Tai Chi Master

One of my favorite Hong Kong actors, Jet Li, does what I call his best film in "Tai Chi Master." Starring alongside Michelle Yeoh and a dozen other folks whose name I forgot, Li plays Junbao, a monk whose best friend betrays him and becomes a ruthless whacko. This leaves him only one option: grab a pole and start clubbin' baddies. While some parts are just too cheesy to mention, i.e. people flying around and some ridiculously hokey-looking effects (you can see the cable attached to a guy's back at one point), the best fights take place with just good ol' Jet Li, a pole, and an army of bad guys, where there is no room to fly around or do the ultra-powerful Buddhist Palms. Give Tai Chi Master a try. It's a love-hate thing for most people, and in my case, it's a love thing. This movie is one of the five best kung-fu flicks ever made, in my opinion.

As a t'ai chi player, I watched this film hoping to see a lot of t'ai chi (I'd already started running scenarios in my head where the brash young Jet Li learns t'ai chi from Michelle Yeoh). In this respect, and only in this respect, I was disappointed, as this is not a t'ai chi film but a story about how t'ai chi came to be. In every other respect, I was supremely satisfied. This is first class wuxia, alternating crazy fights with goofy humour, with a little tragedy and philosophy thrown in. Of course this mix will probably be insufferable to anyone who isn't into wuxia, but if you like the kind of martial arts films where combatants call out the name of the move they're about to do, you'll love this. Incidentally, you'll notice the inspiration for a fight in Charlie's Angels in one of the early scenes: "And this one's called knocking you on the head."

"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.

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 my favorite Jet Li movies. It is about two monks who grow up together and befriend one another. After getting kicked out of their temple, they have to live in the world outside of the temple for the first time of their lives. Unfamiliar with the real world and how it works, they end up choosing different paths. In the end they end up fighting one another and throw their long friendship out the window. Also joining them is Michelle Yeoh, famous for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and does a good job as well. The story is pretty good, and it even has some funny moments. There is no sexuality or hard language which is good for this film. The action in it is over the top and non-stop. It is definitely why you would want to see this movie, all different kinds of combat and martial arts. You have one on one fights, huge wars, hand to hand combat, weapon combat, and even the grab anything and use it as a weapon combat. The dubbing is pretty decent, and I don't think you can even find it in the States with the original voices. There are some minor flaws, like a times you can see wires, or things just look really fake, but it doesn't really take anything away from the film and is very entertaining. If you are a martial arts, Jet Li, or action fan, you should like this one. It has an R rating, but really could be PG-13 as there isn't anything very gory or sexual.