Reviewing: Man of Tai Chi (Tiger Chen, Keanu Reeves)

"Yoga!"

Originally I thought, or well: -perceived- it to be a bad movie. And watching it again, well, yea - it still -is- ... a bad movie!

There aren't many reasons to recommend it; And those that exist are - not really worth the while. In essence the movie tells a story thats arguably new in some way; And maybe that new take on otherwise well established paradigms is worth something to the one or the other - but so the movie is terribly ... "average".

The thing that is most impressive in that movie, to my experience, is Keanu Reeves performance. It sortof feels like his way to cope with various "imperfections" or ... "pains" ... resulting from the later Matrix movies. The Matrix movies did kindof evolve from a somewhat Bullets meets Martial Arts action into a, well, somewhat less 'skillful' CG firework; As we - or Martial Arts enthusiasts - were kindof left ... well, "standing in the rain" after Revolutions was over.
Thinking of Mr. Reeves I so happen to believe that he did learn "quite a lot" to perform as Neo - though in the end all that effort was sortof blown ... or maybe "rammed" into the ground.


But the movie isn't terrible, partially through that performance, like complete bullcrap. There's a Meta Level to that movie which kindof needs me to delve deeper into Martial Arts "philosophy" - which is not actually bad considering that its a Martial Arts Film. The Character Reeves is playing does even have a certain 'depth' to it - but it isn't really presented to the viewer in a clear way; And this ultimately "climaxes" in that final performance - though the movie feels like its just about that one fight as the rest only tells some background story to explain why they are fighting (and the explenation is respectively simple!).
Tai Chi ... what is Tai Chi? I have come to write quite a bit about it - and I believe ...



The trouble I believe to see in Reeves Character is a certain inability to understand Tai Chi. Respectively we see Tigers Character turn from a noble Tai Chi person into someone - well - who doesn't actually 'do' any Tai Chi anymore. This is the transition of someone who ignores the deeper teachings through that 'surge of power' - something like the opposite to transitioning 'into' Tai Chi through a life established in classical Kung Fu for instance.
The central scene where this transition away from Tai Chi becomes pivotally visible is in the Fight between Tiger and the two other guys - where he charges in on them. This also captures the 'moment' at "this discussion" where the Tai Chi "theory"/philosophy is facing the challenge of Martial Arts. The difference between the Tai Chi pupil and the Tai Chi Master hereby is ... well ... the Master lives the Tai Chi Philosophy and doesn't engage into combat if he can help it. Hence the less sophisticated pupil is the victim, feeding him with the desire to engage in combat as to eventually harness "the secret" of Tai Chi as combatitive.

It makes sense at least - considering Reeves does in the end show that he isn't just a spectator; But actually quite skillful - enough to make Tiger look like a total complete Noob. Not saying that the performance is a perfect "clash of titans" - but theres something I found to be interesting. The conclusion of 'Tigers Tale' isn't quite as bad as the whole movie - or, after all it somewhat figures or redeems the plot to some degree. Or technically entirely.
I mean - first Tiger is happy that its over, but he's still that guy who has lost himself - and he soon has to realize that he can't beat him. He goes into himself; But he isn't just magically stronger - he needs some time to adjust. And then the whole thing is over - totally not spectacular. (By the way: The movie came out in about the same time I started practicing Tai Chi; But the movie had nothing to do with it!)



PS: Personally, as far as fandom is concerned, I'm though more of a Nicholas Cage fan.