Corporate Line: For 60 years, a mysterious monk with no name (Chow Yun-Fat) has traversed the globe to protect an ancient scroll – a scroll that holds the key to unlimited power. Now the Monk must look for a new scrollkeeper. Kar (Seann William Scott) is an unlikely candidate, a streetwise young man who only cares about himself. But when he inadvertently saves the Bulletproof Monk from capture, the two become partners in a scheme to save the world from the scroll’s most avid pursuer. The Monk, Kar and a sexy Russian mob princess called Bad Girl must struggle to find, face and fight the ultimate enemy.
The Good: The opening finds Chow Yun-Fat fighting with his master and you can only hope that the rest of the film will follow the lead of this scene. Sorry, it doesn’t happen. However Chow Yun-Fat continues to make a bad film still somewhat interesting. He has an aura about him that almost makes Bulletproof Monk feel legit. Too bad his co-star does everything but ruin the film.
The Bad: Seann William Scott is best known as the moron from American Pie. I’m not sure why he was cast here, but he spoils the entire film. He gets off a few one-liners but those could come from anyone else and still have worked. His badboy attitude and film persona as a thief and fighter never feels right. Scott takes the film and single-handedly bores the hell out of you. I would have been happier to see James King (she is a female) taking Scott’s role as the sidekick.
The clichéd villains. First it is an Australian guy who seems to be in charge of some rouge gang of thieves. If the city is a large American city, say like a New York City, how is it that some skinny, clichéd, villain ended up leading American thieves and hoodlums? And I thought it wouldn’t get more ridiculous.
Well they seemed to save the most ridiculous for last. I won’t spoil the film for anyone, but the ending must be a joke because it was a good laugh. It was the most absurd and pathetic thing in a movie full of the unnatural and inane.
Frankly: There are some cool effects, bullet’s slow down ala the Matrix, nice fighting scenes, too bad it’s all ruined by absurdities. The Nazi and his new fangled machines that want to take over the world couldn’t be dumber. I mean when was the last time some Nazi wanted to take over the world in a film? It must be hard to come up with a villain for a movie if no one can come up with an original one since the second World War. The lack of a good villain pretty much sums up the overall lack of creativity in a film that tries to win you with creativity.
+ charlie craine
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