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Bulletproof Monk
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Wikipedia article
'Bulletproof Monk' is a 2003 American superhero comedy film directed by Paul Hunter in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Seann William Scott, and Jaime King. The film is loosely based on the comic book written by Brett Lewis with art by Michael Avon Oeming. The film was shot in Toronto and Hamilton, Canada, and other locations that resemble New York City.
Plot
In 1943 Tibet, a young monk is told that he has fulfilled a series of prophecies that mark him as his master's successor. Forgoing his name, the monk is entrusted with guarding a scroll with the power to keep whoever possesses it powerful, young, and immune to injury, yet could bring about disaster in the wrong hands. The monk is forced to flee when Nazi German soldiers, led by Colonel Strucker, attack his temple and murder his master.
Sixty years later, the nameless monk witnesses a young pickpocket named Kar fleeing from police, as well as members of a local gang who do not like him pickpocketing on their turf. When the pair collide with a young girl and put her into the path of an oncoming train, Kar and the monk rescue her. After the pair introduce themselves, Kar steals the scroll from the monk and runs away. The monk pursues Kar, believing he may have fulfilled the first prophecy. When Kar finds himself fighting the local gang's leader, he meets a roguish young woman among them named Jade, whom he falls in love with.
The following day, Jade attends a museum exhibition where she meets the director of the organization; a woman who is later revealed to be Strucker's young and equally vile granddaughter Nina. Using the museum as a cover, Nina secretly spearheads Strucker's ongoing hunt for the scroll. Later, Jade chances upon Kar being lectured by the monk and asks him to return her necklace, which he had stolen to earn her esteem. The meeting is interrupted when the monk is forced to run from Strucker's mercenaries, dragging Kar along with him.
With Kar's help, the monk arrives at a laundromat that secretly houses a group of monks who provide him shelter, and the monk offers to train him as thanks. Later, while training in an abandoned warehouse, Strucker's mercenaries come down on them in force. In the ensuing chase, Kar accidentally drops the scroll from the rooftop, where it is taken by a delighted Nina; however, she later discovers the scroll is a fake. The monk reveals to Kar that the scroll's true text has been tattooed onto his body all along. Angered, Nina visits Kar's home to track the pair down, murdering his employer.
The monk abandons Kar out of shame, but Kar, filled with newfound purpose, reunites with him at the laundromat. The pair are forced to flee when an ambitious monk betrays their location to Nina. The monks are taken to Strucker's secret facility beneath the museum, where they are forced into Strucker's memory-extracting torture devices; the monk who betrayed them is killed.
Seeking help, Kar and the monk visit Jade at her home, learning that she is the daughter of an imprisoned crime lord. The monk realizes that this fact, coupled with a small scuffle between Kar and Jade inside the house, has fulfilled the second prophecy. A moment later, Nina and her men breach the windows, shooting the monk with a tranquilizer dart and taking him back to the museum. Recognizing Nina from that morning, Jade surmises where the monk was taken and chooses to help rescue him. Meanwhile, Nina suggestively scans the monk's tattoos and inputs the compiled text into Strucker's computer.
Strucker begins reading from the scroll, but is interrupted when Jade and Kar breach the gates and launch an explosive attack, wiping out most of Strucker's guards. The pair then make their way into the facility through an underground water main, where they become separated. Jade is intercepted in the sewers by a smug and cavalier Nina, overconfident due in part to her ignorance of Jade's fighting skill. In the ensuing melee, Jade outmaneuvers Nina and breaks her leg with a well-placed kick, following up with a well-deserved beating before taking up the crippled Nina from behind and snapping her neck.
Strucker, dressed in his old uniform, regains his youth after reading from the scroll; however, he finds that the scroll's last verse, which the monk reveals he memorized, is missing. Before Strucker can scan the monk's brain for it, Kar arrives and distracts him, allowing the monk to break free. While Jade works to free the other monks, the nameless monk fights Strucker alongside Kar, knocking him off of the roof and onto live electrical wires.
Believing that Strucker has been dealt with, the pair reunite with Jade. The contents of the scroll transfer to Kar, as he has fulfilled the third prophecy. Strucker, still alive, attempts to kill Kar, but is killed himself by a falling statue. Kar is surprised to find Jade alive after seemingly being shot by Strucker; like Kar, she also fulfilled the three prophecies, and the scroll's power transferred to her as well. The monk, now aged, meets with Kar and Jade the next day, giving each one half of the final verse, deeming them inseparable. The pair wish him a good vacation from his duties before departing to fulfill their new roles.
Cast
* Chow Yun-fat as Monk with No Name
* Seann William Scott as Kar
* Jaime King as Jade "Bad Girl" Kerensky
* Karel Roden as Strucker
* Victoria Smurfit as Nina Strucker
* Roger Yuan as Brother Tenzin
* Mako as Mr. Kojima
* Marcus Jean Pirae as "Funktastic"
Production
In May 2000, it was announced MGM had paid high six figures against a potential seven-figure deal to turn the cult comic Bulletproof Monk into a live-action film that would star Chow Yun-fat as the title character with John Woo and Terence Changs Lion Rock Productions producing. Seann William Scott was cast in November 2001.
Reception
Box office
The film grossed approximately $23 million in the United States, with a worldwide total of $37 million, less than the production budget of $52 million.=
Critical response
=On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Venerable action star Chow Yun-Fat is the only saving grace in this silly action flick that more often than not resembles a commercial in style." On Metacritic it has a score of 40% based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2 out of 4, and wrote: "The fight scenes in Bulletproof Monk are not as inventive as some I've seen (although the opening fight on a rope bridge is so well done that it raises expectations it cannot fulfill)."
Robert Koehler of 'Variety' wrote: "adults will likely object to the innumerable plot question marks coming off the screen like so many kung-fu kicks to the head." Koehler compares the film to Hong Kong action movies, noting that the fights are relatively tame, but the visual effects are generally excellent.
Jamie Russell at the BBC gave it 3/5 and called it "Truly naff, but endearingly silly."
David Edelstein of 'Slate' contended that 'Bulletproof Monk' was "'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' for the 'American Pie' audience"; panning its poor special effects and cinematography (the former he compared to an "afternoon Japanese kiddie series"), and concluded that "they made a ton of junky movies in Hong Kong, but those were dazzlingly fluid and high-flying junky movies. This American retread has the same sort of hack plot but none of the bravura. It makes them look like monkeys, and not bulletproof ones."
Bill Stamets of the 'Chicago Reader' panned 'Bulletproof Monk' for having "routine" fight scenes and juvenile humor, and that "the film plays off Chow's imperturbable persona, but the Tibetan philosophy boils down to the paradox of hot dogs coming ten to a package while buns are sold in sets of eight."
References
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