As he famously stated in "The Matrix," Keanu Reeves knows kung fu. And if "Man of Tai Chi" is any sign, he knows how to make a pretty damn fun kung fu movie too.

The satisfyingly bare-bones new martial arts actioner stars stuntman (and Keanu’s long-time friend going back to "The Matrix" films) Tiger Chen as the only student of Ling Kong Tai Chi style. His elderly master (Yu Hai) emphasizes balancing the physical power and force of tai chi with its philosophy. The spiritual side, however, doesn’t interest Chen all that much. He prefers the fighting, secretly honing and showing off his peculiar, almost unheard of brand of martial arts to impressed crowds in a local competition.

Among his enthused fans is Donaka Mark (Reeves), a wealthy, fight-loving businessman who offers Chen a job. He takes the gig, but what was originally described as a "security job," however, is actually a place in Mark’s brutal underground fight club, which he broadcasts and sells with a touch of reality TV storytelling to other bored, rich sadists. As the matches escalate in viciousness, Chen finds himself falling even further away from the balance of tai chi and his worried master, and deeper into Mark’s cold, ruthless world of violence.

Nobody goes to a movie called "Man of Tai Chi" for a particularly dense story, and Michael G. Cooney’s script is happy to oblige those low expectations. His Faustian fable throws a few cliché story beats in to keep things moving, like a tired, über-motivated lone cop (Karen Mok) hunting down Mark and a special temple that needs to be saved from being torn down.

The story may be dumb and done before, but it doesn’t insult the audience’s intelligence, and it covers its real job requirements just fine: Give us a decent hero, give us a fun villain, set the table for the fights and get the eff out of the way.

Well, we certainly have a villain. As Mark, Reeves manages to be both over-the-top hammy and borderline catatonic. It’s a delightful combination. His emotionless, inflection-free delivery makes lines like "Tai chi … that’s different" and "You owe me a life" way more amusing than they should be (the latter phrase already has a small cult following). It’s hard to say if his perma-scowled performance is intentionally supposed to be this entertaining, but considering his hilariously sudden mid-film roar straight at the camera, my vote is yes.

Chen, meanwhile, doesn’t need to exactly stretch himself here. His character, after all, is literally Tiger Chen. But he’s a likable lead who brings out all of his character’s inner conflicts.

Most importantly, he’s very adept at kicking dudes in the face. And better yet, Reeves – making his directorial debut – is equally adept at filming dudes kicking other dudes in the face. Reeves doesn’t do much fancy, but the film’s steely black and grey visuals look great, and he even throws in a couple of snap zooms as a little nod to classic kung fu movies.

For the most part, though, he crisply and cleanly shoots the action, moving nicely with the fighters and letting legendary action director Woo-ping Yuen’s awesome choreography speak for itself. As you’d hope, it’s tense and thrilling, worthy of whichever alliterative description you prefer (ballet of brutality? Flurry of fists? Plethora of punches?).

One of Chen’s earliest and most memorable fights involves him battling his furious opponent, as well as his uncooperative tie. The rest, however, are just as good. Each one is an exhilarating and intricate mix of swift, wirework-aided jabs, kicks and flips coherently captured by Reeves – even during a disorienting strobe-filled two-on-one fight – with just the tiniest dose of character to keep the audience invested. Reeves himself even steps into the ring for the final showdown.

It’s all enough to make me drop another classic Keanu quote from "The Matrix": Whoa.

"Man of Tai Chi" is currently available on Time Warner Cable OnDemand and iTunes. It also comes out on DVD on Dec. 10.