The Master of Tai Chi (2008)

This series has some of the best kung fu sequences out there. Vincent Zhao himself is a martial artist and a perfectionist when it came to choreography. There was no CGIs, just hand-to-hand combat that was crisp, fast-paced, and fun to watch. They even showed distinctive fighting styles for each of the major “school.” Best of all, it was filmed well so that you don’t miss the actors’ facial expressions. No slo-mo needed.

It was smart of the writers to incorporate tai chi philosophy into the development of the main character, Mo Ma. Other than that, the plot was pretty generic, recycled from parts of older TVB series. This is usually ok, if there’s actually good acting to make up for it.

Vincent was a surprisingly capable actor. He had an expressive face and was especially effective at the hurt puppy dog look. I think he once said he liked playing a romantic hero, and it showed in the yearning way his Mo Ma looked at Melissa Ng’s Song Ching. Sadly, Melissa was out of her range here. Her porcelain doll face was perfect for those elegant ice queen roles, but she was missing the warmth of a homespun country girl. The bad hair style didn’t help her, either. She basically killed any chemistry there might have been with Vincent. All their scenes together were boring.

Raymond Lam had both the good looks and the acting chops to play Hiu Sing, the golden boy who fell from grace but managed to redeem himself later. These type of roles were tricky in that he had to be pathetic, yet still likeable. You will feel for Siu Hing over many things, except his obsession with Myolie’s Chi Kwai. Now this woman had to be the most selfish, unreasonable, self-entitled brat. Worse, people around her enabled her dysfunctional and destructive behavior. She acted like Mo Ma belonged to her, although it was clear he couldn’t care less. She did eventually fall for Siu Hing and changed near the end. But it was all very abrupt and way too convenient. By that time, I was so sick and tired of Chi Kwai that I just threw up my hands and said “whatever.”

Derek Kwok looked cool here as a villain with a heart. In fact, many of the veteran actors brought their A game. It was the actresses who let the story down.

Watch this only if you’re an avid action/martial arts fan, or if you want to see fight scenes done right.

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