Geeks on Film: Tai Chi Zero Blu-ray [Impressions]

Tai Chi Zero is the Steam Punk, Kung-Fu equivalent of Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

The film directed by Stephen Fung (House of Fury, Gen-X Cops) is the story of The Freak (Yuan Xiaochao) a man born with the exceptional talent of being able to assimilate any style of Kung-Fu by simply witnessing it or having it inflicted on him.

There is a price however to this gift, after using a brute-force “external” style of Kung-Fu for so long his body is completely out of balance. Unless he can change this by going from an “external” Kung-Fu, to a more “internal” Kung-Fu with all the damage already done to his body, his days are numbered.

So The Freak travels to the Chen Village where there is rumored to be a special flavor of Tai Chi to rectify this. The only problem is when he arrives; he finds the Chen Village doesn’t teach their special style of Tai Chi to outsiders.

What ensues is a hilarious battle royal with everyone in the village. From the an 8 year-old girl to the guy who makes tofu, as The Freak tries to learn the Chen Village’s Tai Chi style by getting beat up by everyone in the village. The film and its fighting bouts feature a bevy of visuals, those who play video games will definitely recognize and enjoy.

His plan of getting an apprenticeship goes out the window, when a giant steam powered machine shows up. The Westerners running it plan to destroy the Chen Village in order to make way for the new railroad and of course, as luck should have it The Freak maybe the only one who can save the village with his special gift.

Well Go USA was nice enough to send me a copy of Tai-Chi Zero on Blu-ray and while it was originally released in 3D in China we are sadly only getting the 2D version here in the US. This is honestly a bit of a shame since the amazing transfer this disc sports, features what looked like some great 3D moments.

The DTS-HD track on this disc is very robust and they use a lot of the lows for the fight scenes, which really adds to the action. There is also a brief Making of and Music Video on the disc, but while the extras may be light the film really sells the disc in this case.

Tai-Chi Zero is a lot of fun! If you loved the IP Man films you will definitely enjoy this. Its always a good thing to see less CG and more hand to hand combat in these films with real martial artists. The film is a great blend of Kung-Fu, anime and video games that make for a comedic martial arts romp that belongs in every genre fans collection. Definitely pick this one up! Get this on Blu-ray now, and whilst doing so, if you have any old Blu-rays or even DVDs that you never watch any more, then recycle them at musicMagpie.com. Whilst making some extra cash, you are also helping the environment too!