Product Details

• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000A50456

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The tremendous charisma of Chow Yun-fat anchors this entertaining comic-book romp. Bulletproof Monk centers around a monk with no name (Chow) dedicated to protecting a sacred scroll that can give world-manipulating power to anyone who reads it. A hidden Nazi has been pursuing the scroll for 60 years and has finally caught up with the monk in present-day New York City; meanwhile, the monk suspects he may have found a disciple in a petty thief (Seann William Scott, Dude, Where's My Car?, American Pie) who's learned kung fu from watching double-feature chopsocky flicks. Don't let the presence of Chow Yun-fat lead you to expect much substance--this doesn't have the emotional scope of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or the visual panache of Hard-Boiled. But Bulletproof Monk is a cheerful, tightly edited, unpretentious action flick with flashes of humor, good for a mindless evening's entertainment. Also featuring Jaime (a.k.a. James) King (Blow). --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker

A by-the-numbers script about an immortal monk who must protect an ancient scroll is given some Hollywood gloss in the director Paul Hunter's martial-arts movie. Chow Yun-Fat is partnered with Seann William Scott, whose role as a pickpocket and Hong Kong-film enthusiast gives him the opportunity to learn all the proper East-meets-West life lessons. Thin, to be sure, but there is fun to be had: the film is effortlessly generic, and Chow Yun-Fat glides through his scenes as if he's walking on water. -
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bulletproof Monk -Theatrical release, April 20, 2003

By A Customer

The reasons I enjoyed this movie are: 1. Chow Yun Fat. This superb actor never fails to give his best to any type of role he undertakes. He often overcomes any flaws in the script itself, and I feel that is what he did here. He has played many different types of characters and never repeats himself. I enjoyed his humour as well as his action scenes. They were suberbly choreographed. I believe that the presence of John Woo had much to do with that.
2. I was delighted to see that this movie, unlike many others today, was more than just a lot of action but had some plot, laughs,excitement,and genuine fun for the audience.
3. I liked that the heros did some good deeds such as saving a person from the wheels of a subway train, and returning a wallet to a man on the street,etc. But then, when Mr. Chow has played the bad guy in many of his Asian films, he always had the persona of a villian with a heart, such as going back into a burning building in one old film to save a baby
4.I was a bit disappointed in the lack of a lot of lush scenery and sets, but what was there was appropiate to the plot.
5. The fight between the two women reminded me of "Crouching Tiger, ....." Go see it you'll like it!

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Exactly Bullet Proof, April 7, 2003

By A Customer

Going into this movie it can go either way depending on the audience participation. The movie starts off really well with a great mix of both comedy and action and like I said before it all depends on the audience participation. There will be points when the film requires you to take in a joke inorder to follow through to the next one. Sometimes the jokes are great and lead into a great action sequence that will have you repeating character dialouge and saying "How did you do that?" Chow Yun Fat has to be one of my favorite and fourth as the most recognizable Asian actors. Most people will go in with the deep impression of Crouching Tiger and it will help when Yun Fat passes on some comedic dialouge. Fifteen or twenty minutes into the movie you'll start to get this Matrix vibe that takes away from a great action comedy. Still the characters draw you in with a fantastic comedic performance. Unfortunatly though the movie starts to become to predictable towards the end and get a little off touch with the over all concept of the film. A crazy Tim Roth looking guy comes into play and the whole movie starts to stink to high heaven. It reminded me to much of those cheesy made for the big screen video game flicks like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. Overall though it made me laugh and that's pretty much what I was looking for. A little disappointed with the lack of traditional martial arts fight sequences that I was expecting from Yun Fat but as I said overall it was entertaining. A great comedy but a so-so action film.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Way To Spend A Few Hours, April 28, 2003

By 

Daniel V. Reilly (Upstate New York, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Having recently read the Bulletproof Monk comic, on which this film is based, and been less than thrilled with it, I was kind of reluctant to see the film. On the one hand, the source material reeked. On the other hand, Chow Yun-Fat is an action-film God....Finally curiousity won out, and I decided to give Bulletproof Monk a shot. (Get it? Bulletproof...? Shot...? Never mind....)

The film mercifully departs from the Comic almost immediately, and boy, was I glad! Yun-Fat plays the nameless Monk, who is not so much bulletproof as able to dodge bullets (Think Keanu in The Matrix...). He's charged with protecting an ancient scroll that can bring about the end of the world. As the film opens (In the 1940's), his monastary is beseiged by Nazi's seeking the scroll. After the Monk escapes with the scroll, we flash forward 60 Years, as the un-aged Monk meets up with a young pickpocket (Seann William Scott). The Monk decides to train him in the Monkly Arts, and before you know it, that pesky Nazi is back, menacing our Monk from his wheelchair. (Yeah, it's goofy, but it's a lot of fun.) Throw in the gorgeous James King as a butt kickin' Kung-Fu girl, and you've got the recipe for a good time. The villains are villainous, the Heroes are heroic, the action is cool, and the one-liners fly fast and furious. Yun-Fat is delightfully droll as the Monk, delivering ancient wisdom with a sly smirk on his face. One small quibble: I'm glad the filmmakers decided to scrap the Comic's storyline, but it's too bad they couldn't stay closer the book's all-Asian cast of characters. (No offense to Scott and King, both of whom were great in their roles....It'd just be nice to see Hollywood be a little more colorblind in their casting choices.)