Bulletproof Monk

[WhiteWizard]

Okay this film has an extremly dodgey name but i went to see it on Friday with a couple of my mates. Although it was absoloutly slated by critics(what do they know anyway) i thought this was a really good film.
Chow yun fat and sean willian scott worked really well together a lot of good fight scenes and a nice looking lady as well.

has anyone else seen it yet?

[pesilat]

Yup. I liked it. Of course, I really like Chow Yun Fat to begin with.

Mike

[pgm316]

I've heard good and bad reports. But I'll still watch it, should appeal to most of us MA freaks ;)

They said the Stiffler guy is a bit dissapointing, trying to get his career back on track doing Kung Fu but without putting any training in Matt Damon style. Although they did say Chow Yun Fat makes up for other cast weaknesses as usual :)

[WhiteWizard]

i think he done okay considering the lack of training although it is good to think actors take the MA side seriously

[Freeform]

Just watched it tonight. Got it on good authority that he did a good attempt at the Wing Chun dummy form in the cinema training scene.

Col

[pesilat]

Originally posted by pgm316
They said the Stiffler guy is a bit dissapointing, trying to get his career back on track doing Kung Fu but without putting any training in Matt Damon style.

OK. But how is that a bad thing for this movie? The character he's playing isn't supposed to be a martial artist. He's a guy who's learned some stuff by mimicking "Kung Fu Theatre" flicks. I'd have been disappointed if he were a good martial artist :)

Mike

[pgm316]

Yup fair point. I really should watch the film before making any more comments :D

Just thought he must have looked average if a non MA's reviewer picked up on it ?

[khafra]

Karl's style, in his fight scenes, was very HK-cinematic. Chow Yun Fat, training him, shows him how impractical that is in a very obvious way. None of the physics looks even close to real, since the guy can semi-fly, but action is action, and I enjoyed it.

[pesilat]

Originally posted by khafra
Karl's style, in his fight scenes, was very HK-cinematic. Chow Yun Fat, training him, shows him how impractical that is in a very obvious way. None of the physics looks even close to real, since the guy can semi-fly, but action is action, and I enjoyed it.

LOL ... if I want to see real martial arts on a screen, I put in a video of one of my instructors :)

Chow Yun Fat's character isn't a martial artist. He's the embodiment of a mystical force that transcends the basic laws of physics :)

Mike

[Freeform]

I thought his name was Kar, which is what the joke about his name being mispronounced was all about (it should have been Gar).

Col

[pgm316]

Originally posted by pesilat


LOL ... if I want to see real martial arts on a screen, I put in a video of one of my instructors :)

Chow Yun Fat's character isn't a martial artist. He's the embodiment of a mystical force that transcends the basic laws of physics :)

Mike

I guess you mean realistic when you say real martial arts? I like either realistic or the fantasy style crouching tiger martial arts. I think bad fighting scenes are another matter.

ps I still haven't seen this film yet! :(

[sn0w8lade]

I went to see it this week.

I'm a massive Chow Yun Fat fan an I have to say i thort this film was incredibly poor.

The fight scenes were v poor, the wire work not v impressive and the acting was also v poor.

I don't feel that any of the actors were suited to their given roles and the script was pretty scrappy so can't really blame the actors for the poor acting.

The figh scenes were the biggest dissappointment tho.

Good one between CYF and his master at the start but it went down hill from there.

And as for Sean Williams Scott bein poor due to his lack of training.............. he spent nine months in training for it!

Well I suppose that's my little rant over.

But hey @ the end of the day it's only my opinion ;)

[Spike]

I thought Chow Yun Fat and Sean william Scott did very well as their characters.
Both were type-cast, it`d be hard to miss the mark by too much

Is nine months really that long if you`ve had no training before?

[totalkayos]

i saw it a while ago before it was released and theaters (thank you internet) and i didn't really like it. i thought it was kind of campy. maybe the final cut in the theaters was better.

[ninjahonor]

The film was.....well...kinda cheesy what with the...how should I say it.....misunderstanding of the prophecies! But Chow Yun Fat was pretty good. Although I believe if the story line was a little more imersive it would have been better.

[sn0w8lade]

Originally posted by Spike


Is nine months really that long if you`ve had no training before?

I guess not but didn't Keanu Reeves and Laurance Fishburn only spend around 9months training prior to the matrix?

And they looked a great deal better.

Could b down to the choreography:confused:


:D

[pesilat]

Originally posted by sn0w8lade


I guess not but didn't Keanu Reeves and Laurance Fishburn only spend around 9months training prior to the matrix?

And they looked a great deal better.

Could b down to the choreography:confused:


:D

But, for me, this was a non-issue with Sean William Scott's character. He wasn't supposed to be a martial artist. I thought he came off as exactly what he was supposed to be. Keanu and Laurnece's characters, though, were supposed to have the equivalent of decades of study ... and a little extra "go juice" to boot. Which I think they also did well.

Mike

[Spike]

Sean William Scott looked more like dumb-kid-who-practices-things-from-films than Reeves and fishbourne looked like Masters-withdecades-of-study-under-the-belt.
but it isn`t such a tall order

[neutrino]

ninjahonor u pratt didnt you understand the story the propercies were true but just not what he was expecting

pgm316 actually they all did months of training before the film and the overall effect was very good. There training continued throughout the making of the film.

