Hey folks, Harry here with an early look at Chow Yun-Fat's follow up feature in the West to CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, this time he's gone from Ang Lee to a Music Video Director Paul Hunter and his co-star is no longer Michelle Yeoh, but... Stifler. Um, cool? Well, we'll see... For now here's Drago with a peek... BEWARE OF SPOILERS!!!
When I first heard about this flick all I knew was that it was based on a comic book, had Chow-Yun Fat and "Stifler" in it, and it was the directorial debut of music video director Paul Hunter. Thats about it. ( even though that dose seem like a lot to know now that I think about it.)
The story is about a powerful monk with no name who is the protector of a scroll. This scroll can be used for evil if all the words are spoken out loud. The monk with no name not only has to protect the scroll but he also needs to find a new guardian for the scroll. That job of new protector might go to Kar, a good hearted pick pocket who was trained in kung-fu by watching old school kung fu movies since he both works and lives in a grindhouse theater. The one person who is after the scroll is an old-gezzer nazi who wants to...do something with it....I don't know, I forgot, whatever the case...its "evil".
How was this flick? Well,I can't say I wasn't entertained. I was. The film was mediocre at best. The acting by Chow-Yun Fat was fine, even though I've seen the man do better roles. Sean Williams Scott was funny and very enteraining to watch. Watching him in this flick, I actually kinda forgot that he played Stifler ( of course when the movie was over, that mind set came back).I personally though he did a good job on the kung-fu scenes. For me, he was quite convincing. The two also had genuine chemistry together.
Sadly, the main thing that they are going to sell this movie ( the action scenes) are not that good. They're fine, but I have seen better. They feel fake at times. They also where badly shot, so we sometimes don't get enough cool kung-fu shots. Actually, this movie was lacking in the kung-fu area. Not enough kung-fu fighting.What is good is the first fight ( which is set on a rope bridge),and this one chase scene in which the monk goes John Woo and flips on top of a car, grabs two guns and starts blasting away.
The plot is nothing original, the music was from spider-man most of the time ( so of course this is just a temp track :-) , but the pacing was good, the story had at least two twists in it, and other then the mostly weak finale battle in the end, it was kinda fun.
I almost forgot to mention James King,who was not only hot as hell, but did a decent job in her underwritten role.She had quite a bit of charm here. I liked her in this flick.
Overall, Bulletproof Monk is probably just a good rental or matinee its worth a look. I might check it out when it comes out to see how the finished effects will look like, what the score might sound like and to see if they fix the problems. Thats all I have to say, take care.
From fire breathing DRAGO!
