Bulletproof Monk

I would pay $3.50 to watch this movie

      Everybody hates this movie. Did I mention, everybody hated this movie before they had seen it? I read all kinds of anticipatory stuff about “Bulletproof Monk”, and all of the cattle were mooing in harmony to the tune of “this movie sucks.” Well, the livestock are wrong again.

    “Bulletproof Monk” is an action fairy tale based on a comic book… like “Daredevil”, “Spider-Man”, “Road to Perdition”, and the upcoming “X-2: X-Men United” and “The Hulk”. I’m seeing a trend, Hollywood. Regardless of this pathetic lemming rush to the cliff edge of comic book movies, “Bulletproof monk” is not a bad film by any means. Don’t get me wrong, this movie isn’t the bomb diggy, but it certainly isn’t as bad as most of the schlock lately.

    To the breakdown: The acting is good. The plot is pretty idiotic, the direction is tolerable, the dialogue is pretty stilted in many parts, the soundtrack is forgettable and sometimes irritating, and the editing is refreshingly good. The special effects are nifty, and some of the action sequences are remarkably good, if reminiscent of bad ‘80s American Karate films.

    Seann William Scott is NOT awful for this role, and it just shows how conditioned Americans are. I mean, it seems that nobody can accept the fact that this guy is an actor and not just Steve Stifler from “American Pie”. He does a good job playing an admittedly cardboard character in “Bulletproof Monk”, despite any yearnings the viewer might have to see him be a sexist idiot.

    Chow Yun-Fat is cute in this movie, but it really isn’t his usual fare, and the character is more than filled out by him. Sad to say, but Chow hasn’t done anything remarkable since “Peace Hotel”. Anybody who thinks “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is the best movie since “Ben Hur” can go ahead and reserve front row seats for what promises to be the next Ang Lee debacle, “The Hulk”; I won’t.

    The best character and the most noticeable acting job in this movie is Marcus J. Pirae as “Mr. Funktastic”. I hope everybody is going “who?” at this point, because I had no idea who this guy was, but I hope to see him again.

    Long story short, this is a fairly good movie. I won’t bother delving into the intricacies of the plot, as the plot is mostly laughable, but it’s a fun movie regardless. This is a movie that would have been a B movie if it had been released ten years ago, but the current enchantment Hollywood has with comic books appears to have given it a much bigger budget. Oh well, I like some B movies and I am not ashamed to admit it.