Hollywood takes a shot at B-grade Hong Kong action in "Bulletproof Monk." The difference between this picture and the hundreds of kung-fu action flicks made in Hong Kong is that the latter were examples of expertly packaged, so-bad-that-it's-good, cinematic junk food. "Bulletproof Monk," on the other hand, dribbles out of the box and makes a mess, which director Paul Hunter shows little interest in cleaning up. Half-spoken sentences trail off, action sequences get haphazardly chopped off and no scene lasts for more than a few seconds.
Perhaps this is a new Buddhist approach to action cinema. If so, the enlightenment is elusive. Perhaps it's because "Bulletproof Monk" is based on a little-known, underground comic, as opposed to a spiritual best seller endorsed by Richard Gere. In any case, despite the wise words spoken by none other than Chow Yun-Fat, the guy who redefined Asian Cool, "Bulletproof Monk" never delivers a quasi-religious experience (though you might be left needing a yoga session to calm your jangled nerves).
Chow plays the Monk with No Name, a super-dude holy man who has traversed time (being a gorgeous, ageless fortysomething for many decades) and continents (he has spent all of that time in Tibet) to come to New York. His mission is to find a new Protector for an ancient holy scroll that has the power to empower any bad guy who steals it. The Monk has been guarding this scroll for 60 years and, according to the instructions written on the back, once those years are up he must relinquish the scroll's safekeeping to someone else. Why he goes to the United States remains a mystery -- I mean, couldn't he just hand it over to some other guy in the monastery? I guess the Monk just wanted to see the Statue of Liberty and buy some I Love NY T-shirts.
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