Research before criticising u pratts

Neutrino :D

[neutrino]

sn0w8lade

scott only did 4 months training and most of that was getting in to shape this film was never meant to be a contender with the matrix i dont think any other film ever will be not for the next 10 years at least as the effects are really pushed to the limit

Neutrino

[Andy Murray]

I love watching and re-watching MA films. I also respect CYF as an actor.

This did nothing for me, and I won't watch it again.

Saw John Woo's name in the credits, but I reckon his dog oversaw the editing and choreography.

It had the potential to be a great story.

Scott performed well, but looked like a geek. I couldn't stop thinking about 'Road Trip' when I saw him. He didn't break out of type cast for me, though I was impressed by the effort he put into his solo training sequences.

Whoever edited the fight scenes should be shot. If you need to paste together that many angles to make a fight look good, you need a new choreographer. The constant flash between female bad gal, and the blonde wigged trans sexual stunt double in the tunnel sequence had me rolling on the floor.

Re-make with Jet Li in CYF's role, a young Mark Dacascos in Scott's role and Jackie Chan in the directors chair, would have made it a heck of a film for me.

2/10 must try harder.

[Greg-VT]

Originally posted by Andy Murray

Re-make with Jet Li in CYF's role, a young Mark Dacascos in Scott's role and Jackie Chan in the directors chair, would have made it a heck of a film for me.



Wow I'd love to see that. Except for Mark. I just don't see him in that role... someone younger perhaps, like Scott. Other wise, Jet and Jackie all the way. :D Jet would fit into that role like a glove. I just don't know how's Jackie's humour would go with it...


Overall, I don't think it was too bad. A little cheesy, but no where near as bad as another recent movie I've seen.

I thought it was pretty good.

[Levo]

Bulletproof Monk sucked ass.

Almost had to throw away my Chow Yun Fat thsirt in disgust :mad:

How you can make such a bad film with Chow (cool), Jaime King (fit) and Victoria Smurfit (very fit) is beyond me.

Nathan

[CKava]

I know this thread is quite old but I just stumbled across it and feel compelled to make a comment. Even though its been months since I seen Bulletproof monk it still depresses me to think I spent an hour or so of my life watching that film! I cannot believe anyone actually enjoyed it, the acting was woeful "Its not about anger, its about love!", the choreography incredibly poor, the special effects pitiful and the story one of the poorest Ive ever seen. And even all that aside did no-one else feel this was just another pathetic attempt to cash in on the Tibet craze thats currently around. I mean Tibetan monks doing martial arts??? And how likely is it Jaime Kings character would have picked up colloquial Tibetan, yeah thats a common language! They used the Tibetan word chu (meaning water) as the character for power in the trailer and the word mi (meaning man or not) for war! And so on... Arggh it just annoyed me. So, so many inaccuracies!

[NeilX66]

Just found this old thread while waiting for Friday to finish so i can go home, I've not seen the film yet, though I have seen the trailers and read the reviews, but what I'm interested in is if anubody out there has read the comic the film was based on?

I got hold of a copy of the trade paperback last year and its an excellent story, and as far as I can tell, apart from using the title and a few of the names, nothing like the film.

Its written by Gotham Chopra, (who I think is Deepak Chopras' son, spiritual / health advisor to Prince Charles among others), and drawn by Michael Avon Oeming, ( Powers, ******* Samurai ~ also one to check out ), and has a lot mystical content in it, the monk is only ever seen when people are reciting legends about him,

"Protagonist Kar is a likeable fellow, adept at martial arts, but with a sense of humour and a clever streak in the kitchen. Given an antique pendant by his mother, he is told to seek out the legendary man who once wore it, for they need his help once more. However, Kar is all too easily distracted by all America has to offer, and especially a girl called Daughter. His feelings for Daughter drag him into the criminal underworld of Boss Wei's gang and his search for the Bulletproof Monk founders by the wayside until events take a turn that sends him back on his quest. "

Well worth checking out

Neil

[DexterTCN]

Whoever edited the fight scenes should be shot. If you need to paste together that many angles to make a fight look good, you need a new choreographer...................................Je t Li ..........

You ever count the edits in Li's fights? :rolleyes:

(never mind how long ago this thread died :p )

[Andy Murray]

You ever count the edits in Li's fights? :rolleyes:

(never mind how long ago this thread died :p )

Yeah, I'm pretty observant.

Then again, there's a big difference between early Jet films, and the last ten or so.

'Ever count the edits in Jackie Chans fights?' is a more interesting question.

[DexterTCN]

Well with Jackie it ws always the stunts, not the fights. :)

I thought Jet's latest films were just Rap Music Videos.

[YounGrasshopper]

all i remember in this movie wasd them getting the tatoos at the end

[Nrv4evr]

easily the most kid influencing movie of all time..."step on the air like a stone, swim through the air like water"....lol, hollywood...

my neighbour, a 40 year old mr. miyagi clone actually tried that. you'd think by now we'd realize that humans weren't meant to summon chi. maybe 5000 years ago. but not now. we have politicians to do our philosophy.

[milchy]

I hate the really fake feel of every fight scene in hollywood movies these days. The physics and wire work are totally ****ED!

It ruins every movie!!!!

It's the charlies angels style of action.. and its ****in gay.

This movie was the same piece of ****in ****.

Almost fell asleep during the beggining for christs sake!

0.5 / 5 stars.... half a star for trying...