The Master of Tai Chi

Cast:
Vincent Zhao Wen Zhuo - Mo Ma
Melissa Ng - Song Ching
Raymond Lam - Tuen Hiu Sing
Myolie Wu - Yin Chi Kwai
Selena Li - Yin Chui Kiu

Synopsis: (Warning! Spoilers!)
The Master of Tai Chi is a story of Mo Ma (Vincent Zhao) who was an orphan. He was the son of an official and due to the political arrangement in the palace, he had to run away. A friend of his father, Master Kwan, took him into the woods and looked after him for several years.

However, due to safety reasons (which Mo Ma had yet to reason to himself) Master Kwan had to left little Mo Ma in the woods. Mo Ma was so devastated and grew up in great anger of being left alone in the woods.

After some time, Mo Ma and his only friend, Fung Nin (Kenneth Ma), left the village and wanted to be successful and eventually return to the village to seek revenge onto the cruel chief of the village.

While they were away, they got to know Song Ching (Melissa Ng), Yin Chi Kwai (Myolie Wu) and her sister Yin Chui Kiu (Selena Li). Mo Ma then met Master Kwan again and learnt Tai Chi from him. However, Mo Ma's anger prevented him from achieving a higher level in Tai Chi. In order to make Mo Ma forget his anger, Master Kwan lost his life.

Mo Ma was very sad, and so he swore to spread the knowledge of Tai Chi to the world. In doing so, he fell in love with Song Ching and they become a couple. But Chi Kwai loved him too, but was rejected. Chi Kwai then went into the custody of Tuen Hiu Sing (Raymond Lam) who loved her so much.

Mo Ma then set up his own kung fu school, trying to teach Tai Chi to its members. Hiu Sing at that time was the Head of Black Dragon Kungfu school, which he inherited from his forefathers. His great enemy was Mo Ma and he was determined to beat Mo Ma in a kungfu battle, so as to win Chi Kwai's love.

At the same time, there was a deviant political arrangement between the Deputy Head of Town and Chief of Police Department to topple the Head of Town down so that they would benefit themselves personally. For some reason, the Head of Town admired Mo Ma so much, and Mo Ma had been helping him here and there.

The political arrangement then went heated up, but Mo Ma saved the day. Those who were evil were defeated and Mo Ma decided to return to the village and lived a quiet life with Song Ching. However, Song Ching understood Mo Ma's ambition to popularize Tai Chi to the world, so she asked Mo Ma to leave. The story ended like this; Mo Ma didn't marry Song Ching. He had to sacrificed his love for the sake of Tai Chi.

Comments on the cast:

VINCENT ZHAO AS MO MA
This is the first time I saw him on silver screen. He looks stunning as the Master of Tai Chi, as he himself is a martial arts adept in real life. His acting is okay. But his Cantonese seemed to be a problem, as someone is reading the script for him. It looks like it's not his voice. But his facial expression is good.

MELISSA NG AS SONG CHING
I don't like her. I don't like her at all.

MYOLIE WU AS YIN CHI KWAI
Her performance is okay. Her character of Yin Chi Kwai was irritating and shameless as she kept running after Mo Ma though she already had Hiu Sing and knew that Mo Ma was with Song Ching. She's like a whore and Myolie managed to play this role very well.

RAYMOND LAM AS TUEN HIU SING
He is a real gentleman in this series. He hates Mo Ma, and yet, he helped him to save Song Ching and was bold enough to face competition. But he made a lousy Head of Black Dragon Clan though, in many scenes, he was a gentleman. The problem with him is that he made a fool out of himself every time Myolie comes into the scene and he kept being fooled that Mo Ma is a bad guy. But since he realized the true situation, he becomes a good friend of Mo Ma.

What I want to see more in this series:
1. Mo Ma and Song Ching relationship.
2. Mo Ma fighting with Hiu Sing.
3. More comedic scene of Mo Ma - like when he was thrown with tons of eggs and they all broke on his face.

What I don't want to see in this series:
1. Kenneth Ma -- you bet even Fred Cheng as the supporting character is way better than him.
2. Myolie Wu crying

General comments:
I think overall, this series is 'okay'. It's not really good, but not too bad either. The best thing about this series is all the fighting scenes; it's so real, so beautiful and so full of the philosophy of Tai Chi. Vincent Zhao and Raymond Lam are good at fighting scenes and I think Tai Chi is a beautiful martial art. I think that Ma Keong (senior member of Black Dragon Clan) was not good at fighting, but he tried his best. 3.5 points out of 5 for this series.