STARRING: Chow Yun-Fat, Seann William Scott, Jaime King and Karel Roden DIRECTOR: Paul Hunter PRODUCERS: John Woo and Terence Chang CERTIFICATE: PG-13 RUNNING TIME: 103 Mins BASED ON: The 1999 3-part comic book miniseries published by Image and Flypaper Press, cowritten by Gotham Chopra, son of spiritual guru Deepak.
Yeah, it's quite cool... not amazing, but not bad either - that is a really straight to the point, simplified review of the film. I think it would be hard for anyone to dislike a Chow Yun-Fat film, let alone a Chow Yun-Fat film where he's battling a Nazi throughout. However, a combination of average direction and sometimes poor cutting meant that the fight scenes themselves were not all that impressive... the film just didn't have quite enough Kung Fu for my liking.
So let's look at a plot summary for this film. We're basically talking about a kick ass monk (Chow Yun-Fat). He's a master of Zen martial arts whose duty is to protect a powerful and ancient scroll. This is around 1940. We then find ourselves in 2003, NYC. Monk discovers that his successor to protecting this scroll is no more than a smart mouthed pickpocket, Kar (Seann William Scott). Kar leads a life of no responsibility, making his money from the streets and one of those late night Kung-Fu theatre places (which is where Kar happens to know all of his martial arts from as well). It's not long before the two of them become partners in protecting this scroll from the Nazi (Karel Roden) who's been after it for 60 years... and that is basically it.
I enjoyed this film; it was a bit of fun. That unfortunately is all I got out of it. I feel that the actors were good in it; however, it was the direction and technical execution that let the film down in many areas. I don't think that many of the fight scenes were made enough of, and the best one in the film was probably in the first five minutes between Chow Yun-Fat and his master bloke. Other things that tended to annoy me about this film were how wimpy the other monks were. OK, so they didn't have to have the fighting Prowess of Chow Yun-Fat, but come-on, they're monks - they should be as good as Kar and Jade (Jaime King). Yeah, Jade... haven't really mentioned her. That's because she didn't really make much of an impact on the film, and yet suddenly comes into play at the end. The end itself is disappointing as well; a mediocre end fight followed by an incredibly sentimental sequence. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but the film did have a number of flaws that just stare you in the face.
I guess the best thing to compare this film to is other John Woo films. We are NOT talking a classic like Face Off that's for sure... and we're not talking the films that probably made Chow Yun-Fat (Hard Boiled and a Better Tomorrow)… But saying that, i guess it's unfair when both of these films are 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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The tremendous charisma of Chow Yun-Fat anchors this entertaining comic-book ... 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 ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
He has no game. He protects a powerful secret. Now to fulfil an ancient prophecy, he has ... more
found the one who's supposed to take his place-and it's the most unlikely candidate of all.In this dazzling action adventure, the Monk (Chow yun-Fat, Crouching Tig...
The tremendous charisma of Chow Yun-Fat anchors this entertaining comic-book ... 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 ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
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 ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: a good family film, fighting a few jokes but good entertainment, Disadvantages: more character interaction especially the main characters, maonk jade kar may be teaching tricks.
![Bulletproof Monk [DVD] [2003]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78519031.jpg "Bulletproof Monk [DVD] [2003]")
Apr 27th, 2003
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