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| Release Date: | April 16th, 2003 (US) - April 18th, 2003 (UK) |
| Runtime: | 104 minutes |
| Rated: | PG-13 (US) - 12A (UK) |
| Genres: | Action, Comedy |
| Directed by: | Paul Hunter |
| Written by: | Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris |
| Starring: | Yun-Fat Chow, Seann William Scott, James King, Karel Roden, Victoria Smurfit, Marcus J. Pirae, Mako, Roger Yuan, Chris Collins, Sean Bell, Kishaya Dudley, Rob Archer, Mauricio Rodas, Bayo Akinfemi, Russell Yuen |
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 Having been called a rip-off and crowned ?worst movie of the year? already by several publications, Bulletproof Monk doesn?t exactly appear to be a harbinger of hope for the action-comedy genre. Being written off as a poor Matrix imitation is not what Bulletproof Monk deserves. Even if it?s not going to last in the box office for more than a weekend, Bulletproof Monk is a worthy effort and nice attempt at returning to the buddy flick that brings about enough laughter to keep anybody from storming out of the movie.
Yun-Fat Chow, perhaps better known as Chow Yun-Fat, is a nameless Tibetan monk and protector of an ancient scroll capable of controlling the world. Being its protector, it gives him the power of strength, regeneration, sharp senses, and even the power to defy gravity. Thing is, each monk that protects the scroll does so for 60 years only. In some of that thick and cheesy prelude mojo, we see our monk handed down the power of the scroll by his master (that?s in 1943 if you?re bad with numbers). After the scroll is a Nazi, seeking the scroll's power to make the Nazi dream come true, he kills monk?s master and shoots monk, but monk escapes alive with nary a scratch. Back into the now, it?s 2003, and Monk With No Name is in North America (according to the filming locations, Ontario, Canada) seeking a new protector of the scroll, and after a chance meeting with streetwise Kar (Seann William Scott), he feels he has found a likely candidate. Of course, our Nazi from 1943 is still alive. Hardcore monk action ensues.
Dialogue is first time director Hunter?s problem, due to a huge lack of it; it?s not so easy to see that Bulletproof Monk is anything even resembling a comedy. The blame should be pushed to Seann William Scott, who has finally landed a roll that doesn?t involve messy bodily fluids and that has jokes that know when to stop. He glides through each joke one at a time with comic talent that is obviously naturalistic, you can see that he owns this talent, but it sometimes becomes hard to laugh when his ?stage? behind him is so boring. Clear to anybody is the biggest mistake; not giving Yun-Fat Chow enough to do. Granted, he does enough of being Yun-Fat Chow, but that?s not enough. Throughout most of the film he seems irritated, almost alienated, not comfortable acting in and for another culture. The saving graces are the action scenes, which are the highlight and in which Fat suddenly comes to life and appears snug in his environment the moment he starts kicking the bad guys? asses.
Most of Bulletproof Monk is actually quite disposable. I can?t even remember any phrase from any part of the soundtrack, most of the characters? names, nor can I remember any actual line from the movie other than Fat stammering to say something about there being more hot dog buns than hot dogs in supermarkets. Characters seem somewhat mysterious and none of them develop, and Fat starts to act like an extension of his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon role, a sign proving lack of imagination.
The real take-home quality of Bulletproof Monk are the action sequences, which seem to cross into parodies, possibly copies, of fights from various other movies?, mostly Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The opening is an excellent take on the pointless and unexplained levitation that drove that movie. Somewhere along the line, Bulletproof Monk also manages to ?borrow? some ideas from The Matrix?s roof scene, including having the story?s protagonist dragged to the edge of a roof by a metal suspension cable. The CGI is not crystal clear, but then again this movie doesn?t come close to having the same budget as any Matrix flick. It?s not as if you can see seams opening and strings dangling, there?s just nothing too special or credible about the effects and they just simply work for long enough, which is fine for a movie that relies on its humor.
Bulletproof Monk is funny enough for a movie in-between the huge Oscar worthy releases, expect a few chuckles here and there, but I just doubt this Monk will stick around for too long. With some luck Scott and Fat got out with only a small scratch on their cheeks and later on no questions are asked. |
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Sam Gournay
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