Movie Review : Man of Tai Chi (2013)

 

To be honest, the only reason I happened on this movie was because the awesome Iko Uwais was linked to it. He has a reaallyy small part in it, although good things are bound to come his way because of his contribution to mankind (The Raid: Redemption)

This is also Keanu Reeves' directorial debut and a good effort at that. One of his 'Matrix' colleagues - Tiger Chen - is cast as the protagonist. As a small production (not low budget), the movie gets full marks for having its heart in the right place. It charts the journey of a talented Tai Chi martial artist who is tempted and trapped by desire and must fight his hardest battle against himself.

Tiger Chen plays Chen Linhu, the only student of an aging Tai Chi master. He works the competitive fight demonstration circuits and is generally acknowledged as a master practitioner but this fame and respect does not translate into money. Chen's teacher is not too impressed with him, fearing that his violent and aggressive side will never allow him to embrace the philosophy of Tai Chi. Chen is determined to popularise Tai Chi but his day job as a delivery boy limits his dreams and his financial constraints jeopardise his school when greedy developers want to buy the land and demolish it.

He comes into contact with Mark Donaka - Keanu Reeves - a shady businessman who organises fight-to-the-death matches and who is smart enough to realise that Chen is a skilled fighting machine. He pits Chen against all types of fighters in brutal matches that Chen wins nearly every time. The fights offer Chen an outlet to vent his anger and frustration while also sprucing up his bank balance, although he struggles with the concept of fighting for money early on. When he warms to the idea, the law catches up with him and he has to figure out for himself if that is the life he wants to continue to lead.

A moral dilemma packaged as an action movie, Man of Tai Chi is an entertainer. The screenplay is tight, the characters are relatable and the fights are satisfactory - shot stylishly with minimal wire-work.

Tiger Chen may well be a member of that rare breed - an action star that can also act. His performance is surprisingly understated, demonstrates some range and is completely believable. He makes quick work of his opponents although with some of larger fighters one is inclined to overlook some artistic liberties taken.

Chinese stars Karen Mok and Simon Yam plays the cops trying to pin down Mark Donaka - superfluous characters - but perfectly adequate. The movie rests on Tiger Chen because the weak link here is Keanu Reeves.  He seems to have gotten carried away and is too many scenes getting ever more over-the-top as the film progresses. Compared to the lithe and wiry Chen, he is not very convincing as a master fighter either. It is not a major drawback though; Keanu's fans should be excited to see him in a rare negative role while his presence ensures that there is a wider, mainstream appeal for the movie.

It is a good directorial debut and will be appreciated by fans of action movies.

Movie Review : Ninja : Shadow of a Tear (2013)

Ninja : Shadow of a Tear is the follow-up to 2009's Ninja. Scott Adkins is back as Casey, after a trip to the dark side in Expendables 2. He picks up from where he left off in 2009, having married Namiko and leading an peaceful life as the sensei of the dojo he inherited from his father-in-law.

But bad things happen to good people and one night poor Namiko is brutally murdered. Inconsolable Casey is on the warpath. This will see him rampage through three different countries, bring down innumerable bad guys with his bare hands and lay waste to bars, jungles and dojos as he tracks down the villain who destroyed his life.

The screenplay does require one to leave one's thinking cap at home but it is all in good fun. For the most part, the movie plays like the average revenge flick but there is a cool climax that really spices up the story and is a bit of a pleasant surprise.

Regular readers of this blog (both of you) will know of my legendary distaste for wirework. Wirework creates unnatural situations that subvert law of gravity and take away from the beauty of the fight. The mark of a hero is to conform to the laws of physics and prevail against a zillion bad guys.  A ninny flying around, kicking at the air can never convey the raw power of a real kick as the foot pounds flesh or properly display the crushing impact of falling over furniture or being hit by sundry objects and weapons. No sir, not cool.

So I am happy to announce, that Scott Adkins is a real hero - or he fights like one. Given the low budget, there are no trick shots or CGI, just plain, old fashioned action. He seems have to performed nearly all of the fight scenes and stunts and that includes plenty of flying kicks, 360 degree flip kicks, fistfights, knife fights, swordplay and bone jarring falls. There is a cool scene where he pummels 5-6 guys in the room, shot in a single take.  He is not a guy you want to meet in a a dark alley as two unfortunate goons find out. He is not a guy you torture with hot irons and lock up in a prison cell - as the prison warden finds out. You don't give Scott Adkins a bunch of ninja paraphernalia and grenades and then expect a tea party. Even his friends are not spared a royal smacking when he gets angry.

The performances are tolerable. Scott Adkins doesn't really have much time to emote, which is a blessing because a thespian he is not. His emote-o-meter maxes out at the identical disconsolate, pained look he sported in Assassination Games - and lucked out again with his on-screen spouse. Shun Sugata puts in a sinister performance as the drug lord Goro and Kane Kosugi proves himself to be a formidable fighter in his own right.

In all, a good action movie, well worth a watch. One hopes that one doesn't have to wait for four more years for the next Ninja flick.

Movie Review : Tales from the Dark 1 (2013)

Tales from the Dark 1

Tales from the Dark 1 is a compilation of 3 horror stories - all by author Lillian Lee, filmed by three different directors. The 3 films are unrelated to each other and are jarringly different in their approach to their subject matter.

The first deals with an eccentric, middle-aged man who cant hold down a job and resorts to stealing  funeral urns and ransoming them to the  families of the deceased.  This marks the directorial debut of actor Simon Yam, who also plays the eccentric. This film is the weakest of the lot with plenty of pretentious imagery and random ghosts that contribute zilch to the story. Think irrelevant visuals of little girls wandering around and crying, a gluttonous ghost who wont or cant stop eating, an elderly grandmother talking to these other ghosts and so on - similar to some of the visuals in 'Thir13en Ghosts'.

The second film deals with a psychic played by Tony Leung and a fortune teller played by Kelly Chen who team up to exorcise the vengeful ghost of a schoolgirl. This one is straight forward, light-hearted and more 'traditional' than the first movie. It also has a decent back-story for the ghost, allowing us to sympathise with her. Some portions are annoyingly contrived though - especially the sequence revolving around the psychic and his son's CD.

The last film deals with another bitter ghost trying to exact revenge on an elderly lady. It starts off with an affluent woman who comes to a 'villain basher' - a person who places a curse on her clients' chosen victims and symbolically 'beats' photos or images representing said victims in exchange for money. Then the story of this woman is abandoned as another young girl approaches the villain basher - a good performance by Susan Shaw -and the story turns into a violent, revenge tale. This film is the most stylish of the three but suffers from a thin storyline that is unnecessarily padded out.

The movie relies too much on filler material to stretch its running time and is not a horror movie at all - zero scares. It is just a set of sad stories where the antagonists happen to be ghosts. Fans of horror movies will be sorely disappointed and most movie-goers should be puzzled as to why this was made into a motion picture instead of a TV series.

There is a companion piece - Tales from the Dark 2 - released a couple of months after the first one; if the entertainment provided by the first is any indicator of what can be expected from the second, one will err on the safe side by skipping them both.

Can avoid.