''Man of Tai Chi'' is a 2013 Chinese-American

martial arts film Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature numerous martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expres ...

directed by and starring

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

and co-starring

Tiger Chen Tiger Chen (; born 3 March 1975) is a Chinese martial artist and actor. Tiger Chen is Yuen Wo Ping's protege and Keanu Reeves's teacher and friend. He was also Uma Thurman's stunt double. Life Early life Tiger Chen was born on 3 March 1975 in ...

Iko Uwais Uwais Qorny (), known professionally as Iko Uwais, is an Indonesian actor, stuntman, fight choreographer, and martial artist. He is best known for acting in the action films '' Merantau'' (2009), '' The Raid'' (2011), '' The Raid 2'' (2014), ...

Karen Mok Karen Mok (born Karen Joy Morris (), 2 June 1970) is a Hong Kong pop diva who is one of the leading Asian pop singers and actresses with a career spanning three decades. She is the first female Hong Kong singer to win the Golden Melody Award and ...

, and

Simon Yam Simon Yam Tat-wah (; born 19 March 1955) is a Hong Kong actor and film producer. He received international acclaim for his performances in international film festival and box office hits such as ''Naked Killer'', '' SPL: Sha Po Lang'', ''Election' ...

. A multilingual film featuring dialogue in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

, English and

Hong Kong Cantonese Hong Kong Cantonese is a dialect of the Cantonese language of the Sino-Tibetan family. Although Hongkongers refer to the language as "''Cantonese''" (), publications in mainland China describe the variant as ''Hong Kong dialect'' (), due t ...

, it revolves around a young martial artist who is pushed by the need of money to enter the world of underground fighting. The film was released in China on 5 July 2013 and in the USA on 1 November 2013. Despite the critics praising Reeves's direction and the fight sequences, the film bombed at the box office.

Plot

HKPD officer Sun-Jing Shi leads an investigation into Security System Alliance (SSA), a private security firm owned by the mysterious Donaka Mark. Suspecting Donaka of hosting an illegal fighting operation, Sun-Jing turns one of his fighters into a mole who gets killed by him. Without any evidence, Superintendent Wong orders the case closed, but Sun-Jing secretly continues investigating. Donaka then sees Tiger, a young, working-class disciple of

tai chi Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an neijia, internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and medita ...

at a Wu Lin Wang Competition, gets impressed with his fighting skills and sends him a job offer at SSA. Tired of his menial courier job, Tiger flies to Hong Kong for the job interview which turns out to be a test of his combat ability. He passes the test and is welcomed by Donaka who offers him great financial rewards for joining his underground fighting ring. Tiger refuses as fighting for money would compromise his honor, and leaves. Soon after, land inspectors declare the tai chi temple belonging to Tiger's master structurally unsafe and plan to evict its occupants to demolish the temple for real estate development. Tiger seeks help from Qing Sha, a paralegal friend, and finds a means to save the temple through historic preservation and government protection. However, the need of money for repairing the temple within a month's time prompts Tiger to accept Donaka's offer. After each fight, which is a form of modern gladiatorial combat enjoyed by rich individuals, Tiger wins larger sums of money. He quits his job, buys his parents presents, and begins having the temple repaired. With time, Tiger develops a more efficient and brutal style. Noticing the change in him, Master Yang warns Tiger; however, intoxicated with the new life, Tiger ignores the warning. In the Wu Lin Competition, Tiger viciously injures his opponent and is disqualified. When Tiger comes back to train at the temple, a fight ensues and Master Yang is forced to use his internal Chi energies to palm-strike Tiger, reminding him that he is yet to completely master tai chi. Tiger ignores his advice to meditate, and finds out that the authority has rejected his petition to gain historical protection for the temple due to his actions at the Wu Lin Competition, which are against his temple's philosophy. An enraged Tiger demands a fight and Donaka has him face a mercenary named Uri Romanov. Using his rage, he quickly defeats Uri and almost kills him, but relents at the end. Donaka finishes off Uri. Realizing how much he has changed, Tiger declares his intention to stop participating in underground fighting and contacts Sun-Jing, unaware of the constant surveillance Donaka had put him under for a long time. Donaka sets up a private tournament for a death match, in which Tiger is to participate. Sun-Jing trails Tiger's escort, but her car is run off the road. Surviving the crash, Sun-Jing calls for assistance and discovers Superintendent Wong had been working for Donaka. At the tournament, Donaka plays a video composed of surveillance footage, revealing how Tiger had been manipulated, "corrupted" and transformed from an innocent martial arts practitioner to a ruthless fighter. Tiger refuses to fight his assigned opponent, and challenges Donaka instead. The fight is interrupted by the HKPD, who storm the compound and arrest participants and audience. Fleeing from the scene, Donaka arrives at the temple and starts fighting with Tiger. Donaka initially has the upper hand, but Tiger re-embraces his tai chi training and manages to palm-strike Donaka despite getting stabbed. A dying Donaka smiles, pleased for having pushed Tiger to become a killer. Tiger and his master then reconcile, Sun-Jing gets promoted to Superintendent and Tiger reaches an agreement with both Qing Sha's law firm and the real estate developers. The government decides to protect the village and tourists are invited to visit and learn more about the 600-year history of the Ling Kong Temple. Tiger tells Qing-Sha that he intends to open his own tai chi school in the city to continue the legacy of the Ling Kong tai chi.

