Tai Chi Master

Two friends, Junbao and Chin Bo, grow up in the isolated environment of the legendary Shaolin temple, studying to become monks. After being banished from the temple, they find adjusting to "normal" life to be difficult. Chin Bo, always the more ambitious one, agrees to join the oppressive army terrorizing the citizens. Junbao eventually joins forces with other concerned rebels in confronting the tyranny of the evil Governor (Jian Kui Sun) as well as Chin Bo, a newly minted general.

"Tai Chi Master", also known as "Twin Warriors" in North America, is an invigorating example of this genre. Most noteworthy about it is the way that it manages to contain an extremely healthy amount of comedy in addition to physical and acrobatic wizardry, all set against a very political backdrop. Directed with brio by the much celebrated Woo-Ping Yuen, the martial arts choreographer renowned for his work on the "Matrix" series, it has tremendous energy. The frequent fight scenes are so insane that they leave the viewers quite breathless. (Yes, you can sometimes see the wires holding performers in the air or pulling them along, but not often enough for it to really be a problem.) The comedy is frequently hilarious, and it's quite a joy to see action icon Michelle Yeoh bust out some comedy chops as her character Siu Lin turns to drink as a way of trying to forget about an unfaithful husband. Star attraction Jet Li (playing Junbao as a young adult) also served as the producer, and he's a delight, dazzling us with his moves but also showing off his flair for comedy and goofiness as Junbao seems to temporarily lose his mind. Siu-Ho Chin is excellent as the antagonistic Chin Bo, letting power go to his head, abusing his soldiers, and betraying his former friends.

The film gets fairly gory at times, and the English translations of the Asian dialogue do contain some profanity. But, despite the presence of a few very lovely ladies, there's no real sexuality as part of the package. It tells an adult story without ever getting too, too unpleasant.

"Tai Chi Master" has its over the top moments, but it does have some heart in addition to the action and humour, and the poignancy of a long friendship gone sour, so fans of the genre are sure to enjoy it.

Seven out of 10.

Twin Warriors succeeds as a martial arts film because it keeps us entertained with almost a constant stream of highflying action sequences. However, due in part to poor dubbing; the drama scenes between the fights are laughable.

The story follows that of two friends, Chin Bo and Juanbo (Siu-hou Chin and Jet Li), two monks that becomes friends at, and later get thrown out of a Shaolin Temple. After this, they meet up with the leader of a group of rebels (Michele Yeoh), and Juanbo joins them, while Chin Bo goes off to join the emperor's army. Naturally, they meet up again along the way and their friendship is basically the main plot point of the film. As I mentioned, though; the dubbing is awful, and the script is no better. The characters talk as if they're from an upmarket part of London, and when they're both of Asian origin; it makes it very hard to take seriously. It's hard to tell whether the script is bad, or if it's just that it has been lost in translation. Because some of the lines of dialogue are cringe worthy, but that could be due to English translation; I don't know. It's the same story with the acting; none of the cast excels in the drama sections of the film, but their performance is masked by awful dubbing. Everyone deserves credit for their martial arts, however. The action sequences are generally imaginative, well crafted and entertaining; although they do have a tendency to go over the top at times; the prime example of this being when two characters are fighting in a dining hall, and a table falls apart and somehow manages to become stilts for one of the characters to stand on while fighting. I admit that it's entertaining...but come on.

Credit to the cinematography department; this film does look very nice. And it does keep the audience entertained for it's duration, but that's all this film is; a crowd pleaser. It's just too silly to really be taken seriously.

It's not Drunken Master, (not the Legend of Drunken Master, the original, noodge), but what is? It is a well made tale of an ousted Shaolin monk who through hardship and madness, learns the ultimately taoist T'ai Chi Chuan.

The thing I love about this film, (and you'd have to be a geek to go with this} but I love the fact that he learns T'ai Chi through his own hardships, not from a sifu (teacher), and the typical sifu or friend who dies is his friend, who, instead of dying, turns evil with power.

The entire movie is a great representation of Taosism (yin, yang, good and evil}. I don't agree that Michelle Yeoh (or Michelle Kahn at she time in the film) was not well used. She provided the idea of the easy path, drinking in this case, that is so lacking in gong fu movies. She and he both redeem themselves against the head bad guy (His character name escapes me at the time}, but there is no love interest between themselves. She's tough and troubled, he's tough and troubled and they actually help each other (read: she stops drinking to save him, he learns from her care and she helps cure his madness).

By the way, the head bad guy, (again, sorry about the name} was still played brilliantly even in dubbing. My friends and I still say "Hmmmmm" in his fey evil voice when thinking bad thoughts. It can be said it's typical Hong Kong fare... Good guy gets defeated, learns a new style of Gong Fu and defeats the bad guy, but then again, isn't that what Star Wars took 3 films to accomplish?

Anyway, my opinion of this film is tainted by the fact that I'm a taoist, but the action is top notch, nobody flies for no reason, all the characters (even the comic relief) are fleshed out. great film. not the greatest, but, it's a hell of a lot better than "Shaolin Drunken Monk" (aka, Plan 9 from the Shaolin Temple) lol.

"Twin Warriors" is one of the best martial arts films I have seen, there are at least 20 different fight scenes all of them spectacular. Jet Li does a good job of acting here, he isn't as serious as he usually is, Michelle Yeoh who proved she could kick ass in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" shows her skills here as well. The action scenes for the most part are believeable, a few of them go over the top but other than that I was totally into them, if you're looking for pure martial arts action with a decent story and acting, give Twin Warriors a look.

Twin Warriors is without a doubt Jet's Li's finest Shaolin movie. This movie has it all: friendship, love, betrayal, corruption, murder, and comedy, not to mention the kung fu Style of Shaolin which will never cease to amaze, bewilder, and captivate the viewer.

The plot itself is simple and easy to follow. Junbao and Chin Bo are misfit friends inside a Shaolin temple. Feeling both ambitious and outcast form the others in the temple, these two secretly practice kung fu while performing menial tasks such as sweeping the temple floor and doing laundry. Things come to head when Chin Bo takes things a little too far during a kung fu initiation, attacking a master with some of the master's own secret kung fu moves.

Forced to leave the temple Junbao and Chin Bo are forced to live as street entertainers, demonstrating their kung fu and ability to absorb punishment for money. That is until the Government wants a cut of that money. It's at this point that that the yin and yang relationship develops between Junboa and Chin Bo, one sticking to the virtues of Shaolin, while the other becomes a corrupt power hungry officer of the provincial army. The struggle between good and evil that rips two old friends apart is masterfully captured in this movie. Thankfully there are two key elements of the movie that save it from being a depressing tale about a friendship gone awry.

The first element of relief is comedy. While this is by no means a funny movie, there is a fairly long segment where Junbao becomes insane and partakes in some hilarious shenanigans. First he believes he is a duck and hides underwater in a fountain. Then he believes a pillar that holds up a building is his long lost Shaolin master. He even get mad when at a weeble-wobble `Mr. Tao' doll when it will not answer his questions. This comic relief is much needed, saving the film form being depressing.

The second element that makes this film a must see: The incredible martial arts sequences. From beginning to end this movie is packed with the best kung fu I have ever seen in a movie. So many different styles and techniques are used, and jet Li makes them all look as if they were child's play. Fight sequences are beautifully choreographed putting the ART back into martial Arts. I highly recommend this film for any casual or die hard fan of Jet Li, he is simply amazing in this film 10/10 stars!