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Tai Chi Zero

Tai Chi Zero (2012)

tomatometer

64

Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 11
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

audience

52

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 2,507

My Rating

Movie Info

In legendary Chen Village, everyone is a martial arts master, using their powerful Chen Style Tai Chi in all aspects of their lives. Lu Chan has arrived to train, but the villagers are forbidden to teach Chen Style to outsiders, and do their best to discourage him by challenging him to a series of fights. Everyone, from strong men to young children, defeats him using their Tai Chi moves. But when a man from the village's past returns with a frightening steampowered machine and plans to build a

PG-13,

Action & Adventure

Kuo-fu Chen

Jan 22, 2013

$0.2M

Variance Films/Well Go USA - Official Site External Icon

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All Critics (28) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (11) | DVD (1)

"Tai Chi Zero" is often more distracting than diverting with its everything-goes aesthetic - there are strains of steampunk, manga and silent film comedy, with video-game touches.

October 19, 2012 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

"Tai Chi Zero" is loads of fun to watch, especially a battle in which watermelons, bananas and other fruits and veggies serve as flying weapons.

October 19, 2012 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comment (1)
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A martial-arts adventure with more video-game and comic-book DNA than the traditional kung fu flick, "Tai Chi Zero" is good, if empty-headed, fun.

October 19, 2012 Full Review Source: Washington Post
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Exhausting to watch, Tai Chi Zero is all flash and little substance.

October 18, 2012 Full Review Source: Toronto Star
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

"Zero" is the first part of a trilogy. Part two, titled "Tai Chi Hero," is due in January. The legend is off to a promising start.

October 18, 2012 Full Review Source: Seattle Times
Seattle Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Fung is enjoying himself so much that he doesn't want the movie to end - and his delight is infectious.

October 18, 2012 Full Review Source: NPR
NPR
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Sort of a kung-fu film through a 'Scott Pilgrim' lens, it is a slight but stylistic romp.

January 11, 2013 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune
Times-Picayune

Lavishes much care on the scenario, but the nonstop CGI could be a drawback for purists.

November 13, 2012 Full Review Source: East Bay Express
East Bay Express

It's meant either to aggressively defy convention or to distract moviegoers from a story that is pedestrian and predictable.

October 27, 2012 Full Review Source: Cinemalogue.com
Cinemalogue.com

A love triangle and some Steampunk machinery add interest, and Fung's spunky inventiveness makes this worth seeing.

October 25, 2012 Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix
Boston Phoenix

The true gist is a kung fu movie for the modern age: jam packed full of the hyper kinetic stimuli of an ADHD generation.

October 22, 2012 Full Review Source: Flixist.com
Flixist.com

Tai Chi Zero is constantly evolving and changing as a film. It's as if it completely redefines what a dynamic martial arts film can and should be.

October 19, 2012 Full Review Source: Examiner.com
Examiner.com

And although disappointed by this first part of the trilogy, there was enough to hold my interest to make me at least willing to give part 2 a chance.

October 19, 2012 Full Review Source: KPBS.org
KPBS.org

An energetic martial-arts romp with a stylish steampunk twist, Tai Chi 0 assaults the viewer with frenetic fight scenes, audacious video-game-inspired graphics, and nearly enough goofball humor to have it qualify as a comedy.

October 19, 2012 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Essentially a live-action anime, it sweats rivulets of Tarantino-era digital anxiety from all pores-every kick, punch, pan, and zoom exaggerated for maximum impact.

October 18, 2012 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Splashy but ultimately an empty bauble...By the halfway point you'll likely be more exhausted than exhilarated.

October 18, 2012 Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion
One Guy's Opinion

Hyped as a steampunk kung fu movie that revolutionizes the genre, Tai Chi Zero spends most of its time spinning its wheels.

October 18, 2012 Full Review Source: Film Journal International
Film Journal International

Audience Reviews for Tai Chi Zero

There is so much going on in Tai Chi Zero, the film is at risk of getting lost in its own bonkers narrative. The film sees The Freak enter a village to learn kung-fu, unfortunately nobody teaches outsiders. When a railway company comes to destroy the houses in the village, The Freak sets out to prove himself.The film has lots of little cute details, such as each cast member being introduced with a credit that also says what they are famous for. Many have come from the top Tai Chi schools around the world and so on. The fight scenes are brilliant, and are often accompanied by on screen notes of how the fighters are moving. It sounds odd, and it is. Many of the techniques used are highly unnecessary but adds a fresh interpretation to the genre. Fun and silly, with a mixture of steampunk thrown in, Tai Chi Zero is a little bit different, for better or worse.
January 12, 2013
kiriyamakazou

Super Reviewer

For anyone who loves martial arts and dynamic fight scenes!
June 19, 2013
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Foreign Titles

  • Tai Chi 0 (DE)
  • Tai Chi Zero (UK)
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