Cast

as Donaka Mark, the film's main antagonist *

as Tiger Chen Linhu *

as Sun Jing Shi * Yu Hai as Master Yang *

Ye Qing Ye Qing (; born 13 November 1988) is a Chinese actress. She rose to fame after portraying Yu Tan in the television series historical television series ''Scarlet Heart'' (2011), which enjoyed the highest ratings in mainland China. Her film breakt ...

as Qing Sha *

as Superintendent Wong * Sam Lee as Tak Ming *

Michael Tong Michael Tong Man-lung ( Chinese: 唐文龍; Cantonese Romanization: Tong Man Lung (Tang Wen Long); born 17 November 1969) is a Hong Kong actor. Filmography TV series *'' Return of the Cuckoo'' (2000) *''The Kung Fu Master'' (2000) *'' Healing ...

as Policeman Yuan *

as Gilang Sanjaya * Silvio Simac as Uri Romanov *

Yoo Seung-jun Steve Sueng Jun Yoo (born December 15, 1976), also known as his

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

occurred on mainland

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Release

The film received an R rating from the

MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...

, although Reeves said it was shot with the intention of a PG-13 rating. The film

premiered A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

in 2013 with showings at the Beijing Film Festival and

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. It was also scheduled to be shown at the

2013 Toronto International Film Festival The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. '' The Fifth Estate'' was selected as the opening film and '' Life of Crime'' was the closing film. 75 films were ...

. It became available for purchase on 27 September 2013 via the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

(VOD) video on demand, and had its theatrical release in the US on 1 November 2013.

Reception

The film premiered at the 2013

Beijing International Film Festival The Beijing International Film Festival (Chinese: 北京国际电影节), abbreviated BJIFF, is a film festival in Beijing, China. Founded in 2011, the film festival is supported and sponsored by China Film Administration, China Media Group an ...

, where it received praise from

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

director

John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 71% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 68 reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "It may not be groundbreaking, but ''Man of Tai Chi'' represents an agreeably old-fashioned picture for martial arts fans – and a solid debut for first-time director Keanu Reeves." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 22 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Robert Abele of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' called it "a movie streamlined to evoke the timeless zip of martial arts movies past" and praised the "refreshingly grounded and old-school kinetic" action. Sheila O'Malley, writing at RogerEbert.com, also praised the "thrilling immediacy" of the fight scenes: "you realize you are actually seeing these guys actually do this, as opposed to watching something pieced together later in the editing room". Dave McGinn of the ''Globe and Mail'', in contrast, called the film "ambitious but generic" and filled with "stale conventions".

References

External links