Review of Man of Tai Chi (2013) by Jonathan H — 07 Sep 2013

Man of Tai Chi- Directed Keanu Reeves/ Written-Michael G. Cooney.

1/5.

By Jonathan Hermitt.

Keanu Reeves's success as actor in The Devil's Advocate, Speed and of The Matrix, has caused to find himself behind both the camera as well as in front of it in his new film Man of Tai Chi. But success an actor isn't always an indication of the quality of the art and this film is not only a strong confirmation of that, but also that Reeves's quality of acting is not antithetical to his directing...dire.

Set in modern Beijing, Reeves continues to offer us his signature stilted performance when playing Donako Mark, a sadistic, powerful head of China's largest security firms who organises a lucrative underground fight club, where wealthy clients pay a considerable amount to watch martial artist fight to the death.

Thirsty for fresh blood, Donako searches and discovers an ambitious martial artist Tiger Chen (played by himself) on a commercial, televised competition. After a failed attempt at convincing Tiger Chen to participate in the underground fight club, Donako then goes on to manipulate him to join. Followed by a gradual transformation of Chen's character, as his ego leads him to embark along a dark path of martial arts.

Lacking substance, but abundant in superficiality the entire depth of the story and characters is weak and lazy. Reeves was obviously trying to relive the glory days of The Matrix era as he purely focused on the one-to-one combats, (making up to 90% of the film) but unfortunately ignored the development of both characters, Chen and Donako. By exploring deeper into the Chen relationships with his master (Yu Hai) and perhaps even the with the female lawyer, Qingsha (Qing Ye) it may of brought some authenticity to Chen's character.

Simplicity. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. In this case, it didn't.

The story is ever so basic and most certainly doesn't take a film connoisseur to predict the outcomes. It takes on the generic narrative structure and to be fair has been used in some great films, but you don't have to be so blatant!

This film is very rich in action, so one needn't worry about not seeing flying kicks, perilous punches accompanied with special effects. But that's as entertaining it gets. Glamorised and glorified violence that's acceptable for children. Along with the banal script and cliché tag lines it closely resembles a video game. However Tekken has a better story.

Keanu Reeves, you will always be seen as Neo, a human-like alien but most importantly an actor...A stilted actor. And in the future, we don't want to see you behind the camera. You should be embarrassed my friend!