At the Movies - 'Bulletproof Monk'

The Associated Press

"Bulletproof Monk" possesses a terrific title for an action flick and the serene poise of Chow Yun-Fat. And not much else.

The movie wastes the cool premise of an ageless Buddhist ascetic charged with protecting a holy scroll of ultimate power, sputtering through a string of fight sequences involving cardboard villains.

The martial-arts scenes are all clutter and chaos, as rapid-fire editing obscures the action. (Given the clunky quick cuts, is it any surprise that director Paul Hunter makes his feature-film debut after a career in music videos and commercials?)

Co-stars Seann William Scott and Jaime King have little charisma, either for the genre or with each other as romantic leads.

Best known as a comic meathead from the "American Pie" movies, Scott is utterly miscast, endlessly trotting out a bad imitation of a Harrison Ford smirk to show he has the wiseguy chops to play an action hero.

As a mysterious street chick, King is stilted and boring. If Mattel decided to market Bad Girl Barbie, King could be spokesmodel.

The movie opens with a 1943 prologue at a Tibetan monastery where a monk (Chow) concludes his training to become protector of the scroll, taking on his mentor's supernatural powers that will keep him young, able and bulletproof for the next 60 years.

He also gives up his name, a needless twist that makes him the "monk with no name." But since comrades and villains subsequently refer to him as "Monk," that label has become his surrogate name.

Moments after the monk graduates, the monastery is attacked by Nazis, led by SS commander Struker, who has somehow learned that anyone who reads the scroll will gain limitless power.

The monk miraculously escapes with the scroll and turns up 60 years later in urban America, where he encounters Kar (Scott), a resourceful but aimless pickpocket who has taught himself martial arts by mimicking films at a kung fu moviehouse where he's the projectionist.

Odd little portents reveal to the monk that Kar may be his successor as keeper of the scroll. The two, soon joined by martial-arts babe Jade (King), are tossed into a slapdash succession of battles and chases with bad guys led by the now-geriatric Struker, who needs the scroll to make him young and Nazi-like again.

Screenwriters Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, adapting the movie from a three-part comic-book series, try to imbue the story with culture-clash humor and camaraderie. But the monk, his new allies and their adversaries make for a generally dreary bunch of heroes and villains.

Chow's bemused, regal stillness provides some mileage, but he's in low-rent mode compared to the tragically noble warrior he played in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" or the vibrant battlers from his John Woo-directed Hong Kong flicks.

Like Kar and Jade, Struker and his black-hearted granddaughter Nina (Victoria Smurfit) are just dull. Their one seeming talent is inexplicably turning up with their henchmen wherever the monk goes, only to let him slip through their fingers.

"Bulletproof Monk," an MGM release, is rated PG-13 for violence, language and some sexual content. Running time: 104 minutes.

One and a half stars out of four.