5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.2 |
A Tibetan monk becomes a mentor to a young street punk and tries teaching him how to protect the scroll of ultimate power from a secret Nazi organization bent on world domination.
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Seann William Scott, Jaime King, Karel Roden, Victoria SmurfitAction | 100% |
Comedy | 48% |
Martial arts | 32% |
Adventure | 24% |
Comic book | 11% |
Video codec: MPEG-2
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
You probably know the old stereotypical joke about the Chinese restaurant, where your waiter offers you “one from column A, one from column B,” and so on. You probably also know the oft-repeated adage about being hungry again after an hour even after consuming a large meal at said establishment. Both of these dicta apply in allegorical terms to Bulletproof Monk, an amiable enough romp through Chop-Socky land that nonetheless is hobbled by being so obviously culled from so many predecessors it’s hard to keep track of at times. As in most casseroles, there’s no real nourishment here, with by the numbers characters and plot developments, and a surprisingly anemic assortment of action set pieces, at least for a film of this heritage, and especially one co-produced by the inestimable John Woo.
Bulletproof Monk follows the adventure of a nameless Monk (Chow Yun-Fat), whose story begins in 1943 in Tibet. The Monk is entrusted with the priceless treasure of a mystical scroll which, of course, bestows unearthly powers to anyone who possesses it. Need I tell you the Nazis are in pursuit, and in probably the best overall action sequence of the film, we get off to a literal bang with the Monk first in training in an exciting sequence and then move on to him and his cohorts fighting off the invading German hoard. The Scroll, aside from offering untold power, also bestows perpetual youth on its holder, and so when the Monk is chosen to keep it safe from those with nefarious motives, he stays his same youthful self some 60 years later, when he shows up in New York City and quickly befriends a wisecracking street hustler named Kar (Seann William Scott). Kar is tangentially involved with an auburn haired bombshell known as Bad Girl (Jaime King) who it turns out is the daughter of an imprisoned Russian mobster. And just for good measure the evil Nazi (Karel Roden) who tried and failed to obtain the Scroll in the 40’s reappears to wreak havoc once again more than half a century later.
Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott
Released relatively early in the Blu-ray era, Bulletproof Monk sports the now ancient MPEG-2 codec, but doesn't suffer quite so much as you might expect. This is nowhere near a reference quality Blu-ray by any standard, and in fact only slightly raises the bar from the SD-DVD, but it does offer some decently upgraded clarity and saturation, at least in the brightly lit sequences. Unfortunately, a lot of this film plays out in darkened environments, and contrast is pumped to the point that grain can become bothersome. There's also a very strange inconsistency in the sharpness from scene to scene. What I found most bothersome about this transfer is the shoddy source elements. For a relatively major release, and one this contemporary, I was aghast at the amount of damage this print displays. Aside from dirt and debris, there are also white flecks from time to time (look at the lower left side of the my screencapture of the helicopter for a good example). BD enthusiasts will certainly not be using Bulletproof Monk to show off their home theater capabilities.
Nominally better is the DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, which is excellent as far as it goes, but which like the film itself suffers from not being given enough to do. When the action sequences spring to their occasional life, suddenly we are treated to some great immersion, with whizzing foley effects, explosions, and bullet sounds zinging to and fro and filling the soundfield with an appealingly goofy amount of mayhem. Unfortunately, those sequences are too sporadic to make this a sonic knockout. A lot of the film is dialogue, and really silly dialogue at that. It's presented cleanly and clearly, with excellent directionality. But most viewers are going to be drawn to this film thinking they're getting a martial arts spectacular. Think again, as some wise Monk once said.
No supplements are offered (other than trailers, which I don't count) on this bare bones release.
There's just not enough "there" there to justify anything more than a sort of middling response to Bulletproof Monk. The leads are appealing, to be sure, but the plot is so hackneyed and obviously cobbled together from a million half baked ideas that it's ultimately self defeating. Most viewers will probably opt for none from any column with this outing.
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