Tai Chi Hero (2012) poster
7.5
Your Rating: 0/10
Ratings: 7.5/10 from 287 users
# of Watchers: 493
Reviews: 1 user
Ranked #5665
Popularity #11848
Watchers 287

Chinese steampunk martial arts blockbuster about the early years of Tai Chi master Yang Lu Chan, the man who founded in the 19th century what has now become the most popular Tai Chi style in the world. The second instalment of the "Tai Chi" trilogy continues the journey of Yang Lu Chan, a gifted child with a fleshy growth on his forehead who helped save a village from a frightening army of steampunk soldiers bearing strange machines with the knowledge of Tai Chi that they entrusted him with. Edit Translation

  • English
  • magyar / magyar nyelv
  • dansk
  • Norsk
  • Country: China
  • Type: Movie
  • Release Date: Oct 25, 2012
  • Duration: 1 hr. 40 min.
  • Score: 7.5 (scored by 287 users)
  • Ranked: #5665
  • Popularity: #11848
  • Content Rating: Not Yet Rated

Cast & Credits

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Tai Chi Hero (2012) photo

Reviews

Completed
The Butterfly
3 people found this review helpful
Jan 29, 2022
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 3.5
This review may contain spoilers

From Zero to, well, maybe a 4 or 5

Tai Chi Hero took up where Tai Chi Zero left off and promptly slid downhill from there. The gang was all back and added William Feng Shao Feng and Peter Stormare to try and shake things up a little.

Yang Lu Chan (Jayden Yuan) and Chen Yu Niang (Angelababy) were in the middle of their nuptials when her ne'er do well brother, Chen Zai Yang (William Feng), showed up spoiling the mood. Fang Zi Jing (Eddie Peng) who was soundly beaten in the previous movie returned plotting revenge with some help from Duke Fleming (Peter Stormare) of the British East India Company.

That set-up sounds boring and unfortunately for me, this movie lacked the zaniness of Tai Chi Zero. Grandmaster Chen Chang Xing's (Tony Leung Ka Fai) character was developed more while he worked things through with his estranged son. Tony Leung Ka Fai did his best as the master of martial arts who had to come to grips with the mistakes he made with his child. The two main characters, Lu Chan and Yu Niang were stuck in much the same place without any conflict which drained the energy out of their scenes. Poor Jayden, a real-life martial arts champion, was unable to convey more than one perplexed expression. Unsurprisingly, there was no chemistry between he and Angelababy. The film focused more on the Grandmaster and his estranged son, possibly out of necessity.

Tai Chi Hero lacked a definitive villain, Zi Jing wasn't sinister or competent enough or engaged in the story enough to be much of a threat. Eddie Peng wasn't able to overcome the caricature and corner his character had been written into.

The story spent time flashing back to try and build the characters' and story's background but in the present time there was no urgency or significant development. There was no high stakes battle at the end. In fact, the ending felt rushed, too easily wrapped up, and anti-climactic.

There weren't as many fights or as inspired fights this time around. Lu Chan was trained by his wife and father-in-law which was to set him up to become the super Tai Chi Master but was lackluster as a viewing experience. The one grand battle was sped up and blurred which always seems like a cheat in a martial arts movie with a real martial artist in it.

The steampunk, pop-ups, and comic book style wackiness were largely gone in this sequel. Tai Chi Zero wasn't empirically a good movie, but it was a fun movie. Tai Chi Hero took much of the fun out, tried to replace it with heart, which ended up feeling more like hot air. I'd still recommend it to people who watched the two previous movies, even though this one limped across the finish line.

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Details

  • Movie: Tai Chi Hero
  • Country: China
  • Release Date: Oct 25, 2012
  • Duration: 1 hr. 40 min.
  • Content Rating: Not Yet Rated

Statistics

  • Score: 7.5 (scored by 287 users)
  • Ranked: #5665
  • Popularity: #11848
  • Watchers: 493

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