I’m not a big fan of fantasy action films, but I make an inception when the phrase “martial arts” is tossed in.
One can never have too much flying wirework, too many mystical punches that could flatten mountains or heroes who utter the ancient profundities of the genre with all the gravitas of Confucius.
“The highest excellence is like water, which nourishes all while not competing with all.”
Even if that came from a fortune cookie, that’s what you want from the latest actioner titled “The Tai Chi Master.”
Genre veteran Yue Wu stars as Zhang Junbao, a swaggering, wine-loving hero who can hold his liquor, otherwise he’d be another “Drunken Master.”
He’s the wild card martial arts wizard tossed into a salad of Song Dynasty shenanigans involving competing cults and sects, supernaturalism, giant silkworms that devour men and women and spit silk webs to trap their prey, a long-imprisoned wizard who might be freed by The Iron Box Key and lots of flying feet and fists.
“The Tai Chi Master” is parked right on the edge of silly, flirting with somber when heroes and heroines die, and truth be told, the plot makes little to no sense. But sequences play and some of the fights are borderline epic. And even if this “Tai Chi Master” is more reliant on CGI sets and effects than the Jet Li/Michelle Yeoh “Tai Chi Master” of 1993, it’s rarely less than watchable even through the dull middle acts.
We meet Junbao in a city under siege, where the Di Clan (Yi Long plays their sadistic leader) is about to storm in thanks to his secret weapon — catapults that hurl commandos in ancient Chinese wingsuits, who sail over the walls to open the gates.
Our hero intevenes with the help of his bratty little girl/martial artist sidekick (Zhang Mingcan)/ Before all is said and slapped, they’ll have a whole lot of wizards and witches to get through to accomplish whatever vague mission he has to finish.
He must fight Man Feng (Ganggang Wang) to lead their clan, fight to escape the clutches of a supernaturally-imprisoned wizard (Simpson Tang), ally himself with the mysterious flutist/warrior Yue Er (Yan Liu) and fight her venomously beautiful opposite number (Ruoxi Li) and others while enduring lectures on the idea that there are “evil” forms of martial arts, and on balancing his own yin and yang in and out of combat.
The first act is the flashiest and the most promising, as our hero shows himself to be the “reluctant hero.” Fighting to save Yeching City is “not my problem” (in Mandarin with English subtitles), “none of my business,” and most importantly, “not my DESTINY.”
OK. We get it.
The effects are quite good, although if you’ve seen one giant worm with a triangular mouth of teeth you’ve seen them all.
The fights can be fun, but all this insistence on weaving Chinese myth and mysticism and indentifying factions bogs the picture down in between throw-downs.
Call it what it is, a B-movie of its type. Crack open a bottle of Junbao’s libation of choice (“Peach wine!”) and ignore the plot and you’ll be fine.
Rating: unrated, fantasy violence, some of it grisly
Cast: Yue Wu, Yan Liu, Ruoxi Li,
Mingcan Zhang, Yi Long and
Kai Zhang
Credits: Directed by Siyi Cheng and Zhenzhao Lin, scripted by Mengmeng Huang and
Huan Niu. A Hi-YAH!/Well Go USA release.
Running time: 1:31
