Geekscape Movie Reviews: ‘Man of Tai Chi’

In Keanu Reeves’ newest cinematic endeavor, Man of Tai Chi, the actor—famous for his roles in Speed, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and of course, The Matrix Trilogy—steps into his first directing role.

The movie stars Tiger Chen (House of Fury, Once in a Life) as Chen Lin-Hu (Tiger), a student of Tai Chi who finds himself caught between the traditions of the past and the demands of the present; Karen Mok (Black Mask, Around the World in 80 Days) as Suen Jing-Si, a police detective dedicated to taking down the illegal and lethal underground fighting ring run by Keanu Reeves’ character Donaka, a powerful and mysterious man who runs the rings for his own nefarious purposes.

With fight choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Matrix Trilogy) and a surfeit of action scenes, the film certainly moves, providing plenty of adrenalin-pumping fights and an enlightening view of tai chi and mixed martial arts.

Chen is a stand out, portraying Tiger’s journey with a quiet force that is engrossing in its simplicity; Reeves’ Donaka is, in contrast, sternly one dimensional as a modern day Mephistopheles.

Reeves’ directs a solid, fast paced film with nods to the legendary films that have gone before even as the movie itself uses state-of-the-art technology to deliver dizzying, swooping insight into the fights. While the movie slows down and starts to plod into predictability in the third act that it didn’t necessarily earn in the acts prior, fans of the mixed-martial arts and the Hong Kong action movie will not be disappointed.

Man of Tai Chi was written by Michael G. Cooney and directed by Keanu Reeves, with fight choreography by Yuen Wo Ping, cinematography by Elliot Davis (Twilight, White Oleandar) and production design by Yohei Tanada (Kill Bill Vol. 1), and is currently available on VoD with a theatrical release date of  November 1st.

Score: 3/5