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Since some of you might be coming into this second movie without seeing the first, let me get you up to speed. The Chen Village has this wonderful style of martial arts that draws on inner strength. Yet because it was foretold that the village would be destroyed if an outsider learned their martial art, they decided to allow the man, Yang Lu Chan (Yuan XiaoChao), join because he helped save their village from the steam-driven precursor to the modern tank. They are making him a part of the village by marriage.
You can tell that his bride Chen Yu Niang (Angelababy) isn't exactly happy about this wedding. In "Tai Chi Zero," we learned she had been in love with Fang Zi Jing (Eddie Peng). Fang, however, was disgraced and left the village. Fang had been educated in England and that brain-washing has him on the side of the evil. Yes, the British and Westernization is the looming evil, but a native steampunk influence saves this from being the traditionalists against the innovators.
First, Yang Lu Chan must learn the Chen style and because of Yu Niang's coolness toward her new husband and the problems of the master-disciple dynamics (not to mention the traditional Chinese husband-wife behind the walls warfare), Yu Niang demands that Lu Chan sleep on the floor and not even think of nookie. With his puppy dog sweetness, Lu Chan seems to lust more for food than for Yu Niang anyway.
Chen Yu Niang's father, Master Chen (Tony Leung Ka Fai), didn't have all his baskets in this one smart, good-looking egg of a daughter. He had a son and the son, Zai Yang (Feng Shaofeng) returns. Zai Yang and his wife have to do that hierarchal dance with Lu Chan and Yu Niang. It's a matter of domestic dominance and social order complicated by birthright and merit or martial arts skills.
Yet Fang returns, embittered with the death of his beloved. Things get complicated, but never too serious.
Because "Tai Chi Hero" is a comedy and because we know it's the second part of a trilogy, we know that Lu Chan will survive. His climatic fight with Li Qiankun (Yuen Biao) is above his greatest temptation: food not sex.
There's some grain of truth to this tale about tai chi. There was a historical figure named Chan Wanting who lived from 1580 to 1660. To put things in perspective, 1580 was the year that Frances Drake completed his circumnavigation of the world on the Golden Hind and Spanish troops landed in Ireland. By the time of Chen's death, King Charles II returned from exile to rule England. James II of England was named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
Yang Lu Chan is an actual historical figure who lived from 1799-1872. According to Wikipedia, Lu Chan was from a poor family of Hebei Province and initially learned martial arts as a child. He met Chen De Hu and saw him performing his martial art. Chen referred him to his hometown, Chen Village. Lu Chan eventually became known as Yang Wudi or Yang the Invincible because he never lost a match and never seriously hurt the people he fought against. Yang Lu Chan was the first person outside of the Chen family to learn what became known as tai chi chuan. He learned it from Chen Changxing and then went on to teach what became known as the Yang style. His own students would include officials of the Qing dynasty and some of the elite Manchu Imperial guards from Beijing's Forbidden City.
This movie isn't interested so much in historical detail. Director Fung in his humorous and at times frenetically visual style leaves no doubt in your mind about that. His Lu Chan is more cartoon character and superhero.
So sit back for some fanciful family entertainment with interactive media-influence graphics and subtitles that work overtime to keep you in the martial arts informational overload. "Tai Chi Hero" is available as a DVD and Blu-Ray.
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