Review of Man of Tai Chi (2013) by Steve W — 06 Nov 2013

Man of Tai Chi offers plenty of solid fight scenes, but really falls apart in the final act. Chen Lin-Hu is a Tai Chi student who finds himself fighting in an underground fight ring when he needs funds to restore his master's temple. With each fight, Tiger becomes more and more savage, using power rather than control to defeat his opponents. He is being taken to the dark side by Donaka Mark (Reeves), a sinister and stiff villain who wants to take away Chen's innocence.

Despite the intriguing story and great direction/fight choreography, the movie quickly falls apart in the third act. Donaka's fight ring is broken up by a obsessive police woman and Chen does not get to fight Iko Uwais. I was waiting for this showdown but it never happens, and is a great waste of Uwais' martial arts ability.

After the temple is saved from destruction, Donaka Mark shows up and fights Chen one on one. Reeves isn't very effective in the film's final fight, and seems stiff. We've never seen his character fight though out the whole movie, and is now somehow going toe to toe with Chen. Chen is able to defeat Donaka by a mystical Chi wave attack that seems overly supernatural and doesn't fit with the tone of the film.

Man of Tai Chi has plenty of solid fight scenes choreographed by Woo Ping Yuen, but its story takes a nosedive at the end and ultimately hurts the whole movie.