CommentsXp Best movie ever!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

gridoon Most Westerners will probably be drawn to "Tai Chi Boxer" by Yuen Woo Ping's name, but I think it is a movie targeted primarily at Chinese audiences, who will probably respond more to its themes and period setting. The story is uncompelling, but the martial arts action choreography is spectacular and fascinating. Although Yuen Woo Ping sometimes resorts to wires, he lets the action stay on the ground long enough to let you appreciate the skills of the several martial artists who appear in the film. Jackie Wu, in his film debut, has graceful moves, and the fact that he is not very muscular makes his victories even more impressive; he really does make you believe that Tai Chi is the most powerful form of kung fu (especially when you add a mean ponytail to it). The guy who plays the main villain is fantastic - he seemed REALLY angry at all times. It is also a pleasure to see Sibelle Hu (one of the sexiest and most expressive actresses of Hong Kong cinema, in my opinion) in what is, according to IMDb, her last film role to date. (**1/2)

Fredrik Josefsson After seeing it a few times, this is my conclusion. First, there seems to be two plots: one is that some English tuxedo-wearing guys are smuggling opium to China, the other is a boy-wants-girl love story.One reviewer said it takes place about the year 1900 -- I couldn't have guessed from just watching the movie. Other flaws seems to be that it is unclear where it takes place. "In a village, somewhere in China." Yet there is a nearby town or village where they, unknown to all main characters, are sacrificing children (!) in a seemingly recurrent ritual. How can they not know about this? Later, this incident is never talked of again, and this and several other incidents make me wonder, why there are so many subplots. Quite a few things don't make sense in the film... Don't understand why it even called "tai chi 2". It doesn't have anything in common with Tai Chi 1 (tai chi master). And the officer to which Rose was engaged is also an enigma: is he good or bad? I felt sorry for him anyways -- he was just trying to do his job and start a family, but everyone seemed to dislike him. The acting is overall like the others said: decent, but not very spectacular. All though they could have mentioned the mother and father are very enjoyable to watch. Maybe a good thing would be if the story was focused more on the family life. Or focused on, well, *anything*, instead of diverse itself like it did.Note that the first scene takes place 10 years before the rest of the film. They could have mentioned this. And why why couldn't they have bothered making a decent ending....Enjoyable little thing though, thanks to its action and humour!! Recommendable!! 7 / 10.

glaurung This is a great movie with very nice fights. Jackie Wu really knows what he is doing and the fighting becomes smooth, graceful and almost dancelike. This is truly a masterpiece in HK action.The story is also good, played out on the screen beautifully.This film has received critic for the visible wires in the end scene, but if you look carefully you'll see that this is NOT the case. There are ropes and stuff hanging in the building that they are fighting in. If you "see" their wires, you are not looking closely enough.Great movie - go buy the DVD!

thestiffnixon Since I have been practicing Tai Chi for a little while, I like to watch movies that have Tai Chi in them. This one has some cool wire work, but also some great Tai Chi. It's also got a cute story. I think anybody who likes martial arts films would enjoy this movie.