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Bulletproof Monk

2003, Movie, PG-13, 104 mins

Bulletproof Monk: Review

BULLETPROOF MONK
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A warrior monk and a cocky street kid reluctantly join forces to protect an ancient Tibetan scroll capable of unleashing unimaginable power in this martial-arts coming-of-age tale that squanders the iconic presence of Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat. Tibet, 1943: An impetuous young monk (Chow) is entrusted by his master with the solemn task of protecting a scroll whose words can confer enough power to rule the world. The monk must relinquish his name, but receives the gift of youth for as long as he guards the scroll. The ceremony is brutally interrupted by the arrival of Nazi soldiers led by the power-mad Strucker (Karel Roden), who wants the scroll for his own nefarious reasons. A massacre ensues, but the monk escapes with the precious artifact. Flashforward to 2003, AnyCity USA (actually Toronto, of course): Street-smart Kar (Seann William Scott) is picking pockets on the subway and the monk — unchanged after 60 years of wandering — is fleeing a cadre of dark-suited pursuers when a child falls onto the tracks. Together the monk and the thief rescue her, and Kar rewards himself by lifting the scroll from the monk's bag. He promptly nearly gets the bejesus beaten out of him by gangbangers who consider the subway their personal turf, and escapes mostly through the timely intervention of gang girl Jade (former model James King, newly billed as "Jaime"). Uninterested in the monk's overtures of friendship or his offer to help Kar hone the martial arts skills he learned by imitating old kung-fu movies at the dilapidated movie theater where he lives and works, Kar resolves to find Jade and get on with his routine of drifting and grifting. Needless to say, Kar eventually becomes the monk's reluctant pupil; there proves more to Jade than meets the eye; and the baddies are on the payroll of Strucker, unmellowed by age and aided by his icy, evil granddaughter, Nina (Victoria Smurfit). No cliché is left unturned, from the mystically inclined Nazis (à la Raiders of the Lost Ark) to the baroque subterranean torture chamber and wire-work driven martial arts sequences. Chow glides through this piffle wearing a Mona Lisa smile and director Paul Hunter (who honed his craft in commercials and video games) keeps things moving briskly. But the film, based on a limited-run comic book (whose authors, Brett Lewis and R.A. Jones, are curiously uncredited), is so formulaic it starts to fade from memory before the last punch is thrown. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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