Bulletproof Monk

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Bulletproof Monk

Theatrical poster for Bulletproof Monk
Directed by Paul Hunter
Produced by Gotham Chopra
Terence Chang
Caroline Macaulay
Written by Ethan Reiff
Cyrus Voris
Starring Chow Yun-Fat
Seann William Scott
Jaime King
Music by Dylan Berry
Eric Serra
Cinematography Stefan Czapsky
Editing by Robert K. Lambert
Distributed by MGM
Release date(s) April 16, 2003
Running time 104 minutes
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $52,000,000[1]
Gross revenue $37,713,879[1]
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Bulletproof Monk is a 2003 martial arts comedy fantasy film starring Chow Yun-Fat, Seann William Scott and Jaime King. The film was directed by Paul Hunter. It is loosely based on the comic book by Michael Avon Oeming.

The film was shot in Toronto, Ontario, and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film opens in Tibet in the year 1943 with two Tibetan monks fighting, the Monk and his master, while a small boy with a monkey looks on. The monk wins and his master says that he has passed. First he completed the three prophecies: fought an army of enemies while a flock of cranes circled overhead, fought for love at the palace of Jade, and saved his brothers whom he did not know. He has one final sacrifice which is to give up his name; the Monk says he already has. They go into a temple and the master is going to pass the job of protecting the Scroll of the Ultimate. The small boy who was watching them secretly enters the temple behind them. The Monk kneels in front of the master while holding the Scroll whilst the master puts his hand on his head. The wind blows a little harder and something is transferred from the master to the Monk, then we are shown that a couple of Nazis are watching this through binoculars. The process is complete and the Monk is the new protector, he then looks up and sees an aged, old master. He says now for the next 60 years it is his - the Monk's - job to protect the Scroll. They come out of the temple, while the master says that now he can do what he hasn't done in 60 years, take a vacation. At that moment he is shot multiple times. He's dragged into the temple by the Monk where he dies. The Monk sees the boy and tells him to run for safety while locking the doors. Outside the other Tibetan monks stand together in front of the door to stop the Nazis, but the Nazis shoot through them and the captain sends two Nazis into the temple. However shots are heard and the two Nazis are thrown out, their guns are thrown after them in pieces. The Nazi captain goes into the temple while the Monk fights the other Nazis, but he doesn't find the Scroll since the Monk has already taken it. He comes out to see the Monk has beaten all of his soldiers. He shoots at the Monk who easily dodges bullets before stopping at a cliff's edge, where he is shot in the heart and jumps off. The captain follows him but is shocked to see no sign of the Monk. He calls out to the Monk before shouting Monk.

The scene is now 60 years later, where a young pickpocket, Kar (Seann William Scott), is pickpocketing people in the subway. He picks a plainclothes police officer who handcuffs him, but the pickpocket is able to free himself and handcuff the police officer to a railing. The pickpocket runs away from other policemen, while above in the street we see the Monk reading a newspaper when he notices several men in suits watching him. The Monk attempts to escape by running into the subway. The pickpocket is too fast for the police and the Monk is faster than the men chasing him, however both the pickpocket and the Monk are running on the platform in opposite sides and run into each other, causing a young girl to fall into the path of an oncoming train. The Monk jumps down to help the girl whose foot is stuck, the men following him run off when they see the police and the pickpocket jumps after the Monk to help him. The Monk lifts the rail without touching it while the pickpocket frees the girl's foot, saving the girl. They jump out of the way when the train comes, allowing them to escape but the pickpocket's bag of stolen goods is left behind.

The Monk and the pickpocket introduce themselves, while the pickpocket Kar steals the Scroll from the Monk and runs away. Then wherever Kar goes he is chased by the Monk who thinks that Kar could be the next protector of the Scroll. When fighting in the street against a small time crime-lord called Mister Funktastic (Marcus Jean Pirae), he meets Jade, with whom he falls in love. The Monk then follows Kar home, and watches him at home practicing Kung-fu by watching Chinese martial arts movies. He leaves in the morning, but Kar runs into him again on the street where Kar is pickpocketing. The Monk pickpockets Kar and returns the wallet Kar stole. They are talking when Jade walks up to them and asks for her necklace which Kar apparently stole so he could later return it and be in her good graces. However, the mercenaries chasing the Monk find him causing him to run, with Kar tagging along.

The Monk and Kar lose the men when they enter an Asian laundromat and go underground, where they meet other Tibetan monks who are ready to become the next protector. The master there is the nephew of the young boy at the beginning of the film. The Monk then goes to a building where he teaches Kar how to fight like he does. They are attacked and the Scroll is taken. However upon reading the Scroll Strucker finds that it is a recipe for noodle soup, and the Monk later shows the scroll tattooed into his body. The Monk and Kar return home, to find that Mr. Kojima has been murdered by Nina, who is Strucker's granddaughter. The pair run away from the men in suits who find them at the Golden Palace cinema (Kar's workplace and home) and they run to the same Asian laundromat but are found by Nina, as they were betrayed by a monk who wants the power of the Scroll and is willing to share it with Strucker. The monk is instead rewarded by being taken to Strucker's headquarters and tortured.

The Monk and Kar go to Jade's house and find out that Jade is the daughter of a Russian crime lord, who is currently in jail. Nina and her guards appear and take the Monk away by tranquillizing him, while beating Jade and Kar. Jade and Kar go to Strucker's headquarters, where Strucker has gotten his youth back by reading the text of the Scroll except the last line which is memorized by the Monk and he won't give it up. Strucker uses a device which extracts information from a person's brain, but before he can extract the last line Jade and Kar arrive freeing the Monk. A fight later breaks out between Jade and Nina, but Jade pulls through and she breaks Nina's neck. A fight ensues, where Strucker fights both the Monk and Kar before threatening to throw Kar off the roof of the building if the Monk does not give him the last line. However, Kar is able to beat Strucker who is thrown off the building onto electrical cables below. Jade saves all the other Tibetan monks, they meet and the Monk makes Kar the protector. Instead of dying, Strucker who has absorbed most of the Scroll's power, returns and attempts to shoot Kar. Jade jumps in front of him to stop the bullet, and Kar finishes off Strucker when a statue falls on him finally killing him. Kar then goes to Jade's side and lifts her shirt to see her wound but there are some inscriptions on her stomach, and Jade is fine. The Monk then tells them that they both passed the three prophecies and passed the final test. The next day the Monk meets Kar and Jade and whispers the last line to each of them; half of it to Kar and half to Jade who he says are now inseparable as opposites attract, then he leaves. It is assumed he is going to take a vacation.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reaction

The film got mostly negative reviews from film critics. Critics complained that the fight scenes were not as well choreographed or directed as those in similar movies such as The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and also that the alternating comedic and action scenes were jarring.[2] The movie grossed about $23.4 million domestically, far below the film production budget of $52 million.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Bulletproof Monk (2003). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  2. ^ Bulletproof Monk (2003). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.

[edit] External links