LoginTo be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Keanu Reeves, I thought I might as well check his first (and so far only) directing effort. Well, it was rather surprising that Reeves would choose to direct such a typical Asian martial arts flick but, on the other hand, why not? Anyway, eventually, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, it was still nothing really mindblowing though. Basically, it all depends if you love this kind of martial-arts. I mean, if you do, I think 50% of the whole thing was made of fighting scenes and I have to admit that those scenes were actually really neat so you will definitely enjoy this flick. However, if you are like me with only a mild interest in this genre, you will probably be bored by the seriously generic story. Seriously, why does it always have to be about a great fighter who actually doesn’t want to fight? Couldn’t they find something else? At least, it was neat that Keanu Reeves chose himself to play the villain but he could have developed his character a little bit more. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I guess it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
Man of Tai Chi Reviews
An average movie
Posted : 5 years, 4 months ago on 17 December 2018 11:32
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The China's underworld fighting club.
Posted : 10 years ago on 24 April 2014 02:11
Directional debut for Keanu Reeves which was partially based on stuntman Tiger Chen's life story. Since the story was inspired by a Chinese character, the movie was co-produced by Hollywood and China in Cantonese and Mandarin languages with a little English. Keanu Reeves appeared in a negative role and his friend Tiger Chen as himself.
As the Keanu Reeves's first movie as a captain it is evident that he had faced tough challenges to capture in some of the scenes. Clearly the fight choreographies were the best parts of the movie. Since his friend Tiger Chen is a stuntman they had no troubles in those areas. Those who love martial arts will like this movie for its awesome stunt sequences. Drama portions were little sloppy, due to the similar fashion storyline that already we had seen in some of the earlier releases.
It is not a finest martial art movie of the year, but fights were the movie's highlight. I can't appreciate Keanu Reeves direction, but somehow he handled everything nicely from this movie being a junk. He's a good actor than a director, though he may improve in his next project, but I don't know.
I expected this movie to be fast paced, exciting one, but what I got was opposite. The reason was the story of individual character did not fit into as a single movie. For example, Tiger Chen's master and his story, Hong Kong Police and their criminal chase, all these looked a bit weird together. Removing commercial elements could have made it a better movie.
This is not the first time a western director flew to the east to make a movie. It has been done many times in the past in movies like 'The Last Samurai', 'Kundun' and the recent one '47 Ronin' et cetera. So no wonder Keanu Reeves made this with his best friend Tiger Chen. The question is, is this movie worth to have a peek? I would say it was not the best nor the worst.
6.5/10
As the Keanu Reeves's first movie as a captain it is evident that he had faced tough challenges to capture in some of the scenes. Clearly the fight choreographies were the best parts of the movie. Since his friend Tiger Chen is a stuntman they had no troubles in those areas. Those who love martial arts will like this movie for its awesome stunt sequences. Drama portions were little sloppy, due to the similar fashion storyline that already we had seen in some of the earlier releases.
It is not a finest martial art movie of the year, but fights were the movie's highlight. I can't appreciate Keanu Reeves direction, but somehow he handled everything nicely from this movie being a junk. He's a good actor than a director, though he may improve in his next project, but I don't know.
I expected this movie to be fast paced, exciting one, but what I got was opposite. The reason was the story of individual character did not fit into as a single movie. For example, Tiger Chen's master and his story, Hong Kong Police and their criminal chase, all these looked a bit weird together. Removing commercial elements could have made it a better movie.
This is not the first time a western director flew to the east to make a movie. It has been done many times in the past in movies like 'The Last Samurai', 'Kundun' and the recent one '47 Ronin' et cetera. So no wonder Keanu Reeves made this with his best friend Tiger Chen. The question is, is this movie worth to have a peek? I would say it was not the best nor the worst.
6.5/10
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Man of Tai Chi review
Posted : 10 years, 2 months ago on 26 February 2014 02:42
"You owe me a life!" Is the tag line for this movie as it is used at least 3-4 times by Keanu Reeves. This movie is a sad attempt at a movie directed by Keanu Reeves. It is super cheesy and Keanu Reeves is as hilariously awful on-screen as he is off-screen. Tiger Chen plays a fictional version of himself and is probably the only interest character in this. Keanu Reeves is not believable as a villian. His acting makes him as a villain kind of seems like Neo trying to act like a villainous Morpheus. The fight scenes are pretty cool which makes this a little enjoyable to watch. Take out the cheesy one-liners and replace Keanu Reeves with someone who can actually act and this would have been a much better movie. It isn't too bad, but it is a bit amateur. It could have been much better seeing as Keanu Reeves does a lot in this genre. Come on Keanu Reeves you have to take notes from good actors trying to direct like Ben Affleck!
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Man of Tai Chi review
Posted : 10 years, 8 months ago on 27 August 2013 05:38
Some alright fights but very bad dialogue, cliché story, bad script, really bad CGI and some shit that just didn't make any sense. The bad guy was too stereotypical and the fight that I was looking the most forward to was nothing (the fight with Iko Uwais). The fights were decent, but everything else was not so good.
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