Share

• Print
• Email
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Digg
• Delicious
• Fark
• MySpace

The Trailer Tai Chi Zero Breaks New Ground For Martial Arts Movies

Martial arts. Evil steampunk Robots. Kung Fu kids. The mystical power of Tai Chi. Tai Chi Zero has it all.

For some of us, it may have been a long time since we enjoyed a good martial arts movie, but even for the most avid of the genre's fanbase, Tai Chi Zero (also known as Tai Chi 0) aims to please both. Directed by Hong Kong writer-director-actor Stephen Fung (House of Fury), Tai Chi Zero follows young Yang Luchan (newcomer Yuan Xiaochao) as he travels to a village to learn the secrets of Tai Chi martial arts and instead must save the town from a group of Steampunk soldiers. The first of a trilogy (the sequel Tai Chi Hero was shot simultaneously), Fung told Twitch that he wanted Tai Chi Zero to "break new ground" for martial arts movies.

I think it really helps to have a big studio behind you, like Huayi Brothers. They're obviously a mainland China studio and it is their intention to invest in big projects like Tai Chi because they believe that audiences want to see something new out of kung fu movies. Our producer Chen Kuo-fu, who also wrote the script, also believed in this and wanted to do something that could break new ground. And they knew that to break new ground the budget had to be bigger, because they're testing out new waters. We didn't want to do an experimental tai chi movie, where you just try out a little bit. It's better to at least try to go all the way.

That's also why we wanted to cast a newcomer, since this whole project is based on trying to break new ground. There just hasn't been a new martial artist who has really broken out and we were trying to find one. And [Xiaochao] seems to be right for this character. He's a very shy guy and he seems to fit right in.

See if Tai Chi Zero does indeed "break new ground," by watching the latest trailer below, which offers a hilarious description of the movie's plot.

Image courtesy of Well Go USA