Movie Review: Bulletproof Monk (2003)
Synopsis: While guarding an ancient scroll entrusted to him 60 years earlier and that gives him immortality, a Tibetan monk befriends a young pickpocket who, based on a prophecy handed down to him from his master, may be his successor. Unfortunately, before he can figure that out for sure, he must first protect the scroll from a former Nazi soldier and his associates.
Who's in it? The movie stars Seann William Scott, Yun-Fat Chow, Jaime King, Karel Roden and Victoria Smurfit.
Review: The weather forecast (which fortunately didn't turn out to be as bad for us as predicted) once again kept my wife at home yesterday evening. Since we had nowhere to go and frozen pizza to eat, I looked for a movie to watch and settled on Bulletproof Monk. We had seen the movie before, but it was nearly a decade ago and I didn't remember a whole lot about it. After re-watching it, I can honestly say it was better than I did remember.
Kar (Scott) and the "Monk with No Name" (Chow) are a fun pairing. This is a movie that is meant to be lighthearted and the way they play off each other does that while still allowing for the action to shine. Scott, in particular, surprised me a bit when re-watching the film. I am so used to seeing him play over-the-top comedic roles and this one is relatively tame compared to those. He's still funny but tones it down when needed.
The one thing I found I appreciated more when re-watching this is the element Jade (King) brings to the film. She wasn't just the love interest for Kar I remembered and instead was a strong, independent character who had her own set of surprises, whether it was her fighting skills, her ability to come up with a plan of attack or the secret stash of weapons in her father's garage. In other words, she wasn't just some sort of damsel in distress and that made the movie's twist ending even more believable.
As I've said in the past, movies like this are only as good as the villain and this is one place where I felt the movie excelled. Strucker (Roden) is ruthless and desperate, making him dangerous even in his advanced age. His granddaughter, Nina (Smurfit), is his loyal and capable soldier while they take full advantage of the various resources at their disposal. There are very few breaks/lulls in this movie because they are almost always on the attack and often a step or two ahead of the protagonists.
The film also has quite a few surprise twists that keep it from getting predictable, whether it is the secret of where the scroll is hidden, unexpected betrayals or the monk's very loose interpretation of the prophecy that comes into play at the end. Even the fight scenes, which are a bit ridiculous at times (adding to the overall lightheartedness of the movies) create an element of surprise when the monk defies the laws of physics. Even though there were things about this movie I probably shouldn't have liked, this made it very easy to ignore them.
Final Opinion: This is a fun movie that has a good mix of comedy and action and strong characters that only make it better. It's worth taking the time to watch.
My Grade: A
___________________________________________________________________________
Here are some reviews of other movies from 2003:
Comments
Post a Comment