Bulletproof Monk (2003)

The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I have watched it a few times already and it's become the type of film that I want to watch whenever I'm looking for a good time without having to go out anywhere. If we now really have use of only 10 % of our brain's capability and capacity then does it not seem realistic to conclude that should we all of a sudden be gifted with use of 100 percent of our brain's capabilities we would then be able to do things we never could before? What if this Tibetan Scroll contained linguistic verbiage that actually empowered anyone speaking aloud its textual contents in the same way that creation obeyed the voice of the CREATOR according to the biblical narrative? When the Divine CREATOR said "Let there be light..." there was light! So, words accompanied by pure belief in their meaning have power. In the Bible book of James the tongue is spoken of as a tough member of the body to tame. The words that we speak can either heal, or, cause harm to others and even to ourselves. So, based on the already available knowledge that exists concerning the inherent power of words and speech in any language I choose to recommend the BULLETPROOF MONK as very entertaining, decent, and, good for the whole family. PG!

Completely sweet and a major disappointing piece of Fluff combining Martial Arts, Asian Mystical Fantasies, and Indiana Jones into...not much. it is watchable with a minimum of cringe inducing and that's the upside.There is enough eye-candy to be slightly appealing in a visceral, but mind melting, kind of way and the Performers are good looking if mannequin like and the Script wavers from Elementary to Sophomoric (Hot Dogs anyone).The wire work had not yet reached its saturation point, at least in American Theatres, and is fun, but the hand to hand styling that is Photographed here has and is Ho-Hum. What remains is the Story, what there is, and that had some "Potential" but gets overwhelmed by all the Glitter. This is for the casual Viewer of this kind of stuff because true Fans will be at best disappointed and at worst Angry. But "its not about anger, it's about Peace".P.S. The Buddhist ordering the Hot Dog......He said "one with everything"

Before I start completely destroying this movie, let me give a quick outline: a monk becomes protector of a scroll that, when read aloud, can turn the world into either paradise or complete hell. He must guard it for sixty years, until a successor is appointed by fulfilling a trinity of prophesies. Some nazi guy tries to steal the scroll, but fails. 60 years later, the monk runs into a pickpocket, and finds out he's "the one." Nazi guy's still trying to get the scroll, though! But the monk and sir Pickpocket try to keep it safe.To me, this sounded like one of those stupid-yet-enjoyable premises, where you turn your brain off and let the popcorn do the talking. Sadly, I was sorely misled. This is TRULY one of the most badly executed action films I've ever seen, and let me tell you why.-The fight scenes were so obviously performed with the aid of wires that suspension of disbelief was made completely impossible; -The fight scenes were also so ridiculously quickly edited, that you never actually see a character perform any punch, kick or grab in its entirety: this makes them even more pointless; -Massive plot hole no.1: the monks seem to be people dedicated to good. If the scroll can bring paradise if in the right hands, why didn't one of the monks just read it? I mean, I'm an egotistical idiot, but even I would choose paradise for all the world over my own cravings;-Massive plot hole no.2: the monk mentions that if you believe, the rules of gravity don't apply: that you can "step on air as if it's a stone." First, why is he scared when he's hanging off the building in the end? according to his logic (which is made hugely important in the movie) he could just walk on air, back up to the platform. Second, if there's no gravity or air whatsoever, you could theoretically hit someone without any resistance or drag, resulting in a HUGE punch. Last, why the heck doesn't he just fly away?;-Near the end, the monk is (seemingly arbitrarily) either fainting from two punches to the stomach, completely fit, or sort of out of breath. It depends on what the situation needs him to be, making his "strength" utterly unbelievable;-The amount of Asian proverbs streaming from the monk's mouth make Morpheus's rants seem timid, almost non-existent;-Speaking of Morpheus, the amount of Matrix rip-offs in this movie go into the thousands: the whole "if you believe, anything is possible" yarn is copied almost word for word. Oh, and "there is no spoon?" Here it's "there is no gravity." Same difference;-Lastly: "Funktastic?!" Seriously? That was the moment I lost all faith in this film.To summarize, this is mind-numbingly awful, to a degree words can barely describe. So bad, I shut it off during the final, "epic" fight sequence, as my retinas could stand no more torture. Suspension of disbelief is one thing; complete disregard for the movie's own rules and a bombardment of non sequiturs equals Bulletproof Monk. And he isn't even bulletproof.Don't ever watch this.

The central idea of "Bulletproof Monk", that of a gang of Nazis trying to get their hands on an artifact of great supernatural power, seems to have been lifted straight from Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The story opens in the year 1943 when a squad of Nazi soldiers attack a remote Tibetan monastery. (The German invasion of Tibet is an episode of Second World War history which appears to have escaped the notice of most historians). They are seeking a mystical Scroll which contains arcane knowledge which will confer immense powers upon the reader. They kill most of the monks but not the one entrusted with custody of the Scroll, who succeeds in escaping by using his martial arts skills to dodge the German bullets (hence the film's title).Fast forward to 2003. The nameless monk now reappears in an equally nameless American city. (The film was actually shot in Toronto, Canada). Although 60 years have passed, he still looks as youthful as he did in 1943, having been immunised from the ageing process by the power of the Scroll. The Scroll is being sought by a gang of fanatical neo-Nazis led by the now-aged Strucker, the officer who led the attack on the monastery, and his granddaughter Nina (who, in an ironical touch, poses as the leader of a human rights organisation). The monk, assisted by a young pickpocket named Kar and Kar's girlfriend Jade, who turns out to be the daughter of a Russian crime lord, have to thwart the evil plans of the villains.The star of the film is Chow Yun-Fat, the Hong Kong actor who also starred in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" but the two films have little else in common. The martial arts sequences in "Bulletproof Monk" are not nearly as well choreographed or directed as those in the earlier movie, and have nothing of their surreal, haunting power. The plot is just one standard action-movie cliché after another. None of the actors stood out, except perhaps Victoria Smurfit as Nina, the sort of sexy-but-evil villainess who would be at home in a Bond film. Jaime King (formerly known as James despite being female) is the latest in a long line of models-turned-actress who look as though they would be happier as a model-turned-actress-turned-model.I must admit that I didn't have high hopes for the film when I learned that it is based on a comic book, a genre of "literature" which has been responsible for some pretty poor film adaptations, and I can say that my low hopes were fully realised. "Bulletproof Monk" is a dull, unoriginal and cliché-ridden film which reveals a depressing lack of imagination on the part of the film-makers. 3/10