Tai Chi Master

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"Tai Chi Master" (also known as "Twin Warriors") is a 1993 martial arts films starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. It tells the story of two childhood friends, the nice if somewhat slow Junbao (Li) and the more hot-tempered Tienbo, who grew up in a Shaolin Temple. They would often get in trouble either because of Tienbo's temper or for being bullied by other students. Only one Master in particular liked them, though he pretended not to.

Eventually, as adults, both are thrown out of the temple after Tienbo nearly kills another student who cheated during a fight.(This despite proving themselves incredibly formidable against an army of monks.) Their old teacher gives them as a parting gift a kind of wooden scroll that they are not supposed to read until they find themselves at a crossroad in their lives.

The two of them try to earn a living at a small town but end up involving themselves in other people's problems; first they help a female warrior called Miss Li when she tries to protect a man being harassed with unfair taxes by the army. Later they save another woman, Siu Lin (Yeoh) when she comes looking for her missing husband and finds him married to the governor's niece. Hilarity (and lots of fights) ensue.

Tienbo, fascinated by the power of the army, joins it, but Junbao refuses, so they finally go their separate ways. Tienbo soon rises up the ranks, while Junbao works at a pub and becomes close to Siu. It turns out however that the pub is the headquarters of the rebellion against the corrupt government, so the two friends are now on opposite sides.

At first it looks like Tienbo will use his connections inside the army to help the rebels, and tells them when they can kidnap the governor. But it's a trap- he betrayed the rebels to make himself look better. Most of them die and the two women are captured- only Junbao escaped. Later he confronts his former friend who justifies his actions by claiming the rebels were doomed anyway. They fight and Junbao is able to rescue Siu, but Li dies.

After this incident Junbao's mind snaps as he cannot believe his childhood friend actually tried to kill him. Eventually he recovers when he remembers the scroll and opens it- it turns out to be The Book Of Chi, which explains the laws governing the forces in nature. Reading it gradually restores his sanity and increases his powers as he develops the titular style; Tai Chi.

The rebels managed to capture the governor and try to use him to get Tienbo to surrender. Tienbo fights with Junbao but cannot beat him; he then kills the Governor when he is ordered to surrender, thinking the army would follow him. This backfires when they refuse to. Tienbo dies when Junbao (accidentally) knocks him on some spears.

The movie ends with Junbao returning to the temple to become a teacher.

Tropes in this film:

• Action Girl: Siu, Li, and even the Governor's niece.
• Adorkable: Junbao may be a Badass, but he's pretty naive on worldly matters for the first half of the movie.
• Badass: Tianbo, Junbao, the monks.
• Bad Boss: Tianbo after his Face Heel Turn. He applies Training From Hell which actually kills his soldiers and uses them as human missiles against Junbao in their final battle. They eventually desert him.
• Bare-Fisted Monk
• Chaste Hero: Junbao during the first half of the movie was actually scared of touching Siu. He was raised to be a monk, so this is justifiable.
• Chekhov's Gun: The scroll.
• Combat Medic: The rebels have one, who pretends to be a kooky fortuneteller.
• Counter Attack: Just look at the title.
• Crapsack World: The government is corrupt, the peasants will kill you if offered money... even in the temple there were bullies.
• Curb Stomp Battle: Junbao's fights after developing Tai Chi becomes this.
• Deadly Counter: Junbao does this after developing Tai Chi, most notably against Tienbo.
• Evil Former Friend
• Face Heel Turn: Tienbo.
• Heroic BSOD: Junbao has a BIG one.
• Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Tianbo. Turns into full-on Jerkass after his Face Heel Turn.
• La Résistance
• Love Interest: The two women seem to be this for our protagonists. However only Siu actually is; Li gets killed for refusing to be Tienbo's concubine. They're not specifically shown to have gotten together, though.
• Made of Iron: Junbao and Tianbo. A group of hired guards beat them up at one point. Their reaction? Pick the coins on the ground.

"Earning money is so easy!"

• Martial Pacifist: Junbao, especially after his powerup.
• Meaningful Name: Junbao was renamed Zhang Sanfeng by the doctor who tried to treat his madness. Sanfeng was explained in-movie as meaning "3-times crazy". Junbao later mistook the Feng part to be prosperity.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: or rather mid-movie upgrade.
• Training Montage: Several times.
• The Mole: Tienbo. Not.
• Mood Whiplash: The movie feels like a comedy for the first half; afterwards... It Got Worse.
  • This troper thinks watching Junbao as a crazy man was still pretty funny. Sad, but funny.
• Wuxia
• Wire Fu