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Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: January 22, 2013.
Director: Stephen Fung
Cast: Yuan Xiaochao, Angelababy, Qi Shu, Daniel Wu
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Stephen Fung's 2012 movie Tai Chi Zero stars Yuan Xiaochao as Lu Chan who has a sort of mutant ability - see, thanks to the growth on his head, he can turn into an amazingly powerful martial arts master with glowing eyes and superhuman abilities. All he has to do to make the change is to push on that growth, and before you can say SHAZAM he's ready to kick your ass (see the cover art - he turns into that guy). To further improve his abilities, Lu Chan learns a master in Tai Chi and sets about tracking him down so that he can learn from him. This quest soon brings him to the small village of Chen, and like a lot of small towns in movies, the people who live there don't like outsiders. He's told that they're unable to teach him what he wants to learn and that he should move on, but when he meets a disheveled homeless man (Tony Leung), Chen starts to wonder if this is the teacher he's been seeking all this time.
Complicating matters is the presence of a beautiful woman named Yunia (Angelababy), who Chen quickly falls for. Unfortunately for him, Yunia is far more interested in a man named Zijing (Eddie Feng), an enlightened sort bent on bringing the technology of the western world to Chen. If that weren't enough, Zijing is also involved with a woman named Claire (Mandy Lieu), who would love nothing more than to see Zijing's small home town bulldozed and wiped off the face of the map. When Zijing's attempts to coerce Chen's citizenry into adopting electricity fail, he and Claire take increasingly drastic measures leaving only Lu Chan around to save the day when they show up in a gigantic metal dome thing that obviously means trouble for all involved.
Tai Chi Zero suffers from some pacing problems here and there and makes it readily apparent very early on that it's not in the least bit concerned with realism or even logic, but that only slightly takes away from the fun to be had with this movie. Loaded with interesting design work and sporting pretty solid production values both digital and practical alike, the movie never looks less than great and on top of that it also makes very good use of color. The film also benefits from some very impressive fight choreography and healthy doses of very solid action scenes.
As far as the cast are concerned, Angelababy (weird name) and Mandy Lieu are both very attractive and manage to add some feminine charm to an otherwise fairly male dominated movie. Eddie Feng is solid in his role and Tony Leung, in his supporting effort, steals more than a few scenes. This is, for the most part however, Yuan Xiaochao's show all the way and he makes the most of the opportunity given him here. He's a natural in the fight scenes and holds his own here rather impressively but he also has a very likeable screen presence that goes a long way towards making Lu Chan's odd story more enjoyable than it would have been had he been cast as the stereotypical antihero type.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition picture on this disc is excellent. Detail is strong, colors are reproduced beautifully. Black levels are nice and deep throughout the presentation. Some questionable use of CGI looks a little off, but that's an issue with the effects themselves and not the transfer which is otherwise rich in both detail and texture. There are no issues at all with dirt, debris or visual detriments of any kind and the disc is well authored, showing no noise reduction or heavy edge enhancement. Outside of some slight shimmer here and there, the movie looks beautiful on Blu-ray - almost reference quality.
Chinese language audio options are provided in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with removable subtitles available in English and Mandarin. The lossless track here is an impressive one from start to finish that does a remarkable job of putting you right in the middle of the action. The score is spread around perfectly with some nice pans thrown in for dramatic effect while bass response is consistent in its power but never to the point where it buries anything that it shouldn't. It's hard to think of anything negative to say here, this is pretty much a reference quality mix. English dubs are also provided in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo but unless you've got a serious aversion to subtitles for whatever reason, go for the Chinese track.
The main extra on the disc is a five minute featurette called Behind The Zenes that's basically a promotional spot for the movie. Outside of that, look for a music video, a trailer for the feature and trailers for a few other Well Go USA properties.
The Final Word:
Tai Chi Zero is a ridiculous mishmash of comedy, drama and action laced with bizarre fantasy trappings and interesting steampunk inspired design work. More often than not, it actually works quite well and even if the movie has its fair share of flaws, it's worth seeing if you dig martial arts movies and don't mind loads of CGI. Well Go USA's Blu-ray is short on extras but it looks amazing and sounds just as good, so it earns full marks for presentation.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
