Rating:

6

AKA: The Master of Tai Chi

Year of release: 1997 (original TV airing; released on video in 2005)

Genre: martial arts

Directors: Yuen Woo-Ping, Yip Chiu Lee, Lee Kin Wu

Action director: Yuen Ching Yan

Producers: Yuen Woo-Ping, Chow Ling Kon

Writer: Wong Wing Fai

Stars: Wu Jing, Amy Fan, Yu Hoi, Wong Kwun, Wai Ying Hung, Billy Chow, Shing Fui-On

Not rated; contains IIA-level violence

DVD Information

Company: Tai Seng

Format: full frame (originally made for TV)

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin

Subtitles: English

Extras: trailers

Notes: Not much for extras, but this looks and sounds pretty good for something shot on video nearly ten years ago.

Movie Reviews / Main Page

The Tai Chi Master
(TV version)

Okay, to try and clear up some potential confusion right off the bat, this is Tai Seng's edited version of a TV series called The Master of Tai Chi, which was a semi-prequel to the movie Tai Chi II, which, despite its' title, had nothing to do with the Jet Li/Michelle Yeoh film The Tai Chi Master, even though Yuen Woo-Ping Was involved on all of the projects. Yeah, I know, that probably didn't help you much, but welcome to the goofy world of Hong Kong movies.

At any rate, as far as Tai Seng's edits of Hong Kong TV series go, this is one of the better ones I've seen. They did a good job of distilling a twenty-five episode series into two hours. As you might expect from a project involving Yuen Woo-Ping, the fights are very solid. Of particular note is a Tower of Death-inspired sequence where Wu Jing has to battle a succession of opponents, each with their own unique fighting styles.

However, as good as that part is, it kind of highlights why The Tai Chi Master only ranks as slightly above-average. Everything is done well, but most martial arts movies fans have seen this kind of stuff done dozen of times before. Still, if you're itching for some wire-fu and have gone through the classics already, you could do a lot worse than this... with the exception of the lame plot device of the cute girl dressing up like a guy so she can use kung fu -- do film-makers think that anyone will be shocked when the skinny "guy" with nice eyes and lipstick takes off her hat and reveals that she has boobs?