Production Year: 2003 - Martial Arts - Director: Paul Hunter - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Seann William Scott, James King, Karel Roden more
Based on a comic book series, this is the story of a monk who has looked after a mysterious scroll for sixty years and kept it out of the wrong hands. It is now time for him to... more
romp.Bulletproof Monkcentres around a monk with no name (Chow) dedicated to protecting a sacred scroll that can give world-manipulating power to anyone who reads it. A hidden ...
romp.Bulletproof Monkcentres around a monk with no name (Chow) dedicated to protecting a sacred scroll that can give world-manipulating power to anyone who reads it. A hidden ...
Bulletproof Monk DVD
Bulletproof Monk' begins in the 1940s as a Tibetan Buddhist monk charged with protecting ... more
an ancient scroll passes on his legacy to his pupil. As the student receives the power to safeguard the scroll his aging process is halted and he gives up his ...
selected original 35mm film from the Bulletproof Monk featuring Yun-Fat Chow. The collection has a black mount with black frame, an individually numbered plaque and certificate of authenticity.
romp.Bulletproof Monkcentres around a monk with no name (Chow) dedicated to protecting a sacred scroll that can give world-manipulating power to anyone who reads it. A hidden Nazi has been pursuing the scroll for 60 years and has finally caught up with the monk in present-day New York City; meanwhile, the monk suspects he may have found a disciple in a petty thief (Seann William Scott) who's learned kung fu from watching double-feature chopsocky flicks. Don't let the presence of Chow Yun-Fat lead you to expect much substance--this doesn't have the emotional scope ofCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonor the visual panache ofHard-Boiled. ButBulletproof Monkis a cheerful, tightly edited, unpretentious action flick with flashes of humour, good for a mindless evening's entertainment. --Bret Fetzer
Production Year: 1991 - Martial Arts - Director: Tsui Hark - Original Language: Cantonese - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Donnie Yen, Jet Lee, Rosamund Kwan, Yuen Biao, Mok Sui Chung
Production Year: 1984 - Martial Arts - Director: John G. Avildsen - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue, Martin Kove, Randee Heller
Production Year: 1973 - Martial Arts - Director: Robert Clouse - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Ahna Capri, Jim Kelly
A review by LostWitness on Bulletproof Monk (DVD) May 13th, 2003
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Liked it
Story
Satisfactory
Characters / Performances
Good
Special Effects
Standard
How does it compare to similar films?
Satisfactory
Advantages:
Seann William Scott . In a vest . Sweaty .
Disadvantages:
Quite silly in places - very dodgy wire scenes
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
In an isolated monastery atop the Tibetan Mountains exists an order of monks with a grave purpose. For centuries, the monks have protected an ancient scroll, which is destined never to fall into the hands of mankind. The scroll contains scriptures that are so powerful they could enable the owner to turn the planet into paradise or a living hell. With each passing of a sixty-year period, the scroll passes into the hands of a new protector, who is identified once he/she has completed three tasks. In 1943, the scroll passes into the hands of a monk who simply has no name. But as soon as the scroll has passed into his hands, the monastery is raided by a group of Nazi officers. Their leader, Strucker, has his sights set on the power contained within the scroll, and The Monk with No Name apparently sacrifices himself to prevent Strucker from obtaining the scroll.
Sixty years later, it transpires that the monk is in fact very much alive and is living in the USA. Whilst travelling on the Metro system one day he encounters a young pickpocket, whose aid he enlists in saving the life of a small girl who has fallen onto the tracks. Unbeknown to the monk, the pickpocket steals the scroll from him but immediately loses possession to a local crime lord known as Mr Funkastic. In turn, the monk steals back the scroll, but not before he witnesses the pickpocket’s surprising martial artistry. Could the young man somehow be the next protector of the sacred scroll? The Monk may have his work cut out trying to discover the truth. A familiar face has also arrived on American shores. It would seem that the passing of sixty years has served only to feed Strucker’s desire to obtain the scroll, and with considerable wealth behind him he will now stop at nothing to obtain it.
