“Tai Chi II” DVD Cover
Director: Yuen Woo Ping
Co-director: Cheung Sing Yim
Cast: Wu Jing, Christy Chung Lai Tai, Yu Hai, Mark Cheng Ho Nam, Billy Chow Bei Lei, Sibelle Hu Hui Zhong, Darren Shahlavi, Ji Chun Hua, Jin De-Mao
Running Time: 96 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Most discussions that see Tai Chi Boxer mentioned tend to involve the wire-fu craze that dominated the Hong Kong martial arts genre in the first half of the 90’s, and it was only upon giving it a first time watch recently that it dawned on me it wasn’t a part of this era at all. While 1996 may not seem that distant from the era that most of the movies it gets compared against were made, it’s worth keeping in mind that back then Hong Kong audience’s tastes could change very quickly. To give some comparison, if we look at other popular kung fu stars during the same year, Jet Li was dabbling with sci-fi infused kung fu in Black Mask, Jackie Chan was fighting underwater on Australia’s Gold Coast in First Strike, and Donnie Yen, well, Donnie Yen was in Iron Monkey 2. The point is, the traditional kung fu movie whether it be infused with wires or not was no longer in fashion, which makes Tai Chi Boxer somewhat of an anomaly for when it was made.
Even more audacious is that it was an attempt to launch a new kung fu star in the form of Wu Jing, a member of the same Beijing Wushu Team that Jet Li was once a part of. It’s easy to tell how much the kung fu movie had fallen out of favour with audiences by the fact that, after headlining Tai Chi Boxer, Jing wouldn’t appear in a movie again for another 5 years, and even then it was just a supporting role in 2001’s The Legend of Zu. He kept himself busy through TV work in-between, but it would take Lau Kar-Leung’s (and Shaw Brothers) 2003 comeback Drunken Monkey for him to headline a big screen outing again. Of course today Jing is one of China’s biggest stars thanks to the jingoistic Chinese military flicks Wolf Warrior and its sequel, both of which he directed, proving that even if takes 20 years, good things come to those who wait.
As a debut though, Tai Chi Boxer is a worthy introduction to Jing’s talents, and that’s largely thanks to proceedings being helmed by the legendary Yuen Woo-Ping. In fact this would be the last production to feature Woo-Ping in the directors chair until 2010’s True Legend, bringing to an end a streak of directing at least one movie per year almost annually, dating back to 1978’s Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow. Here he’d co-direct with Cheung Sing-Yim, a Mainland based director responsible for helming such classics as Shaolin Temple (the movie that introduced Jet Li to the world), Kids from Shaolin, and Yellow River Fighter. Sing-Yim’s presence is explained by the fact that Tai Chi Boxer was filmed on the Mainland, and it would be the last time for him to direct a feature length production, largely sticking to TV work in subsequent years.
The plot doesn’t amount to much, representing more a veritable hodgepodge of familiar tropes and twists that had already been overly used a few years prior. In short though, Jing plays the son of a retired tai chi master played by the instantly recognisable Yu Hai (the mantis fist master from the likes of Martial Arts of Shaolin and Ninja Over the Great Wall) and Sibelle Hu (clocking in a rare non-Girls With Guns appearance in a 90’s production, this would be her penultimate screen appearance before retiring). The pairing of Hai and Hu feels heavily influenced by the casting of Ti Lung and Anita Mui as Jackie Chan’s parents in 1994’s Drunken Master II, but at least here Hu is actually older than Jing. Like in Drunken Master II, Hai plays the strict father played off against Hu’s more playful and encouraging mother, but despite it feeling derivative the cast have good chemistry, helping to offset the feelings of déjà vu.
When Jing ventures out without his father’s knowledge, he finds himself besotted with the daughter of a local official, played by Christy Chung (Love on Delivery, The Red Wolf). Exactly like Rosamund Kwan’s 13th Aunt character in the Once Upon a Time in China series, Chung is western educated and her fashion sense reflects the same. Jing ends up getting involved in Chung’s petitioning for democracy (as relevant today as it was back then!) and protests against the British selling opium to the locals, which eventually puts him in the cross hairs of snarling British businessman Darren Shahlavi. Naturally, plenty of fighting ensues.
Which is just as well, as it’s the fight scenes that make Tai Chi Boxer worth clocking in for. Woo-Ping is also on fight choreography duty, this being the last representation of his work on local soil before he’d head over to Hollywood just a couple of years later to start training up Keanu Reeves and the gang for The Matrix. The action is consistently solid and a joy to watch. What’s more, the accusations of Tai Chi Boxer belonging to the wire-fu craze are for the most part unfounded, with the majority of exchanges being grounded. Wires are used minimally to enhance certain impacts and falls, but for those who like their kung fu with both feet (or at least one) on the ground, there’s plenty to enjoy here.
This also feels like one of the final times in a Hong Kong movie when the cast was built around their martial arts talent, and not their popularity. Almost straight out of the gates we get a fight which pits an attempting to retire from the martial arts world Yu Hai against a ferocious Billy Chow, setting the tone for what’s to come. Chow would face off against Jet Li (in The Scripture with No Words) and Donnie Yen (in Iron Monkey 2) during the same year, but he always looked extra crisp when being choreographed by Woo-Ping, and to see him here in a period setting kung fu flick as the Northern King of Kicks is a blast. What’s even better is that his talent doesn’t go to waste, as even playing a supporting character Woo-Ping ensures to give him an opportunity to have one on one fights with Jing and Shalavi as well.
