Man of Tai Chi

Not much more than a series of random fights in a small room. Most of the fighting is good, but there is a healthy dose of fake and it's easy to spot because of the sheer volume. The Tai Chi Master is almost completely dubbed over and there is far too much posturing. In the end (minor spoiler...) the man of tai chi wins using a magic force that makes the end of Matrix 2 feel real.

This is Keanu Reeves' Bloodsport for the reality TV show era and a rare example of action film that dares to be -- well, just a fun, well-choreographed action film. Man of Tai Chi delivers everything we could expect from a martial arts flick directed by a dude from the west -- a corporate evil villain reaffirming his macho desires through violence --, but it's interesting to notice how this is also a drama about corruption and lost of innocence, of both a working-class man and a non-violent art.

the nonsense at the end of chuck bowen's slant review sets a new benchmark for ludicrous justifications of keanu's, err, minimalist acting. his strangled roar of approval halfway through was pricelessly bizarre though.

The minimal plot exists only to serve as justification for watching 90mins of people getting kicked in the face. This is a real throwback to that genre of martial arts movies that existed in the 80s/90s, But that's no bad thing. Keanu has picked a simple story to direct, and done so with surprising style and flair. Great fight choreography and filming mixed with a very slightly tongue-in-cheek plot make this a good no-brain weekend movie. Never rated Keanu much, but this is unexpectedly good.

IP man meets fight club, sort of. Besides some little flaws a very interesting debut by Keanu Reeves as a director. I guess only an oddball like him can devise something likes this. I hope he'll continue directing, he definitely has a gut feeling how to create something intriguing to watch.

A Truman show, Big Brother, Fight Club and Mortal Kombat mixed up with spectacular choreography and stone cold Keanu.

I could see Keanu direct the 2009's Tekken and it could have been a whole lot better.

The choreography/action cinematography was terrible. The martial artists were cleary very talented but quick cuts and close-ups = bad kung fu cinema. The story was decent but because of the bad kung fu cinematography, the fights actually took away from it rather than enhancing it.

Insultingly awful, but Keanu seems to be enjoying himself. I feel bad for Iko Uwais having been dragged all the way from Indonesia just to make some vicious faces pretty much.

A lot of wasted potential when it comes to characters' motivations and relationships (eg, the very cute interaction at first between Tiger and the receptionist that kinda goes nowhere) and Keanu's idea of cinematic cool is stuck somewhere around 2003. But the fights are pretty rad, if a little too chopped up at times, and the Matrix kid in me couldn't help but get hyped at seeing Reeves in a proper Kung Fu throwdown again.

66.500

So its a tournament movie. And it has some good fights. And having iko uwais cameo was criminal since he doesnt fight, but i suppose if he had the lack of screen charisma from the lead would have become just too obvious.

ger; [man of tai chi: tiger chen]; ein junger tai chi kämpfer will sich beweisen und kämpft dafür nicht nur auf einem offenen wettbewerb, sondern auch underground kämpfe - welche ihn immer weiter hineinziehen.;

There was so much potential, but the storyline of the titular character (Tiger Chen) and his very human vulnerabilities--albeit interesting--was not enough to carry the whole movie. We never learn the reason for Mark Donaka's (Keanu Reeves) for the fights. Karen Mok's talent was wasted here. As a joint US-China production, there seemed to be 2 sets of writers--one for the Chinese characters and one for the white ones. The acting was pretty terrible too, including by Reeves (no surprise).

The martial arts is great, the story is serviceable, Tiger Hu Chen was decent. Simon Yam, Sam Lee, & Iko Uwais were wasted. 7/10=70/100

Would have been good movie if there was some point to it, but villains being out just to crush the spirit of an innocent young martial artist is kind of stupid way to tell a story.

A top notch kung fu flick as the directorial debut of Keanu Reeves. This seems to have been overlooked by many people but it is really worth watching.

for only last fight sceene =) I love it

A guy punches people, and there's some reasons he does it but it doesn't matter why. Someone else likes to punch people too, so they punch each other. The end.

Tiger Chen's wire-fu fights are frequent and entertaining and Keanu's acting is as wooden as a park statue, which brings me an inordinate amount of joy. I craved noodles hardcore after watching this, which I'm assuming is a typical American response to a faux-martial arts movie directed by Keanu. Is it just me or does the name Keanu seem more fitted for a Killer Whale than a human?

Everything I'd hoped it would be

There's a good movie hiding in there somewhere, but it's buried under a meandering plot, gratuitous fight scenes that aren't QUITE interesting enough to stand up on their own merit, and a lot of unnecessary wire-fu. With wire-fu you either have to go all out and use it all over the place, or not use it at all, and a more realistic-styled movie like this one would have benefitted from either a lot less of it, or none of it at all.

Very good choreography! A lot of big names, Iko Uwais! Simon Yam! Keanu Reeves can act martial arts, but this one is not as good as when he was Neo.

Some fight scenes look cool but the story and Keanu's acting are beyond awful.

i like martial arts movies and some of the choreography was really good, but the lighting and the story were utter crap

If you like martial arts action flicks you've seen this one a hundred times, but you're probably okay with a rote plot about power corrupting a balanced soul and moneyed interests exploiting innocence for their own gain carried by some really good fight choreography. If so, you'll probably enjoy this. I did. There are a couple of weird stylistic touches, like breaking the fourth wall once or twice, that made me wonder if Reeves didn't have some interesting ideas that ended up getting shelved.

Obviously, Reeves only wrote this to showcase some pretty fun fights. I'd be interested in where his direction will go in future films, because there are many things worth watching in this. However, the atrocious screenplay and his furious over-acting proves to be too distracting from the the good aspects of the film.

1199: very clishe!

Not bad.

Keanu Reeves directorial debut: Man of Tai Chi is a simple but fascinating Martial Arts film that feels like a martial arts feel from the 80s/90s but done with modern cinematography . Reeves plays a good and Tiger Hu Chen does well as the 'man of tai chi'. Worth checking out if you're into Martial Arts films.

Several nice fighting scenes and arc of the main man. But the character acted by Keanu Reeves was badly built. What was basically his motives? The story was interrupted, not complete, or should I say stump, simple and unfinished.

Surprisingly bloodless but enjoyable martial arts sort-of-underground-tournament-y type stuff. The arc of the main character is a bit more interesting than in so many similar movies and the fights are actually pretty darn decent.

a couple of good fight choreography, but overall it's a sad attempt to capture the essence & esthetics of tai chi and martial arts in general... poor directing, bad acting, simple script