Bulletproof Monk is based on a comic book, which very few people have ever heard of. I’d never heard about it, and only learnt this when researching the film on the Internet. Bulletproof Monk is also another example of a Hollywood attempt to make a martial arts movie, albeit with rather more fun thrown in. From the start, it was therefore always going to be on shaky ground. Comic book fans and martial art purists are united in their passion for their chosen obsessions and Bulletproof Monk probably pissed both groups of people off intensely. For those of us who know nothing of either comics or proper martial arts, Bulletproof Monk is more of a mixed bag. At times, the movie was utterly dreadful to the extent that many people would simply scoff and walk out. At other times, the movie has a tremendous spirit of fun about it and I have to say that on the whole it isn’t all that hard to enjoy this movie.
It has been criticised and praised equally for its usage of those “Matrix-style” wire action scenes. Both the Monk and his newfound accomplice demonstrate an ability to use the surrounding air as though it was solid. As such, they seem to be able to fly and move in impossible ways that, in all honesty, do appear to have been inspired by scenes from The Matrix. They aren’t filmed as well, of course. Some of the sequences are very poorly put together and I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that the makers had forgotten to take out some of the wires. There is a lot of shoddy, almost random editing that is employed to keep the viewer entertained, but instead exposes itself as a blatant attempt not to dwell too long on things that are technically incompetent. The sum result visually is a rapidly paced film that often seems blurred and has very little impact on the audience at all. This is a great shame because several scenes had great potential, notably an action sequence involving a helicopter. I’m not sure whether it was budget or expertise that were lacking, but one or both of them definitely were.
The story comes straight from the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” school of imagination, but this is an entirely positive thing. The plot is so fantastical that it is quite easy to suspend belief, and the audience therefore finds it much easier to get into the spirit of things. There is an exciting opening scene, set in 1943 which sets the scene perfectly and provides a good springboard from which the film can propel itself into the present day. In pure fantasy terms, the story makes sense, although it could be argued that a story about Nazi obsession with mythical artefacts is hardly very new. If I’m honest, I kind of missed where the scroll came from in the first place and so more historical story telling might have given the story a little more substance.
This is not a film that one should dwell upon. So many of the details are generalised, over-simplified or simply ignored and at times this starts to annoy. The pickpocket advises the monk that he learns his moves by watching old movies, which seems to me to be a great insult to anyone who has ever actually studied and mastered any of the martial arts. I’ve watched a few Jet Li movies, so I guess I should also be as gifted now. The bad guys seem to be telepathic too, and turn up wherever and whenever the monk decides to be with little explanation of how they found out. The power of the main monk is also rather over-amplified in comparison to the other monks in the film, who seem to fall at the drop of a hat. It may be too simple for the writers, but surely a group would better protect such a dangerous artefact than an individual? This is obviously not the case, but your guess is as good as mine as to why.
Bulletproof Monk is one of those films where you will either love the characters or hate them. Chow Yun-Fat, plays the Monk (who really doesn’t have a name in the film). Fat is notably famous from his appearance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and moves capably enough but his character was intensely irritating from start to finish. He typically plays the smug mythical warrior who seems to know everything and never ceases to remind people that this is the case. He just about copes with the dialogue, although some of his pronunciation is not unlike that of Jonathan Ross. Nonetheless, he is convincing and certainly looks the part. His sidekick, the pickpocket names Kar benefits from being cheeky and quite sexy, and this is probably enough to make you fall for him. Seann William Scott never gets his lop-sided smile wiped off his face but his attitude is entirely appropriate to the character and I decided that he worked very well. There is, of course, a romantic interest, in the shape of a young girl called Jade who obviously agrees with my opinion about Scott, even if she does kick his butt first. The main bad guy, Strucker, is your typical Nazi, complete with a psychopathic granddaughter who is so bad she’s actually quite good. Strucker himself (Karel Roden) walks the walk, and talks the talk but somehow seems very out of place in the modern setting and makes the film seem a little dated. The real turkey of the peace is the underground gang leader Funktastic. Why on earth that decided to cast a Cockney wide-boy is beyond me, and whilst Marcus Pirae might have a body to die for, he is dreadful as an actor.
