and burning before our very eyes as it bombs in the American box
office, and outside of handful of films like “The Matrix” and “Bill & Ted”
his previous films don’t spell out A-list star. So when it came to “Man of Tai
Chi,” I’m sure I’m not the only one that held their breath considering it’s his
debut directorial effort. Lucky for us, his work as a director is much more
proficient then his ‘shaolin wooden man’ acting style and this low budget
martial arts flick comes off as a surprisingly efficient and competent film.
Tiger (Chen) has been living the standard life. He works
much too hard for so little pay, his romantic life is essentially non-existent,
and opportunities seem scarce. He is studying to be proficient in tai chi, but
his frustration with life is most certainly affecting his chi. When he receives
a mysterious letter offering him a job working ‘security’ with Donaka Mark
(Reeves) he can hardly believe his luck. Getting paid ridiculous amounts of
money to fight? But not everything is as it seems and Tiger is about to learn
the true meaning of strife when things start to take a slide for the darker.
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| Tai chi: not just for people in parks any more! |
While Tiger Chen has had his fair share of praise as a
stuntman in key films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the two
“Matrix” sequels, his first leading man performance here was something of a
mystery to me initially. Yet, he ably handles the material well here. Despite
some of the overzealous classic Yuen Woo-Ping fight choreography and some of
the modern visual choices by director Reeves, the film relies a lot on the
subtle character arch of Tiger Chen and he does it rather well here. Keanu Reeves
plays the villain of the film and hams it up enough to counterbalance Chen when
needed and, believe it or not, it works.
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| Every emotion that Keanu is capable of... |
As for the plot, “Man of Tai Chi” does something rather
interesting. There are plenty of films that try to blend modern cinema with
classic kung fu themes to varying degrees of success, but “Man of Tai Chi” does
both with remarkable extremity. The film pulls a rather modern punch with the
televised underground fighting plot and the uber-modern Donaka as the villain,
but it adds in a definite streak of classic kung fu mysticism into the picture
with the classic style temple and the master/student relationship. Occasionally
the film runs a bit cliché (deciding between selfish motives and stronger moral
values) and it’s often a bit predictable, but with the style and fun fight
sequences never does it come off as boring.
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| Fighting and dancing. One and the same. |
While Keanu Reeves might not be a selling point as an actor
for most critics, “Man of Tai Chi” proves that he might be a selling point when
it comes to directing. His debut is a fun and intriguing blend of classic kung
fu and modern action and even if the film runs a bit close to being
run-of-the-mill, it does it with enough charm and finesse to sell the whole
thing.
Written By Matt Reifschneider
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