Tai Chi Master
Return to a time when Jet Li was a kick-ass martial arts star
Tags: Dragon Dynasty Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Aug 7th, 2008
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You gotta love Golden Harvest, the company behind Tai Chi Master. Were it not for the film’s stars, this film almost looks like it was made in 1973 instead of 1993. Dated or timeless, that’s the style this production company has with many of its martial arts films, especially the “period” pieces.
The film opens with Jun Bao and Tien Bo as young students in a monastery. They form a friendship and rivalry that is strong, lasting until adulthood. When events conspire to expel them from the school, they find themselves in the outside world not knowing which direction to take. Li’s Jun Bao, ever the faithful student, desires to stay on the righteous path, but Tien Bo (Chin Siu Ho) is a bit of a rebel and desires for something … more. The two of them balance each other out, with one getting the other into trouble, and one helping to keep the other in check.
You can see where this is headed. If not, then you haven’t seen many martial arts films, or many other films for that matter and need to get out of the house more.
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Michelle Yeoh has a supporting role as a woman who was betrayed by her husband. It’s a shame that this film doesn’t feature her more. She does play an important role, but doesn’t get as much screen time as I would have liked. This plot point isn’t explained or explored as fully as it should have, which is unfortunate.
My only complaint of the film really does have to deal with the fact that there isn’t enough of Michelle Yeoh and her character in the film. There are some wonderful action sequences, and Jet Li is at the top of his game here, as well as at the height of his popularity in China (though he has dipped, he still remains highly popular).
The other problem the film has is with the wire work – more specifically, the ability to actually see the wires. I’m not a great fan of the outlandish wire work that most “Wushu” (or “Wuxia”) display, but that’s a personal preference. It is also hard to find fault with this minor display of the film’s budget peeking through because of when and where the film was made. Being able to see a few wires is forgivable, but does deserve mention.
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Tai Chi Master features some spectacular fight sequences, mostly when a few people are going up against a large number. Towards the beginning of the film Tien Bo and Jun Bao go up against a room full of martial arts students wielding poles in a formation that has surrounded them and is two people high. Later a band of rebels goes up against almost the entire might of the Chinese Army.
A satisfying martial arts film, Tai Chi Master has Jet Li once again portraying a noble hero from China’s past. While it isn’t necessarily an action filled biopic, there is a grain of reality to the proceedings, and while the wire work certainly isn’t realistic, one does get the feeling that this could very well have happened much like it does in the film.
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Once again, Dragon Dynasty packs in enough special features to make this another martial arts film worth owning, as well as giving some relevance to those that are new to the genre. First off we have an audio commentary by Bey Logan, a man who knows his “Asian Action Cinema” (and is the force behind the Dragon Dynasty label). It isn’t quite as informative as some of his other commentary tracks but still enjoyable and worth listening to. There is also a featurette which looks at what is considered the birthplace of modern Tai Chi which is fairly decent but far too short. There is an interview with Chin Siu Ho, the actor who played Tien Bo that is certainly worth checking out as well.
The lesser of the offerings are interviews with director Brett Ratner and film critic Elvis Mitchell. There are two featurettes that have these two, where they are interviewed separately but the clips are interspersed. One looks at the director Yuen Wo Ping, and the other at Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. For newcomers these might be of interest, but they aren’t organized well and come off like longtime fanboys in front of the camera rather than any sort of authority.
If you’re building any sort of collection of martial arts films, Tai Chi Master may not be “important” but holds its own and is worth picking up.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Solid story + Rousing fights + Solid special features |
7.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
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- Too much wire work - You can even see the wires |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Fans of the genre should see this even if they aren't into "wire fu" because Tai Chi Master doesn't devolve into what is wrong with all of those types of films. | |
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Tags: Dragon Dynasty
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Aug 7th, 2008 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
