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Rating: 8 stars

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All movies seen on 11/02/2013

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Man of Tai Chi (2013)

Directed by Keanu Reeves

Action

Most recently watched by vivalaserdisc, Javitron, ashe5k, seanCduregger, danielt, sensoria, noahphex

Overview

In Beijing, a young martial artist’s skill places him in position to experience opportunities and sacrifices.

Rated R | Length 106 minutes

Actors

Tiger Hu Chen | Keanu Reeves | Karen Mok | Yu Hai | Ye Qing | Simon Yam | Yasuyuki Hirata | Julius Brian Siswojo | Hélène Siwan Leclerc | Michael Tong | Sam Lee | Jiulong Guo | Huang Jianxiang | Zihan Xia | Steve Yoo | Iko Uwais | Troy Sandford | Ju Kun | Jeremy Marinas | Brahim Achabbakhe | Alain Ngalani | Zha Ka | Ocean Hou | Yin Chunxiong | Chan Chiu | Li Xingping | He Jun | Silvio Simac | Ni Haifeng | Yang Hao | Liu Wenhuan | Zhou Min | Tan Wei-Ya | Yu Na | Xiao Wang | Gong Chengqi | Zhao Xiaodong | Wolfgang Bern | Steven Dasz | Yuen Woo-ping | Wong Man-Chun

Viewing History (seen 2 times)

Viewing Notes

Skipped this at FF2013 since I knew it was coming to theaters soon. Didn’t expect it to get so little coverage (3 theaters in all of Chicagoland). Headed out to Barrington for the noon screening (of only TWO SHOWTIMES AVAILABLE ON OPENING WEEKEND). Didn’t realize nearly the entire film would be in Cantonese/Mandarin which explains why it’s not getting a wider release.

Man, this is a great movie! Total throwback to 90s actioners with 5x the budget. So much so that I’m sure I’ve seen this same storyline a few times. Definitely not original but very well executed with some great fighting. Reeves definitely proves he has an eye for this. And he’s hilarious as the villain here (which I also didn’t know).

Tiger Chen possesses all the right skills and hopefully will get more movie gigs; he deserves it. Also love Karen Mok here who hasn’t aged a day in 10 years. Simon Yam is sadly a placeholder but nice to see him. I honestly wasn’t expecting to enjoy this movie as much as I did but it’s so damn entertaining. Wish Iko Uwais had a little larger role (like a side story showing his fights leading to final battle).

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