Director Keanu Reeves makes a splendid directorial debut with this epic martial arts thriller Man of Tai Chi which he also stars in. Bringing veteran stuntman Tiger Chen in as a main character and using legendary fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping pushes the film to highly entertaining, spectacular limits.

Tiger Chen (Tiger Chen) is the sole student at a 600 year old temple dedicated to Tai Chi. Against the advice of his master (Yu Hai), he joins a martial arts tournament to prove Tai Chi is more than breathing exercises, drawing unexpected attention from the shadowy world of underground fight clubs. And he’s about to learn that there is more than one way to fight, and that there are so many ways to lose.

Keanu Reeves is an action movie veteran. The Matrix Trilogy, Speed, Point Break, he’s seen and done a lot of stuff. Now he’s bringing his experience to the other side of the camera with stellar results. Obviously, he’s got more experience than most first time directors, and it shows. There are a few minor problems, the direction gets a little too fancy every now and then. However, Reeves has outdone himself behind the camera, staging very intricate fights. Some fights happen in arenas, another under a strobe light, and more in small rooms. Constantly moving, constantly changing. It’s classic kung fu chop socky tomfoolery, with fantastic fights that never fail to entertain.

Storywise, it’s smart. There’s a great thematic twist when it becomes clear what the goal of the fights really are. This illuminates the reason for the kind of destruction that we are witnessing, which completely alters the tone of the movie taking it from a relatively straightforward film to an old style morality tale. Tiger himself is great on screen, he’s got a bright future ahead. Reeves himself is the one bum note, dropping the occasional clanger of a line, but he sticks mostly to a low growly voice which works really well. His action scene is amazing. He did almost all his own stunts in the Matrix trilogy, he has clearly kept in shape since then.

Man of Tai Chi combines the best of Hong Kong kung fu with American money. It’s the best of both worlds. Fans of martial arts movies are in for a treat.

Donal O’Connor

Shown at this year’s TIFF13 : Toronto International Film Festival.