Yuen's master act loses grip towards the end

The Tai-Chi Master, with Jet Li Lin-kit, Michelle Yeoh (Yeung Chi-king), Chin Siu-ho, and Yuen Kit-ying. Directed by Yuen Wo-ping. Golden Harvest circuit. No Regrets About Youth, with Zhang Fengyi, Shi Lan, and Liu Yunlong. Directed by Zhou Xiaowen. In Mandarin with Chinese subtitles. At Cine-Art.

FOR nearly two-thirds of its 95-minute running time, The Tai-Chi Master does the seemingly impossible: it breathes new life into the moribund genre of historical action epics. Jet Li is ideally cast as a Shaolin monk fighting for justice in a cruel world.It's a simple premise which in its simplicity accomplishes several purposes, affording Li ample opportunity to display his martial arts prowess and boyish charm, as well as providing a direct connection to Shaolin Monastery, the fondly-remembered kung-fu picture that propelled Li to international stardom a decade ago.

During the first hour, Yip Kwong-kim's script supplies a serviceable framework on which to hang the not-terribly-original proceedings. Two children, Kwun-po and Tin-po, are novice monks at the monastery, and the opening sequences effectively establish the close relationship between the youths who grow up to be portrayed by Jet Li (Kwun-po) and Chin Siu-ho (Tin-po). The latter is given the best role of his career, not only sharing but sometimes stealing the spotlight from his superstellar colleague.

The two eventually leave Shaolin to make their way in the ''real world'' where they come across a corrupt imperial official, the Eunuch Lau, and friend is set against friend when one decides to fight injustice by joining the rebels while the other, having developed a mad lust for power, becomes the eunuch's chief henchman. The story is totally predictable, yet this doesn't distract from the excitement of the initial hour.

There's a pole fighting scene at the monastery that is brilliantly edited and choreographed, as good as anything to emerge in the scores of action movies since Jet Li's Once Upon a Time in China revived the trend two years ago. And the film-makers have leavened the action with plenty of humour. Tin-po and Kwun-po conduct a conversation, for instance, while practising the Shaolin technique of smashing bricks against their foreheads, the dialogue never missing a beat in the process.

After such a promising start, the picture fails to ascend to new plateaux of excitement. Michelle Yeoh, despite second billing, is given little to do as the rebel Chau Suet. Her restaurant brawl with the eunuch's sister pales in comparison to the battlesstaged earlier in the movie. The Tai-Chi Master may be one of the best action pictures of the year, but the results fall somewhat short of ''master'' status.