I don't get the sense that there's a huge contingent of martial arts fans round here, but anyway, this was a good ol-fashioned martial arts movie with some fantastic fights and an appealingly sparse style. Great cinematographic work during the fight scenes and, most importantly, a real sense of a "true" martial arts film -- focused on balance rather than just on ass-kicking.

There is, though, a lot of ass-kicking, with Bloodsport and Karate Kid plots running simultaneously. The action is also appropriately violent without being overly bloody, which is neat. The fairly limited wire work is handled well, and Keanu himself looks reasonably good in his big fight. Chen is an extremely skilled martial artist and a serviceable actor to boot.

Kind of a weak showing from Karen Mok and Simon Yam, but it was cool that they made it in, anyway. Fans of the genre may also appreciate a brief showing by Iko Uwais, of The Raid fame.

Your appreciation of this one may be pretty directly related to your enjoyment of the genre -- it definitely has that "for fans, by fans" feel to it. But Keanu definitely tries something a little bit different with a familiar set of tools, and there are some neat choices that make this a promising directorial debut in some ways.

I'd recommend this to martial arts fans and serious movie aficionados -- it is kind of a unique production, really, shot primarily in Cantonese by a North American director with a love for a Hong Kong genre starring Hong Kong actors...an oddity.

I did like this one, but it's probably not for everyone. If the trailers don't look at all appealing, the movie may not be either.

In my que.  Will check it out ASAP.  I think it sounds pretty cool.

Happy Holidays everyone!

I'll check this out when I get chance. Thanks for making me aware of it. I seriously didn't know it existed until now.

Yeah, this one wasn't for me. Watched it last night. I just didn't think the martial arts were on par with films like Raid or even the Matrix. And it was difficult for me to follow the main character down a path where he seemingly becomes more self absorbed with winning and cash even though he was doing it to save his masters temple of Tai Chi.

Spoiler!

And then he fights his master? For no apparent reason? Just didn't get into it. Movies like IP Man have good main characters who fight for values. It makes it worth so much more to me. Thumbs down here for Keanu's directorial debut.

James

Glad you checked this one out, James!

SPOILER

Regarding the fight with his master -- at that point Chen had reached an extreme which extended from the initial imbalance of all fighting and no meditation. Reaching the end of one extreme brings one towards the opposing/complementary quality; so the height of imbalance brought Chen to the greatest place of balance, or perhaps the height of violence brought Chen to the greatest place of peace, the place where violence is yielded back onto itself. The swooping, circular camera movements around the fight essentially recreate the taijitu of the temple floor, and the climactic release of chi upon Chen, who sought to use it as force rather than in balance in the first place, is the natural outcome of his imbalance.

So, spiritually, Chen's hate could go nowhere else but to his master at that point in the story. Not a very Western-minded plot point, but that's the way I interpreted it, if that helps at all...

I'm a fan of martial arts movies. I went to see this about two months ago.

Pretty basic movie, reminded me of some 80s american martial arts movies. Still the plot is very basic and cliched. Nothing to write home about, if you catch it on TV worth a look see in my opinion. Other then that, I wouldn't seek this movie out.

Not impressed, sorry to say.  This isn't a bad film, or a poor directorial debut for Keanu, but it's nothing to write home about, either.

And that's the problem.  It's very, very bland.  Nothing here I haven't seen before, done much better.  Even the fights for me were rather weak, and I was continuously "waiting" for a breakthrough fight or Antag.

Keanu was also very bland in his dialogue and actions.  His fighting actually looked good, but it was over so fast, it really didn't matter.

We've all seen this movie numerous times and the issue is that nothing stood out here to make this remotely memorable.

Grade - C