Tai ji: Zhang San Feng (1993)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Woo-ping Yuen

Writer:

Kwong Kim Yip (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 November 1993 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Une rencontre de légende

Plot:

Jet Li was a monk in Shaolin. In a friendly competition for a higher place in Shaolin, his childhood...

Plot Keywords:

Shaolin | Tai Chi | China | Revenge | Martial Arts

Cast

Jet Li	...	Junbao
Michelle Yeoh	...	Siu Lin
Siu-hou Chin	...	Chin Bo (as Chin Siu Ho)
Fennie Yuen	...	Miss Li (as Fannie Yuen)
Cheung-Yan Yuen	...	Rev. Ling (as Yuen Cheung Yan)
Shun Lau	...	Master Jueyuan (as Lau Shun)
Hai Yu	...	Head Master

Also Known As:

Twin Warriors (UK) (USA) (DVD title)
The Tai-Chi Master (Hong Kong: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for martial arts violence.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A | France:U | Germany:16 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

China

Company:

Eastern Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Jet Li is kicking a ball against a wall, the wall breaks before the ball hits it.

Quotes:

Junbao: Enough! Stop living in your past! What do you think you're doing here? Stop shoving me away! The past is what makes up who we are. Don't let it become your burden.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "HBO First Look: Making 'Romeo Must Die' (#7.3)" (2000)

A truly great 90's actioner

It's not Drunken Master, (not the Legend of Drunken Master, the original, noodge), but what is? It is a well made tale of an ousted Shaolin monk who through hardship and madness, learns the ultimately taoist T'ai Chi Chuan.

The thing I love about this film, (and you'd have to be a geek to go with this} but I love the fact that he learns T'ai Chi through his own hardships, not from a sifu (teacher), and the typical sifu or friend who dies is his friend, who, instead of dying, turns evil with power.

The entire movie is a great representation of Taosism (yin, yang, good and evil}. I don't agree that Michelle Yeoh (or Michelle Kahn at she time in the film) was not well used. She provided the idea of the easy path, drinking in this case, that is so lacking in gong fu movies. She and he both redeem themselves against the head bad guy (His character name escapes me at the time}, but there is no love interest between themselves. She's tough and troubled, he's tough and troubled and they actually help each other (read: she stops drinking to save him, he learns from her care and she helps cure his madness).

By the way, the head bad guy, (again, sorry about the name} was still played brilliantly even in dubbing. My friends and I still say "Hmmmmm" in his fey evil voice when thinking bad thoughts. It can be said it's typical Hong Kong fare... Good guy gets defeated, learns a new style of Gong Fu and defeats the bad guy, but then again, isn't that what Star Wars took 3 films to accomplish?

Anyway, my opinion of this film is tainted by the fact that I'm a taoist, but the action is top notch, nobody flies for no reason, all the characters (even the comic relief) are fleshed out. great film. not the greatest, but, it's a hell of a lot better than "Shaolin Drunken Monk" (aka, Plan 9 from the Shaolin Temple) lol.