Did I like this film? Well, despite my many criticisms, overall I probably did. It wasn’t a demanding film and although technically not the best I’ve seen, it did still romp along in a fairly enjoyable way. I’ll be totally honest and say that the presence of Seann William Scott really helped keep me interested and if you are motivated by slightly more intellectual concerns, I doubt you’d enjoy this film. It looked good on a cinema screen, but I’m sure would work just as well on TV, and that’s probably the place to look out for it.
Recommended, nonetheless.
Quick Facts
Directed by: Paul Hunter Written by: Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris Running time: 104 minutes UK certificate: 12A Alerts: mild peril and a bit of mild violence Notable appearances: Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott You’ll like this if you liked: Romeo Must Die
Advantages: Chow-Yun Fat Disadvantages: The rest of the film.
I’ve been watching martial arts films since I was a kid. I grew up with them, at a time when they weren’t so big in Hollywood. When Jackie Chan was working with Yuen Biao, and Jet Li was making amazing films like “Once upon a time in China”. The early work that not a lot of people have seen, unless they know their martial arts. This was the good stuff and there are very few Hollywood martial arts films that have matched them or even come close. Unfortunately ... ...from a comic book is the story of a monk who has to protect a certain scripture with his life, which in turn will protect him too. This scripture if read aloud by a person will give them immense power over erm …something…enyhow moving on – the film starts with Chow-Yun Fat’s character (which remains nameless so we’ll call him Bob…imaginative I know) becoming the next protector as he finishes passing his three tests. After obtaining the power he is ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: You can rest your brain for 99 minutes Disadvantages: You'll never get those 99 minutes of your life back you know
Some days I return home from the office very tired, open the little panel at the back of my head, remove my brain, place it into a thimble next to me, and put an action film on to give my eyes something to do. Being a fan of martial arts films and comic books since childhood, this film that combines both, seemed the ideal fare for me.
BULLET PROOF MONK (2003) stars established actors Chow Yun-Fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and The Replacement ... ...actress Jaime King (Blow, and Slackers), and marks the film directorial debut of Paul Hunter, who has previous worked on music videos and TV ads. Supporting him as producer is John Woo (Face/Off, and Broken Arrow).
The film begins 60 years ago during WWII at a monastery in Tibet where Chow Yun-Fat playing the role of the "monk with no name" completes his training of marshal arts and its related philosophy and usurps his teacher as protector of an ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
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30.04.2004
The Scroll Review ofBulletproof Monk (DVD)by
kylara
Advantages: Funny lines and cute guys Disadvantages: Lack of story
Bulletproof Monk is another comic book adapted for the big screen. It stars Chow Yun-Fat, Seann William Scott and James King in a comic martial arts movie. If you do not mind a limited plot or enjoy Jackie Chan style movies then this may be one you will enjoy, especially as the interaction between Chow Yun-Fat and Scott is similar to the interaction between Chan and Wilson in the Shanghai Knight Movies.
The Actors
Chow Yun-Fat plays a Tibetan martial ... ...his position as a monk in charge of a special scroll. This scroll if it fell into the wrong hands and read out loud would give the villain ultimate control . The charge of protecting the scroll is handed on to a new guardian every 60 years during the year of the Ram and the monks 60 years are almost up, if he cannot find a successor he will have to wait another 60 years before the next successor appears. Chow Yun-Fat is also known from being in Crouching ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Stars Chow Yun-Fat Disadvantages: There's really not that much Kung Fu
...quite different in genre to Bulletproof Monk. Hard Boiled and a Better Tomorrow are adult, violent and full of heavy Kung-Fu action. Bulletproof Monk was always meant to be a light hearted, more family film; if you look at it in this light, i think it succeeds quite well; especially considering it is the director Paul Hunter's debut film. Although with flaws, this film is worth seeing at the cinema - whether you're a fan of kung fu or not. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Good action scenes, pretty Disadvantages: the script and delivery
The intriguingly titled Bulletproof Monk is a film version of the comic book. The blurbs in various magazines said it was an interesting fusion of styles. ‘Interesting’ it certainly was. It involves a Tibetan monk (Yun Fat Chow) who has inherited the task of protecting a powerful scroll, being forced to flee his homeland after nasty enemies destroy his peaceful monastery in search of the scroll. He then ends up finding and training a ... ...task. Before the movie my boyfriend and I had been discussing whether martial arts experts such as Jackie Chan are actually any good at acting, and whether we liked East meets West buddy movies. We had watched Shanghai Knights and Rush Hour and felt that maybe Mr Chan would be better off kicking and punching and keeping his mouth shut! This unfortunately seems to go for this movie too – Yun-Fat Chow certainly does the kung-fu stuff well enough, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: House of Flying Daggers Disadvantages: Bulletproof Monk
...nowhere near the quality or memorability of House of Flying Daggers. The stunts are less well choreographed, and the general standard of the film is brought much lower. It is more of comedy-action film and the American acting drags down the standard of this set somewhat.
