For some reason, the reviewers came down hard on Chow Yun Fat’s new flick Bulletproof Monk but after seeing it I can’t tell you why. About the only thing that Roger Ebert, for example, seems to like is the opening fight scene, which takes place on a rickety, missing a few slabs rope and wood bridge, and the one action scene for which I didn’t care as I though the wirework was simply too obvious.
I’m more of a mind with Mick Lasalle of the SF Chronicle, who points to the little dustup between Fat and co-star Seann William Scott (yeah, Stiffler but with no mom here) when, despite Scott’s best efforts, Fat doesn’t so much as spill a drop of milk from his bowl of coco puffs as Scott tries to evict Fat from his oh-so humble abode, and gives the movie a good review.
Any movie that revolves around a scroll (or more accurately the words on the scroll) that has the power to give a person who speaks its words aloud world dominion requires viewers to suspend disbelief. Films that use martial arts to drive the onscreen violence also require this, because even Jackie Chan can’t move quite as fast nor jump quite as high as all that. So bringing in Nazis as the villains was fine with me since writers Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris set this up by starting the action in 1943. Then we get the pleasure of seeing the original Nazi bastard’s hot granddaughter (Irish lass Victoria Smurfit) fight Scott’s desired female Jaime King. Cool that even the ladies get to do some wired flips and twists.
Fat is really making strides with his English enunciation, much better at this point than, say, Chan or Jet Li, and same with his comic timing. Chan has been making comedies for years and has good timing but I still spend just a few extra beats understanding what he’s said before I can laugh and I didn’t need to do that while watching this one. thumbs up to first time director Paul Hunter.
Side note: Hard to believe it but I checked and it has been two months since I was last in a movie theater, seeing Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers for the second time. Not counting movies that only opened in the last week or so, there’s only been one in all that time I really want to spend money to see, The Quiet American, which fortunately is still playing.
Recommended for action fans
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