Demonstrates the philosophy of the Way, Shows the Path to wisdom and harmony, A Master is here to teach the essence of Tai Chi! Orphaned as a child, MO MA (Vincent Zhao) grew up in the country and started learning Tai Chi from his mentor at a very young age. The devastating experience of being abandoned by his mother has left him twisted and full of hatred. To help remove the anger and hatred in MA's heart, his mentor finally sacrifices his own life. To express gratitude to his mentor, and to accomplish the will of his father, MA seeks to pursue the highest level of Tai Chi. He challenges TUEN HIU-SING (Raymond Lam), the leader of the top-ranked Chong Lung Sect, to a contest but is defeated in the end. To beat SING has then become his only goal. For a girl named YIN CHI-KWAI (Myolie Wu) and the ambitious martial arts master LUI YAU-NGO (Derek Kwok), MA and SING get into fights again and again. As MA is on the road to his dream, the gap between him and his soul-mate SONG CHING (Melissa Ng) is growing wider and wider. Edit Translation
- English
- magyar / magyar nyelv
- dansk
- Norsk
- Native Title: 太極
- Also Known As: Tai Gik
- Genres: Martial Arts
Cast & Credits
- Myolie Wu Main Role
- Vincent Zhao Main Role
- Raymond Lam Main Role
- Kenneth Ma Main Role
- Selena Lee Main Role
- Melissa Ng Main Role
Reviews
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.