Cast:

Chow Yun Fat

Seann William Scott

Jaime King

Karel Roden

Victoria Smurfit

Mako

Action:

Stephen Tung Wai

Guy Norris

Producer:

John Woo

Terence Chang

Charles Roven

Douglas Segal

Director:

Paul Hunter

Score:  

BULLETPROOF MONK

AKA:  N/A

Year: 2003    Reviewer: Phil Mills

You know, it's extremely sad that even after all the recent success that Asian stars have enjoyed globally, producers and casting agents are still so blind to see beyond the stereotyped image that all Asians are the next Bruce Lee!  'Bulletproof Monk' is the latest in a long line of films that seems to prove this and sees veteran actor Chow Yun Fat placed in the over-familiar mould as a monk with extraordinary martial arts skills.

Under the rulings of a Tibetan religion, every 60 years a protector is chosen for an ancient scroll that is said to gives it's possessor the power to rule the world.  The current candidate is a mystery monk (Yun Fat) who has given up all luxuries to fulfil his duties.  However, the open spaces of Tibet are no longer safe so he relocates to the streets of New York in an attempt to keep the scroll out of trouble.  Along his travels, he discovers a young thief by the name of Kar (Scott) who shows signs of potential so the monk decides to team up with him so he can keep him under a watchful eye.  Of course, where there is an all-powerful scroll there is normally a bad guy and this one comes in the form of a German soldier who has spent years trying to track down the monk.  Now the question remains as to whether the scroll will stay on the side of good or fall into the hands of pure evil?

If you were expecting 'Bulletproof Monk' to be a modern-day 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' then I suggest you look away now as sadly, that couldn't be further from the truth.  In fact, Chow's attempt to follow up his smash hit is probably best described as a cliché-ridden mess that is condemned by a combination of a poor script, bad casting and laughable action.  This may sound harsh but its a fair description of a movie that contains a concept that could have been devised within minutes and fails to deliver in any of the proposed elements of excitement, comedy or drama.  Coupled with this, the bizarre pairing of an acting legend and members of the "teen comedy" genre is a total failure and there is no sign of any chemistry or impressive acting ability, even taking into account Yun Fat's best efforts at delivering humourous one-liners.

The final nail in the coffin is the action which, although intended to be the film's saving grace, is by the far the worst attribute and it's surprising to see it was choreographed by Hong Kong's own Stephen Tung Wai.  Basically, it consists of an ensemble of clumsy wirework, noticeable doubling and blatant CGI, all of which make the assembled cast of non-martial artists look exactly like the amateurs they are.  No attempt seems to have been made to train them and its ridiculous that they expect the audience to believe what they are seeing as one minute the actors look as graceful as a Rhino and the next they are flying expertly through the air (thanks to Mr. Stuntman and Mrs. CGI).  Perhaps the most important revelation of this sorry excuse for action though is that it does make you realise just how experienced Yuen Woo Ping is.  Whatever other criticisms could be levelled at 'The Matrix', there is no disguising the fact that Woo Ping did manage to make the cast (who were also non-martial artists) look semi-competent in the work they did.

Even by Hollywood standards this movie has to be considered a stinker, especially when the presence of one of my most favoured actors can't save it from leaving a bad impression.  Yun Fat's talent has been sadly misinterpreted and I just hope that this isn't the way that his career will continue because he clearly has so much more to offer than this stereotyped rubbish.  On a brighter note though, his next project will see him reunited with John Woo (in a directing capacity) so we can only hope that it will get all parties concerned back on the right track and we can forget about 'Bulletproof... what was it again?