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Review by: Jack Foley | Rating:
Two
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio commentary with director Paul
Hunter and producers Charles Roven and Douglas Segal; Featurette
'The Tao of Monk'; Featurette 'The Monk Unrobed'; Behind the scenes;
Photo gallery (50 stills); Deleted scenes; Theatrical trailer.
FROM its absurd name alone, audiences should be aware that Bulletproof
Monk is not a film to be taken seriously.
Hong Kong martial arts maestro, Chow Yun-Fat, stars as The Monk
in question, a Zen-calm master charged with protecting a powerful
ancient scroll which holds the key to unlimited power.
As his 60-year duty nears its end, he travels to America in search
of the scroll’s next custodian, a seemingly unsuitable street
hustler and thief, named Kar (American Pie’s Seann William
Scott), whom he must train in the ways of a protector, while evading
the evil minions of a relentless power-monger who has also been
chasing the scroll for 60 years.
So far, so completely ridiculous. But then, the 12 certificate
should provide a useful indication of the film’s target audience,
as prepubescent teenagers will no doubt lap up its dubious charms.
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Derived from the Flypaper press comic book, the film has long
been intended as a vehicle for Yun-Fat and, to be fair, he is
the best thing about it, developing a strong rapport with Scott’s
wise-cracking protégé and playing off the tough
guy image he has become renowned for with relish.
Yet he is frequently ill-served by those around him, from Karel
Roden’s hopelessly ill-judged villain, Struker, to Paul Hunter’s
lacklustre direction.
Hence, scenes involving Roden’s ‘master-race’
obsessed Nazi border on the cringe-worthy, while Hunter’s
direction seems content to rip off far superior action sequences;
with The Matrix, in particular, once more providing rich pickings.
A chase and fight sequence halfway through the movie, especially,
feels lifted from The Wachowski brothers’ movie, while the
over-use of wire-work, coupled with some poor special effects
and half-baked editing, make the fights appear manufactured and
totally unbelievable.
But then, given that it is aimed at such a young audience, those
that see it will probably be having too much fun to notice, as
it expertly plays up to every boyhood fantasy imaginable - from
Jaime King’s shapely heroine to the notion of being able
to learn martial arts skills solely by studying movies.
A mixed bag, then, but one which should appeal to the adolescent
in most men.
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