Still, on its own BulletproofMonk isn't a below average film and it is definitely watchable. The value for money of this set is what sets the standard more than anything... bargain!...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: good price to collect now Disadvantages: not funny
...bulletproofmonk is jam packed with chinese style kung fu, yet a bit dissapointing conversations from Chow Yun Fat
Based on the very underground comic book, Chow is the immortal Tibetan monk that needs to protect the scroll. the first half of the movie was rather thrilling with good computer generated animation etc.
but the second half is rather repeating itself and it is rather boring.
I would buy and keep this for a rainy day and when there's nothing else to do . watch it.
A monk. A punk. A chick. In a kick-ass flick.
this says it all...
Seann William Scott is funny as usual...so if all things failed to amuse you. you would find yourself smilling when movie is over
Kung pow enter the fist......
not a bad movie, however, i would't say it is an interesting one....
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: Great Performances from Travolta and Jane Disadvantages: A little bit forced at times
...Ever since X-Men banked at the box office you may have noticed a huge resurgence in movies based on comic-book, heck just to name a few from my own personal DVD collection: Elektra, Daredevil, Bullet-proofMonk, Ghost World, Hell-Boy and of course since I'm writing about it: The Punisher. Being the comic book fan-boy that I am naturally I'd read at least a couple of editions of 'The Punisher' and whilst I thought it was good - it wasn't the sort of title I'd add to my standing order with Travelling Man, but when they announced that a film was being made of it - well I was intrigued as this was surely a movie waiting to happen, wasn't it?
* The Storyline *
Meet Frank Castle: a softly spoken FBI agent who's recently decided to hang up his gun and badge and just relax with a bit of quiet time for his family and friends, on his last...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Plot: Based on a comic book series, this is the story of a monk who has looked after a mysterious scroll for sixty years and kept it out of the wrong hands. It is now time for him to pass the scroll on for someone else to look after and the fates have decided on a petty criminal from San Francisco...
Release details
DVD Region: DVD
Studio(s): PATHE DISTRIBUTION; 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Release date: 15/09/2003
No of Discs: 1
Catalogue No: P 9065 DVD
Barcode: 5060002831618
DVD Description
Based on a comic book series, this is the story of a monk who has looked after a mysterious scroll for sixty years and kept it out of the wrong hands. It is now time for him to pass the scroll on for someone else to look after and the fates have decided on a petty criminal from San Francisco...
Languages
Main Language: English
Hearing Impaired Language: English
Technical information
Special Features: Director And Producer Audio Commentary, The Tao Of Monk Featurette, Fist Of Fury Featurette, Enter The Monk Featurette, Zen Palette Featurette, Smoke And Mirrors Featurette, The Art Of Score Featurette, The Monk Unrobed Featurette, Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending, Behind The Scenes Photo Gallery, Theatrical Trailer
![Bulletproof Monk [DVD] [2003]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78519031.jpg)
![Bulletproof Monk [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/92016267.jpg)
![Bulletproof Monk [VHS] [2003]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/71512510.jpg)
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25.05.2008
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