Just when we were already reveling in the trailer for Keanu Reeves’ latest venture on the big screen, 47 Ronin, Reeves is gifting us with an even bigger project to sink our teeth into. Feast your eyes on the trailer for Man of Tai Chi, Reeves’ directorial debut and what looks like an even bigger and better fight movie than Ronin.
Man of Tai Chi plants Reeves firmly in the villain role as the leader of an underground martial arts club that pits its fighters against each other to the death. Meaning, he has whomever doesn’t win the round murdered by his guards. He really wants a young martial artist who is exceptionally gifted in tai chi (badass stunt man Tiger Chen) to join his fight club, ignoring the fact that Tai Chi is a only fought honorably. Eh, what are you gonna do? Evil villains need to be entertained somehow. Check out the trailer for yourself here:
Though people will probably be comparing Man of Tai Chi to 47 Ronin after both films premiere because of their high Keanu saturation, it’s a bit of an unfair comparison. Ronin is a fantastical, special-effects heavy thriller (which looks pretty kickass), while this is just some good old fashioned fighting. Reeves even brought choreographer Yuen Woo Ping (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix) on board to map out the fight sequences. And of course he’s jumping in for some fighting of his own. For a directorial debut, it looks like he’s not doing too shabby.
Man of Tai Chi is in theaters November 1st.
