Lu Chan is a once-in-a-century martial arts prodigy, possessing the ability to perfectly mimic moves and form. He also has a growth on his head, the ‘Three Blossoms on the Crown’, which, when struck, causes him to go into a powerful berserker rage. Orphaned as a child, the innocent and simple Lu Chan is taken in by the leader of a rebel army who exploits Lu Chan’s abilities to win battles. The strain of fighting has serious health effects though, and a doctor informs Lu Chan that he is dying – the only thing that can save him is to learn Chen style kung-fu to heal his body from the inside.
So Lu Chan travels to the isolated Chen village, only for the townsfolk to kick him out and refuse to teach him – Chen style kung-fu isn’t taught to strangers, it’s kept in the family. Lu Chan refuses to give up, and loiters around the village, getting regularly pummelled by the villagers as he concocts various plans to sneak in. His enthusiasm and determination gets the attention of Yu Niang, the daughter of Master Chen, who is dealing with her own problems. Yu Niang’s ambitious fiancé Fang, who works for a British railway company and has adopted western culture, wants to build a railway through Chen village – it’s his big chance to prove himself to his western bosses. The simple townsfolk aren’t impressed by his western technology and refuse. Fang decides to do it anyway and returns, bringing with him a battalion of armed British soldier and a giant railway-laying steam-powered robot to destroy the village. Thus Lu Chan has his chance to prove himself by foiling Fang’s plan and fighting off the soldiers.
The pace is pretty decent, though it takes its time to get where it’s going. It takes a long time before the main conflict shows up, with the first half mostly being to set up Lu Chan’s backstory and arrival at Chen village. As a result, it feels more like the first half of a movie than a satisfying whole. It does have a beginning, middle and end and mostly stands on its own, if it weren’t for the ending scene that links it directly to its sequel. It’s a bit all over the place with odd detours. There are a weird series of scenes with Fang and his British associate/lover Claire that are just strange. It goes for emotional romance…for the villains. Meanwhile the movie is framing things for Lu Chan and Yu Niang to start a relationship, though the two lack chemistry. There’s also only basic characterisation for the most part.
The problem with Tai Chi Zero is that it leaves you feeling oddly unsatisfied and hungry for more; just as it builds up the movie ends. It’s the first course of a two-course meal, leaving you hungry for more. And that leads us to course two…
It’s hard to really talk about Tai Chi Hero without spoiling the end of the
first film/part one, but here’s the easy, basic way – the good guys won, but with
consequences. Lu Chan is awkwardly married to Yu Niang, though only formally so
he can learn Chen style kung-fu (although they do have some feelings for each
other). His training begins to fuel the paranoia of the villagers, who fear a
prophecy made by a monk centuries before that if an outsider learns Chen-style
kung-fu the village will be destroyed. Thus Lu Chan has become a pariah and the
villagers want to be rid of him. This coincides with the arrival of Master
Chen’s son (and Yu Niang’s brother) Zai Yang and his wife. Zai Yang’s presence,
popular, talented and intelligent, fuels the villager’s determination to be rid
of Lu Chan, and begins rumblings of a power struggle between Zai Yang and
Master Chen. Meanwhile Fang, furious at his defeat and wanting revenge, teams
up with sinister American Duke Fleming (Peter Stormare, what are you doing
here?) to bribe various officials and get access to an army and artillery to
finally destroy Chen village.
Tai Chi Hero is entertaining, but shares the same issues
with pacing and story. If anything it comes across as looser and less cohesive
– there are a lot of plot threads loosely stitched together with minimal depth
and unclear focus. Everything about Fang’s wheelings and dealings and every
single Peter Stormare scene feels out of place and strange, while the movie has
to contrive the whole ‘cursed prophecy’ thing to have the villagers suddenly
hate Lu Chan again.
Lu Chan basically becomes a secondary character as the story
suddenly starts to focus on Zai Yang. Zai Yang gets a whole lot of backstory,
character development and drama – his relationship with his father is an
important thread in the middle of the story. He actually gets given more depth
in a few brief scenes than Lu Chan has had over two movies, so maybe that’s why
they did it. To be honest it just sort of shines more light on the fact that Lu
Chan isn’t a particularly interesting character (or a particularly talented
actor). Even in the first film he had nothing going on other than his combat
skills, and here he’s given barely any attention barring the few fight scenes. Everything
about Lu Chan’s ‘Three Blossoms on the Crown’ is quickly and quietly swept
away. It gets brought up in the first third of the movie, and then it’s gone
completely and never mentioned again.
Tai Chi Hero suffers from an oddly defused ending that
quickly, strangely wraps things up in a little bit too nice of a bow. The big
climactic battle begins and is entertaining, but ends up ignored as the heroes
circumvent it entirely by engaging in a really strange and not-quite ‘final
fight’ worthy solo match with a character we’ve never heard of who is only
introduced in the final ten minutes and then everything is solved. To risk
spoiling it outright, imagine it this way: if Tai Chi Zero was about a bullied
kid fighting back against his bully, Tai Chi Hero is about a bullied kid
running away from his bully and then complaining to the principal who makes
everything all right. The bullying thing is only an example, but an apt one –
Tai Chi Zero/Hero and a lot of kung-fu movies were exactly about this sort of
thing, the big and powerful trying to strongarm the small and vulnerable (only
with more kung-fu). It just leaves Tai Chi Hero ending on a somewhat muted
note. Things are wrapped up so suddenly and quickly that there’s no time for an
epilogue or resolution.
The two movies vaguely come together into an odd whole of
sorts, though I’d say the second film is the weaker due to its looser structure
and focus. They’re still an entertaining duo; they just don’t quite come
together into a solid whole. The first feels like build up and ends before it
gets there, and the second just doesn’t quite sit well on its own. Tai Chi Hero’s
ending feels strange in its odd detour and sudden rush to wrap things up,
though I’d heard they’re making a third film.
A little bit of miscellany – something I haven’t mentioned
much is the acting. Well it’s a mixed bag really – a lot of the supporting cast
and side roles are quite decent. The movie is jam packed with real-life martial
artists and Olympians as well as known actors. Yu Niang is played by
actress/model Angelababy and Master Chen is played by Tony Leung Ka-Fai and
both give good performances. Yuen Biao shows up for the final fight in Tai Chi
Hero, and Peter Stormare stands around in a dapper suit being sinister in a few
scenes. The big weak point is Jayden Yuan, who plays main character Lu Chan. He’s
a martial artist/athlete and this is his acting debut, and it shows. His acting
is poor, but works enough as the simple, well-meaning and determined Lu Chan. I
feel that this is why he gets mostly brushed aside in the sequel – he isn’t a
particularly compelling character.
The action in both films is a lot of fun actually. It isn’t
particularly impactful but the choreography has a nice flow and it looks good.
It’s all elevated by stylistic flourishes which make things visually
entertaining. Things like lines appearing that map out movements and kicks and
slow motion or CGI for spears being smashed make the action seem more
interesting than it is. Talking about visuals, the films both look great, with
excellent sets and costumes and CGI used to detail bigger, more extravagant
sets. The movies were apparently released in 3D in China, which explains some of the CGI effect.
In the end the movies are both pretty
entertaining. They have their faults, mostly in story, structure and
characterisation, but I’d argue the movies manage to mostly make up for them
through style and visuals. They’re worth watching, though you’ll have to watch
both to get the most out of
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