This film was horrible! While I do use that word at times to describe certain films, this film probably is the first time that I used it to describe every part of it in its entirety. There were no redeeming qualities in this film, between the pompous acting and the cheapened story, it surprises me that anyone went to see this film or rather why it hasn't made it to the dollar bin at my local video retailer. I have read reviews that boast this film's originality and excitement, but I only mock at these fellow reviewers and question the honesty of their words. Did they see the film, or are they simply trying to build some form of publicity behind it? It is like I have said before, no matter how much you dress trash up, it is still yesterday's garbage. Bulletproof Monk is no exception. With crappy (for lack of a better word) acting, a childish story that teeters between unoriginality and boredom, and finally cheap special effects that continually prove that this director would have been better off staying with music videos instead of dabbling in the motion picture industry.
You can only ask an actor to do so much before it begins to feel like yesterday's laundry. Seann William Scott is not ready to headline a film, much less an action film on his own accord. He has not handled the pressures of being a leading man nor has he earned the rights. His work on the American Pie films may have given him some pseudo-cult status, but it has not pushed him to the point of leading man. That may have been the reasoning for matching him with Yun-Fat Chow. The directors and producers were probably hoping that it would all balance out, well let me be the first to say that the scales were tipped unevenly in this movie. Scott portrayed his character physically able to do the task at hand, but with a Stifler mentality. That does not make for a good action film. There should be no reason that you, as an actor, should be clinging onto past characters to draw audiences into your film. Give them something fresh or something new to see and I promise they will continue to come back. That is definitely not the case here. Scott keeps that pompous grin on his face even during the emotional moments as if to say that he is cashing a big check with this one. In other words, from the beginning to the end of this film, he just didn't feel or fit the part that he was handed. Then again, nothing much was given by Yun-Fat Chow. Normally a decent actor, it is nearly insulting to see Chow in action with this film. CGI replaced actual fighting while deeply rooted conversation seems to float around hot dogs instead of life. It just doesn't seem like the vehicle that Chow would be found driving. Given that we have two actors that were completely miscast, the inevitable downfall for the rest of the film is that the story will suffer.
This was by far the poorest written story imaginable. I was surprised that 'ole Alan Smithee didn't make an appearance on the ending credits. The use of Nazis as the irrefutable "bad guy" should sum it up for everyone reading this review. But, perhaps I am getting too hasty. The opening fight sequence was completely created by Hollywood instead of by true martial arts experts. This should be our vision into the future if we weren't so blinded by a recycled story about a scroll and the equivalent of a "golden child". The fact that our hero learns kung-fu from films is just another prize example of this downward spiral. Coupled with low-budgeted CGI and you have nothing that you can literally hold in your hands. Scott's character never gets off the ground, literally and figuratively, while Chow seems to be a substitute teacher instead of the one that gives us the wisdom we deserve. Even the love interest seems like a faded shirt. Maybe it was Scott's challenged grin or the complete lack of chemistry between him and a gu .girl named James, or just the fact that the moment they met they fell for each other without any further explanation just rubbed me the wrong way. It felt as if I had hic-ups throughout this entire film, continually wondering if they would ever settle I was forced to watch a very jumpy movie that offered no signs of relief.
Finally, what would be the point of talking about this film without at least mentioning once the cheese factor of the film known as the CGI. I have several opinions on what happened in this department, of which two I plan to offer to you guys. My first impression was that Bulletproof Monk was one of the pioneer films to allow interns to create effects in hopes of bettering a film. The producers than decided to leave in all the errors and amateurish designs in hopes to show the class a final product. Then, instead of going back to change the errors, they got frustrated with their students and decided to print the copy that they had in their hand, thus ultimately ruining the film. The second option that I have considered is that the effects were done by a disgruntled employee that decided to sabotage the film by including cheapened CGI/bullet-time effects. Either way, whichever of these (or the thousands of other possibilities) happened, it hurt the film deeper than anyone could have imagined. It hurt the characters and defaced the plot, leaving nothing for the avid film viewer like myself to grasp ahold of.
Overall, disappointment raged through my body when the final credits finally rolled.
Grade: * out of *****
You can only ask an actor to do so much before it begins to feel like yesterday's laundry. Seann William Scott is not ready to headline a film, much less an action film on his own accord. He has not handled the pressures of being a leading man nor has he earned the rights. His work on the American Pie films may have given him some pseudo-cult status, but it has not pushed him to the point of leading man. That may have been the reasoning for matching him with Yun-Fat Chow. The directors and producers were probably hoping that it would all balance out, well let me be the first to say that the scales were tipped unevenly in this movie. Scott portrayed his character physically able to do the task at hand, but with a Stifler mentality. That does not make for a good action film. There should be no reason that you, as an actor, should be clinging onto past characters to draw audiences into your film. Give them something fresh or something new to see and I promise they will continue to come back. That is definitely not the case here. Scott keeps that pompous grin on his face even during the emotional moments as if to say that he is cashing a big check with this one. In other words, from the beginning to the end of this film, he just didn't feel or fit the part that he was handed. Then again, nothing much was given by Yun-Fat Chow. Normally a decent actor, it is nearly insulting to see Chow in action with this film. CGI replaced actual fighting while deeply rooted conversation seems to float around hot dogs instead of life. It just doesn't seem like the vehicle that Chow would be found driving. Given that we have two actors that were completely miscast, the inevitable downfall for the rest of the film is that the story will suffer.
This was by far the poorest written story imaginable. I was surprised that 'ole Alan Smithee didn't make an appearance on the ending credits. The use of Nazis as the irrefutable "bad guy" should sum it up for everyone reading this review. But, perhaps I am getting too hasty. The opening fight sequence was completely created by Hollywood instead of by true martial arts experts. This should be our vision into the future if we weren't so blinded by a recycled story about a scroll and the equivalent of a "golden child". The fact that our hero learns kung-fu from films is just another prize example of this downward spiral. Coupled with low-budgeted CGI and you have nothing that you can literally hold in your hands. Scott's character never gets off the ground, literally and figuratively, while Chow seems to be a substitute teacher instead of the one that gives us the wisdom we deserve. Even the love interest seems like a faded shirt. Maybe it was Scott's challenged grin or the complete lack of chemistry between him and a gu .girl named James, or just the fact that the moment they met they fell for each other without any further explanation just rubbed me the wrong way. It felt as if I had hic-ups throughout this entire film, continually wondering if they would ever settle I was forced to watch a very jumpy movie that offered no signs of relief.
Finally, what would be the point of talking about this film without at least mentioning once the cheese factor of the film known as the CGI. I have several opinions on what happened in this department, of which two I plan to offer to you guys. My first impression was that Bulletproof Monk was one of the pioneer films to allow interns to create effects in hopes of bettering a film. The producers than decided to leave in all the errors and amateurish designs in hopes to show the class a final product. Then, instead of going back to change the errors, they got frustrated with their students and decided to print the copy that they had in their hand, thus ultimately ruining the film. The second option that I have considered is that the effects were done by a disgruntled employee that decided to sabotage the film by including cheapened CGI/bullet-time effects. Either way, whichever of these (or the thousands of other possibilities) happened, it hurt the film deeper than anyone could have imagined. It hurt the characters and defaced the plot, leaving nothing for the avid film viewer like myself to grasp ahold of.
Overall, disappointment raged through my body when the final credits finally rolled.
Grade: * out of *****