Saturday, November 10, 2018

Man of Tai Chi - Keanu Reeves (2013) - Lung King Street, Wanchai

Man of Tai Chi is Keanu Reeves' directorial debut and centres around a rather evil minded businessman (Reeves) who manipulates skilled martial artists into fighting  to the death for his (unbeknownst to them) pay-per-view internet channel. The police (i.e. Karen Mok) have been trying to bust the operation and the film starts with the killing of their main witness after he fails to kill his opponent in a fight.

The filming of this was split between Mainland China and Hong Kong and to be honest there aren't that many worthy locations in Hong Kong because it appears that much of the filming was done at Shing Fung Studios in Ho Chung.

After the initial killing, a police raid ensues and the fight venue is an industrial building somewhere. The exterior shots though were filmed in the area next to Lung King Street near to the Academy for Performing Arts. As the camera pans up we can see the surrounding buildings including Central Plaza and there is a subsequent shot taken on Lung King Street itself (see last image). This whole area has been subject to extensive redevelopment in the past ten years due to the Central/Wanchai bypass reclamation and it looks as though the canopy we see in the initial images was part of the (now demolished) Wanchai Sewage Screening Plant in the square bit of land that Lung King Street circles. It's entirely feasible that the interiors were actually shot there prior to demolition but I have no way to corroborate. You can still see the canopy on Streetview, but I'm not sure how long before it gets updated.

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