The action continues to come thick and fast, with Woo-Ping successfully translating the art of tai chi into a screenfighting aesthetic that looks both legitimate and thrilling, arguably doing so more effectively here than in 1993’s Tai Chi Master (which, for those wondering, the aka of Tai Chi II is in reference to, but the productions have no connection). Noteworthy highlights include Jing and a disguised Hai pitting mantis fist against mantis fist, and a solid showdown between Jing and Mark Cheng (Godfather’s Daughter Mafia Blues, Kickboxer’s Tears). Similar to Donnie Yen’s BMX shenanigans in Drunken Tai Chi, here Woo-Ping also can’t resist throwing in some era-inappropriate accessories for the purpose of crafting a humorous action scene, incorporating a scene involving roller-skates (it fails to top Jackie Chan’s use of them in Winners and Sinners, for those wondering).
It’s only really the finale which pits Jing against Shalavi that slips up a little. It contains some fantastic one on one exchanges, but its set in and around an environment clearly modelling itself after the ladder fight showdown between Jet Li and Yen Shi-Kwan in Once Upon a Time in China. Just swap out ladders for wooden boards and ropes. It’s probably due to this fight that Tai Chi Boxer gets labelled as being wire fu heavy, and unfortunately the bouncing around the boards and dangling off ropes to fight each other comes across as gimmicky, interrupting the flow of the grounded exchanges rather than complimenting them. Overall though, it’s a minor complaint, and it’s certainly not as big of an issue to sour all the good stuff that’s come before, perhaps to use the expression mentioned previously, it just feels a little derivative.
There’s no doubt that Tai Chi Boxer was a movie out of time when it was released in 1996, but watching it 25 years later, there’s plenty to enjoy, and that isn’t only limited to the fight scenes. Where else could you watch Sibelle Hu giving Wu Jing English lessons (it’s in this scene where he chooses the name ‘Jacky’, which he’d keep as his English name for a while), and random details such as his pony tail having a ‘spidey sense’ which causes the end of it to twitch whenever danger is near (yes, seriously) only add to its charm. At its heart though, this is a pure kung fu movie, and it remains the most impressive showcase for Wu Jing’s talents, providing plenty of opportunities for him to strut his stuff. Sure some if it may be derivative, but when every fight scene is firing on all cylinders like they are here, such things can be easily forgiven.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10
I enjoyed this movie a lot. I remember buying the Tai Seng DVD back in the day without knowing anything about the movie, and I was pleased.
It’s a shame that the genre was falling out of fashion in 1996 as Tai Chi Boxer is just as good as those other films of that era.
Special mention should go to the late Ji Chun Hua as the lackey obsessed with head-butting.
I have the HKL DVD of this. It’s a pleasantly ordinary film, rather sweet at times.
That’s the same DVD I have, although I’m not sure how many people bought it for the movie vs. watching Christy Chung fake an orgasm in the interview that’s included as part of the special features (conducted by Bey Logan, which watching now makes some of the interactions they have slightly cringe worthy).
The trailer showcases Wire Fu Craze in tons. And I love it!
I saw this movie in the late 90s and liked it more than Tai Chi with Jet Li. Everybody told me “no way” and that I was an idiot. But Wu Jing blew me away, and I already liked Billy Chow because of Fist of Legend and Christy Chung because of Love on Delivery, so . . . phooey on them.
I’m also of the opinion that ‘Tai Chi Boxer’ just edges ‘Tai Chi Master’ in terms of entertainment value. Admittedly it’s been years since I checked out the latter, but while I remember it starting off strongly, I also remember the pacing comes to a grinding halt once Jet Li becomes ‘crazy’ and it lost all momentum. ‘Tai Chi Boxer’ may not match ‘Tai Chi Master’s’ best action scenes, but its more consistently entertaining from start to finish.
It’s probably a bit much to compare them as overall movies since Tai Chi Master is more “serious” while Boxer is fun-loving and more comedic. I guess it depends on what mood the viewer is in and if they’d rather go for lighter fare.
Master has some of my favorite Woo Ping fight scenes, but Boxer is a fun romp.
Fair points, but I think we can all agree that ‘Tai Chi Boxer’ is the superior effort compared to Wu Jing’s sophomore starring role in ‘Drunken Monkey’, which we had to wait 7 years for!
I’ve always enjoyed this movie. I certainly revisit this one occasionally. Some solid choreography here. Couldn’t understand why Wu Jing didn’t get more film roles afterwards because he had the skill set. Unfortunately, its seems that when he did, those films tended to have a heavy wire use, and he didn’t need it. I just find it hard to believe that this flew under your radar for so long.
I’d say there are two main factors as to why Wu Jing didn’t get more film roles – one was that the kung-fu genre was no longer flavor of the month in 1996, and arguably hadn’t been for at least a couple of years. Debuting a fresh face in a traditional kung-fu flick was never going to lead to bigger roles. The other is it was just a year before the handover of HK back to China, and most of the HK talent that could leave to try their hand at Hollywood did (Woo-Ping himself left to work on ‘The Matrix’), leaving the HK action genre a barren wasteland until the Milkyway crew entered the scene in the late 90’s.
Interesting perspective on the wirework! My memory may be hazy, but out of the movies where he played the lead, I felt that the likes of ‘Drunken Monkey’ and ‘Fatal Contact’ were overall more grounded than ‘Tai Chi Boxer’.