Bulletproof Monk (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2003)

Having recently read the Bulletproof Monk comic, on which this film is based, and been less than thrilled with it, I was kind of reluctant to see the film. On the one hand, the source material reeked. On the other hand, Chow Yun-Fat is an action-film God....Finally curiousity won out, and I decided to give Bulletproof Monk a shot. (Get it? Bulletproof...? Shot...? Never mind....)

The film mercifully departs from the Comic almost immediately, and boy, was I glad! Yun-Fat plays the nameless Monk, who is not so much bulletproof as able to dodge bullets (Think Keanu in The Matrix...). He's charged with protecting an ancient scroll that can bring about the end of the world. As the film opens (In the 1940's), his monastary is beseiged by Nazi's seeking the scroll. After the Monk escapes with the scroll, we flash forward 60 Years, as the un-aged Monk meets up with a young pickpocket (Seann William Scott). The Monk decides to train him in the Monkly Arts, and before you know it, that pesky Nazi is back, menacing our Monk from his wheelchair. (Yeah, it's goofy, but it's a lot of fun.) Throw in the gorgeous James King as a butt kickin' Kung-Fu girl, and you've got the recipe for a good time. The villains are villainous, the Heroes are heroic, the action is cool, and the one-liners fly fast and furious. Yun-Fat is delightfully droll as the Monk, delivering ancient wisdom with a sly smirk on his face. One small quibble: I'm glad the filmmakers decided to scrap the Comic's storyline, but it's too bad they couldn't stay closer the book's all-Asian cast of characters. (No offense to Scott and King, both of whom were great in their roles....It'd just be nice to see Hollywood be a little more colorblind in their casting choices.)

Chow Yun-Fat plays a nameless monk in charge of protecting a sacred scroll possessing mystical powers so great that who ever reads the scroll would be endowed with the ability to turn the world into a paradise or a living hell. Now, my first thought was if this dang thing poses such a potential danger to the world, why not just destroy it? Well, another reviewer stated that the reason it was so closely protected and not destroyed, as spelled out in the movie, was that the human race just wasn't ready for such power at this time.

Anyway, Chow is the latest in a long line of protectors, and each protector has the responsibility for a period of 60 years, and then they pass on the responsibility to another chosen one. Why 60 years? Who knows? I guess just because it's in the script. Also know that whoever is chosen as protector of the scroll is endowed with special powers, one being that the protector doesn't suffer the effects of time. The reasoning for that is as the protector protects the scroll, so shall the scroll protect the protector. So now Chow's 60 year term as guardian comes to its' end, he's looking for the next protector, who comes in the form of Kar (Sean William Scott), a petty thief and pickpocket who lives in a movie theater and learned martial arts by imitating old kung fu movies. Oh yeah, for like the last 60 years Chow has been pursued by a crazed Nazi intent on stealing the scroll, taking the power, and cleansing the Earth of so called inferior races.

Jaime King plays Jade, Kar's love interest. As I watched the movie, it seemed to me that her character had no real reason for being in the movie other than giving the male viewers an attractive woman to look at, but by the end, we are enlightened to the importance of her role in the outcome of the storyline. I thought her connection to the other characters in the movie was paper thin, but hey, whatever...the actress I most enjoyed watching was Victoria Smurfit. She played Nina, the grand daughter to the psycho Nazi and is helping him to acquire the sacred scroll. She is truly easy on the eyes and seemed to make the most of what little screen time she had. The movie, based on a comic book, plays out that way, keeping things pretty simple with lots of action, some humor, a smidgen of romance, and a little philosophical nonsense thrown in for good measure. Suspension of disbelief is required throughout the movie, but I kinda enjoy this film, as it reminded me of some of those old Hong Kong chop socky movies.

As far as extras go, there are some deleted scenes, an alternate ending, some 'making of' stuff and the usual trailers. I would be hard pressed for anyone to run out and buy this movie, but if you're looking for a fun way to kill an hour and a half, this works pretty well.

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Ok people, lets get some things strait here. I'm reading these reviews and find myself confused. I keep reading things like the characters aren't developed enough or there isn't enough philosophical value or that the acting isn't good enough. WHAT KIND OF MOVIE DID YOU EXPECT TO SEE?? This is an action film based on a comic book which meens the action will be over the top, characters will be silly, acting won't be the best, and the story won't make the film nominated for best film of the year, but that is exactly what I wanted to see when I walked into the theater. This movie isn't Crouching Tiger. It's a movie with a unbeliavable plot, which in its way was good to me, and very cool, gravity-defying martial arts scens. If you lik that you'll like this movie.

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No matrix, but then at times the Matrix isn't even itself. Bullet proof Monk is good but not great. The action is ok, the dialogue isn't bad and the plot was a good idea that just needs some work in spots. Such as Sean William Scott's love interest, she was kinda cool, but i'm afraid I didn't quite sympthasize with her point of views. That and they killed of one of the main characters just a little too quickly, and then took to long on another.I know this sounds like I can't make up my mind, but they needed an equalizer for the deaths of the bad guys.

A decent action thriller with enough romance for the girls, and machoism for the guys. That, everybody comes away from the film feeling as the good guys got the decent reward, even if it seemed to obvious of an outcome.

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Tibetan Buddhism is a pure betrayal of Buddhism, of Buddha himself. It dares go beyond Buddha's teaching and reinvent a divinity of some kind where Buddha had taught there could not be any God anywhere. The great force that leads the universe in the eternal cycle from birth to rebirth via decay and death is transmuted into some kind of prophecy about some kind of truth to keep against human greed in order to save the world, and that truth is entrusted to one person who remains beyond aging, will not decay in other words, for as long as he will carry this trust and responsibility. When the time has come he will have to transmit his responsibility to the newly elected person who fulfills the three prophecies and the guardian will finally age and take a vacation leaving the burden to the new warden. Buddha would be ashamed of such primitive beliefs if he could witness such naïve sagas. And the film goes slightly beyond by deciding that the new warden will be double and will be a man and a woman, a heterosexual couple in one word, Hollywood trying to save Tibetan Buddhism from the righteous accusation of being deeply and profoundly and exclusively sexist, that is to say anti-women, or at least closed to women. It also takes advantage of the film to move Tibet to New York, to add a little bit of Nazism in all that, and to entrust the serious mission to two Caucasian non-Tibetan "goyim" instead of one good old Asian, Tibetan if possible, Buddhist monk. But that is only a film. True. But what a laughable fable. Luckily there are the spectacular fights and contortions and acrobatics to save the whole fairy tale from too much shallowness.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines