If I describe Man of Tai Chi, it will sound really ridiculous and awful, and maybe it is, but I LOVED IT!!! I don’t think that it hurt that Keanu Reeves directed, plays a major supporting role and is extremely hot in Man of Tai Chi. Plus the fighting is fantastic.
Man of Tai Chi isn’t a unique storyline. I like to imagine Man of Tai Chi as the sequel to The Devil’s Advocate except Reeves has finally embraced his role as the anti Christ and is in a war over the soul of the main character, Tiger Chen, a Tai Chi martial artist. Man of Tai Chi takes place in Hong Kong and Beijing so there is explicitly a sense that Western ways are corrupting the humble mainland, and Tiger needs to find balance or be consumed. Man of Tai Chi is dominated by fight scenes, which are as important as dialogue in progressing the story.
Man of Tai Chi’s dialogue is mostly in Cantonese and Mandarin, but only Reeves speaks English. It is slightly ridiculous, but it works. Reeves’ vocal delivery is kind of over the top deliberate and measured, but again, it works, or I’m biased, which I don’t think that I am because I was not a fan of John Wick. There is only one moment where Reeves deliberately decided to chew scenery, and that moment was a bit much even for my tastes.
Regarding Man of Tai Chi’s direction, I would have preferred longer takes. Reeves loves to cut away and show the other person whenever someone is talking then switch to the other person instead of using medium shots where two people could be in the frame together. The camera can occasionally be too close. Every time Reeves smiled, the editor cut to another shot before the smile was complete. Boooooo!
Man of Tai Chi feels like a mashup of The Truman Show meets The Devil’s Advocate meets martial arts action. Man of Tai Chi is full of cheese, but it more than works. I actually watched Man of Tai Chi while I was riding my stationary bike, and when the scenes were really exciting, my pace picked up. I had a great time and may even watch it again-at least the final fight scene.