Keanu Reeves' directional debut is an expertly choreographed martial arts feature that will delight the genre fans with its old-school, action-packed premise but it also features a highly predictable plot, clichéd characters & near absence of genuine, believable emotions that ultimately prevents it from leaving a memorable imprint.Man of Tai Chi tells the story of a young martial artist who is gifted in Tai Chi skills but is impatient & rebellious when it comes to the philosophical aspects of his style. Things are set in motion when he is invited to join a highly lucrative underworld fight club for easy money and eventually finds out the sinister intent behind its existence.Directed by Keanu Reeves, the film marks his first stint behind the camera and he does a neat job at it, for his debut effort in the director's chair is simple, grounded, entertaining & well aware of its limitations. The action choreography is excellent & benefits a lot from its kinetic camera-work while all its events unfold at a brisk pace.The story is lazily scripted, for it could've delved deeper into the world of illegal fighting operations & its equally perverse audience but refuses to look beneath the surface. The fight scenes are good yet they fail to stimulate on an emotional level. Performances are mediocre, at times laughable and the generic background score doesn't help either.On an overall scale, Man of Tai Chi begins Keanu Reeves' directional career on a quiet note and is best enjoyed when expectations are thrown out the window. Reeves in a negative role is quite fun to watch despite his hollow, cringeworthy expressions while the movie as a whole chooses to stay within its confines by never aiming for a shot at greatness. In short, there is nothing special about it.

First of all congratulations to Keanu, Tiger Chen & all the team for making such a marvelous flick, bundled with fantastic fighting sequences, facial expressions, background music, multi-layered with a number of plots simultaneously & a feel of ascent throughout the movie till the end & climax - A Soft style in a Hard way! I really wondered on how Keanu Reeves worked out on so many plots & themes at the same time with too much delicacy. Some Matrix like moves, Kung Fu Hustle like ascending feel, Indian Movies like encounter with the heroine at the end as an afterthought; all co-join to make it worth a watch. The last four fights were just amazing, moreover the fight of Tiger Chen with Donaka (Reeves) led us to think that whether he (Donaka) was human or some evil character, with the only vulnerability to be killed by hidden spiritual force & not by ordinary hitting. I must rate it 10 on 10 definitely, but I wondered to see here IMDb's rating was bit low.

MAN OF TAI CHI marks a collaboration between Hollywood and China as the studios join forces to make a traditional tournament-based martial arts flick. The film is directed by and stars Keanu Reeves as an evil millionaire who mounts violent fight tournaments and broadcasts them to internet viewers in a bid for fame and fortune.What MAN OF TAI CHI has going for it are the plentiful fight sequences, all of them expertly choreographed by Yuen-Woo Ping. It's hard to go wrong with tournament-style films - they're a staple of B-movies, after all - and the almost constant stream of hard-hitting fights makes this great fun to sit through.There's little more to it than the action, however, seeing as the film is deeply flawed. Reeves's debut direction is applaudable, but they could have picked a better person than a composer to write the trite, predictable storyline. Elsewhere, Tiger Hu Chen proves to be a charisma-free leading man, despite his impressive tai chi skills, while Karen Mok overacts for all her worth. Simon Yam is barely in it despite being prominently billed. Worst of all, Iko Uwais makes a cameo appearance and doesn't even get to fight - the dumbest decision in the entire movie. My recommendation is to watch it for the fights but don't go in expecting much else, because you won't get it.

This is an action movie. And even though Keanu Reeves might not be Iko Uwais (who has a short appearance, too short if you ask me), even he's made looking good fighting. This might actually be one of his better performances (definitely in recent years). But the main role is played by someone else. The Man of Tai Chi! And as that title suggests, this man knows his Tai Chi.Or so he thinks, because as with most good action movies, he's actually still learning. Fighting-wise and life-wise that is. The movie is predictable with a sub-police story to hold the rest of it together. It might not be the most interesting movie plot-wise, but it delivers where it should: You cannot fault the action on display here. There are some very amazing action sequences put together ... just sit back, watch and enjoy