Review of Tai Chi Boxer

Introduction

This fighting action comedy introduces Hok Man played by Jackie Wu, a hard studying young man under the strict rule of his father. After been locked inside studying all the time Hok Man decides he wants to see more of the world, and the women he peeks at through his window! His Mother sees his needs and defends him affectionately while his Father tries to keep him studying hard.
Through his exploring he meets Rosa played by the lovely Christy Chung and becomes a part of a small group giving out papers and propaganda to everyone. Christy’s Fiancé is connected to the smuggling of opium and gets in the bad books with the English gangsters responsible, the head of the bunch being a man named Smith played by Darren Shahlavi. It isn’t long before Hok Man also joins in the feud while protecting his new wife. Directed by Yuen Wo Ping probably best known for his martial arts sequences and wire work in the movie “The Matrix”, Tai Chi Boxer brings exciting scenes of action along the lines of Jackie Chan’s work mixed in with a comical element.

Video

The video format is anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 the picture transfer quality is very clean and clear with no apparent grain or dropouts. The colours are bold and are made good use of around the scenes that show off the Chinese carnival dragons, and background scenery throughout the movie. The skin tones are natural looking and don’t blur and facial detail can be picked out well also. The movie has an array of different locations for the fight sequences; two of my main favourites were the fight in the bamboo type trees and the showdown in the opium warehouse.
As with the action in the Jackie Chan style movies various furniture, weapons and props are used during the fights and make spectacular viewing of the stunts performed, very fast indeed! Features such as trees in many green shades, lakes and mountains give off that oriental feel to some of the scenes and goes well to the story’s origin.

Audio

The audio track is in Dolby Digital 5.1 whether you select to have the English dubbed version or the Chinese language, the dialogue is crisp and can be heard well even though its dubbed or in Chinese. I was awaiting the first fight scene eagerly so that I could hear the over the top audio effects that is present in most movies of this genre, to my surprise they sounded good, the kicks gave off a ‘flapping of the tunic’ sound and the various punches and grasps made appropriate contact sounds sometimes accompanied by a little bass for the harder hits.
The sub plays little part in this movie and can only be spotted during bits of the music and heavy hits during the fights, and gives out that bit more depth to the bass. I noticed that the music and audio effects seem to go pitched more or an increase in treble during the fight between Smith and Hok Man in the warehouse, just sounds different to the audio from the early stages of the warehouse fights, could be just my ears maybe? But weird anyhow!
The music has a punchy 80’s beat and rhythm around it sometimes verging on a comical style of notes during fight sequences, it has pace to it to match the action. In places the music had similarities to the movie “Big Trouble In Little China” a hard beat and rhythm but with oriental twists here and there.

Features

Animated montages of movie clips are blended overtop a ying yang symbol and animated cloud formations. Oriental beats and tune overlay the menu. The selectable options are; play movie, chapter selection, audio set up, special features and other attractions. As already stated you have the choice of selecting between dubbed English or Chinese language with additional Dutch or English subtitles. But there is also a feature commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan included.
There are two trailers, a UK Promotional and theatrical release, two interviews with cast members one running at approximately twenty-five minutes and features Christy Chung and the Darren Shahlavi interview running approximately forty minutes. There is also a photo gallery of Christy Chung, a behind the scenes montage of fight sequences that is only on for one minute, forty seconds and lastly a behind the scenes photo gallery. The other attractions part of the features speaks for itself and is an insight into other “Hong Kong Legends” DVD titles.

Conclusion

I haven’t seen a movie of this type for a while and haven’t even got around to seeing Jet Li in “The One”. I did enjoy this title very much and obviously the fight sequences are the highlight to the story and movie itself! It was easy to understand besides being an Eastern made movie and I was impressed by the performances of Darren Shahlavi and Jackie Wu. The Yuen Wo Ping styles and stunts were clearly visible and some used were recognisable from “The Matrix”.
The only strange Kung Fu style move that was tongue in cheek was the way Hok Man uses his long pony tail hair as a whipping weapon, and during the fight sequences it has a mind of its own and flickers slightly as if ready to strike like a snake! It is also used as some kind of grappling hook and a tool for keeping him studying hard!