History Film / ManOfTaiChi

* DescendedCreator: Director Keanu Reeves plays the BigBad.

* DullSurprise: Donaka Mark, courtesy of KeanuReeves. In this case, however, it's used quite effectively, as it makes Mark come off as emotionally shallow and sociopathic.

* TheBigBad: Donaka Mark who is behind almost all the film's unpleasantness.

* TheCorrupter: Donaka Mark's single motivation in life seems to be corrupting the soul of the innocent until they become killers.

* OldMaster: Tiger's Tai Chi master is a fairly archetypal one, and one of the

->''"So when you hear that Creator/KeanuReeves made friends with a Chinese stuntman while making the Film/{{Matrix}} movies and decided that his new pal was so cool that he was going to dedicate several years and a bunch of his own money to make a philosophical action movie loosely based on the guy's background... yeah, that sounds like something Keanu Reeves would do. And in fact did."''
-->-- Creator/BobChipman, ''Escape to the Movies''

* {{Badass}}: Tiger Chen, Donaka Mark, and most of the other fighters in the film for that matter.

-->--Creator/BobChipman, ''Escape to the Movies''

* EmotionlessGirl: The announcer for the fights speaks in a monotone without ever changing her facial expression and shows no concern backing away from the engaging fighters. Even as she's arrested, she simply stares onto the officer and crosses her legs.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In the first few minutes of the movie, Donaka Mark enters a room with one of his fighters and proceeds to brutally stab the man to death as he comments that [[ARealManIsAKiller he is not a warrior, but a rat]]. This scene tells you all you need to know about Donaka Mark.

* EvilWearsBlack: Donaka Mark wears black almost exclusively. Also see EvilCostumeSwitch.

* MadeOfIron: One of Tiger's adversaries is able to tighten his muscles and deflect most attacks. Tiger Chen and Donaka Mark themselves are milder examples, tanking a remarkable amount of damage without slowing down.

* OffscreenTeleportation: Tiger's first opponent set up by Donaka manages to appear behind Tiger despite him being in an open room, facing a mirror, because the camera is zoomed on his face. Later in the same scene, Donaka's elderly minion appears in the room as soon as Tiger wins.
* OldMaster: Tiger's Tai Chi master is a fairly archetypal one.

* MightyGlacier: Donaka, compared to Tiger. He tanks Tiger's hits, his attacks seem to do much more damage, but he's noticeably slower.

* ARealManIsAKiller: To quote Donaka, "you're not a warrior... you're a rat" to a fighter who failed to finish his defeated opponent.

* FragileSpeedster: Downplayed. Tiger would be a LightningBruiser compared to most people, but when stacked against the variety of musclebound adversaries he faces in this film, his short stature and slim physique make him one of these, though of a fairly durable variety.

Not to be confused with ''TaiChiMaster'' or ''Film/TaiChiZero''.

* EvilCostumeSwitch: Tiger wears white at the start of the film like his master, only to begin wearing darker colors as he continues to compete. Before one of his final matches (where he's expected to kill) there's a black and red outfit hanging up for him to wear. {{Justified}} by the fact that Donaka Mark is selecting Tiger's clothes for him, and is using it to symbolise his descent into darkness.

* TheJuggernaut: Donaka Mark becomes one of these during his battle with Tiger at the end. He's not as fast as Tiger, and his movements are stiffer, but nothing that Tiger does will make Donaka stay down, or even seem to inflict any lasting damage. As the fight progresses, Tiger is visibly getting tired, while Donaka is unaffected and keeps right on coming.

* BloodKnight: Donaka Mark seems to love violence for its own sake, and wants to force others to see the world through the same lens that he does.

* CurbStompBattle: Tiger begins his fight with mercenary Yuri Romanov by [[EyeScream gouging out his eyes with his thumbs]]. Things don't get better for Yuri.

* {{Determinator}}: Sun Jing Shi is one when assigned a case, doing everything she can to bring in Donaka Mark, even going behind her superior's back to do it.

* EmotionlessGirl: The announcer for the fights speaks in a monotone without ever changing her facial expression and shows no concern backing away from the engaging fighters.

* ActorAllusion:
** During the final battle, Keanu Reeves' character repeatedly encourages Tiger to [[Film/TheMatrix "show me"]].
** Karen Mok is essentially playing the same character that she did in ''Film/SoClose''.

* BallsOfSteel: One of Tiger's opponents (implied by his mannerisms and fighting style to be [[AllMonksKnowKungFu a monk]] tanks a kick to the nuts without even skipping a beat.

* SpecialEffectFailure: Inspector Sun's car crash was... not convincing, with the car being rendered in very noticeable CG.

** Keanu Reeves' character's full name seems to be presented the way Chinese people present their names, which is family name first, given name second. So his name is probably "Mark Donaka," which isn't that strange. "Donaka" is usually the Ellis Island-simplification of last names like Duhounik (Russian) or Doen(n)ecke (English/German). Alternately, his character could be part Japanese (Donaka is a real Japanese surname). Any one of these reasons for his last name is very grounded.

* ConspicuousCG: Inspector Sun's car crash was... not convincing.

** Keanu Reeves' character's full name seems to be presented the way Chinese people present their names, which is family name first, given name second. So his name is probably "Mike Donaka," which isn't that strange. "Donaka" is usually the Ellis Island-simplification of last names like Duhounik (Russian) or Doen(n)ecke (English/German). Alternately, his character could be part Japanese (Donaka is a real Japanese surname). Any one of these reasons for his last name is very grounded.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Donaka is a CompleteMonster, but he's unfailingly polite.

* NoSell: Donaka no sells most of Tiger's moves during their final faceoff, forcing Tiger to return to his original Tai Chi style in order to do any damage.