Tai Chi II - Yuen Wo Ping Makes A Family Picture

May

6

Tai Chi II - Yuen Wo Ping Makes A Family Picture

≡ Category: Highly Recommended, Martial Arts |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: Hong Kong
Genre: Martial Arts
Director: Yuen Wo-Ping
Year: 1996

Rating:

TRASH CINEMA HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOVIE

Those familiar with Yuen Wo-Ping’s output as a director will recognize the house style in Tai Chi II — a mixture of drama, comedy, politics, a dash or romance, and a whole lot of highly intricate martial arts choreography.

In the turbulent time of the Opium Wars, Yang (Yue Hoi) has retired from the martial arts world in order to ensure that his son Hawkman (Jacky Wu Jing) gets a proper education. This consists of the boy being stuck in a small hut with schoolbooks, his pigtail tied to the rafters so he won’t fall asleep. But by the time Hawkman gets to college age (at least I think he’s supposed to be — Jacky Wu Jing looks about 15 years old), he’s starting to chafe against his father’s restrictions, so he sneaks out and catches the eye of Yeung Wan (the adorable Christy Chung), the daughter of the local port governor. It turns out that Yeung Wan is part of a group protesting the use of opium, which is being smuggled in by the British. When one of the henchman of the British manhandles Yeung Wan, Hawkman defends her, uncovering a plot to smuggle opium into China in the process.

The political intrigue, while not particularly original, is involving enough, and executed competently. The comedy impresses more, thanks especially to veteran Hong Kong character actor/martial artist Yue Hoi, who plays Hawkman’s father. You see pride, exasperation, love, flit across his face as he tries to be stern with his son. Hawkman’s mother becomes his ally in the courtship of Yeung Wan (Sibelle Hu) and the pleasure she communicates from her scheming is quite infectious. Best of all is probably the relationship between the mother and father, which is deliciously layered as only a long standing marriage can be.

Other welcome character actors include Billy Chung (the heavy from Fist of Legend), Mark Cheng (A Taste of Killing and Romance, Raped By An Angel, City On Fire), Ji Chun-Hua (the bald guy from The New Legend of Shaolin and Fong Sai Yuk II), and Lau Shun (Once Upon a Time in China III, The Tai-Chi Master, Green Snake).

Another aspect of Tai Chi II that elevates the picture is that the theme of old ways versus new ways is threaded through the plot, the subplots and relationships in the movie. Arranged marriages versus marriage for love, feudalism versus democracy, isolationism versus internationalism, guns versus kung fu all come into play in reasonably subtle ways.

But chances are, you’re not here for the character acting, comedy, and themes, however well done. You’re here for the fight scenes, and they are an inventive, well-performed and almost non-stop mix of wushu and wirework, even if they don’t break any new ground. I don’t know about you, but I am sick of the idea that if moviemakers don’t top what they did the last time out, they’ve somehow failed. What’s wrong with doing something familiar well? Especially when you’re talking about Yuen Wo-Ping’s fight choreography?

If there’s something to criticize about Tai Chi II, it’s the lack of urgency. I never once felt that Hawkman, his family and his girlfriend were in any real danger. After the first few fights, the victor in any given fight scene was almost never seriously in doubt. I suspect that Yuen Wo-Ping meant Tai Chi II to be a family friendly picture, and he has certainly succeeded in that, but at the cost of any suspense. Hawkman behaves as though he believes he is immortal, which might be somewhat true to life for a kid his age, but the complete absence of self-doubt or humility makes him a less interesting character than he might be.

Due to these shortcomings, the final fight scenes, as inventive and beautiful to look at as they are, drag a little because nothing is hinging on them. We already know the outcome. We’re so emotionally uninvested that we become aware that we’re looking at choreography, and to me, that’s a bit of a shame.