The Hong Kong-style martial arts comic drama, Bulletproof Monk, based on a comic series created by Gotham Chopra, has been shot down for its inept script, weak editing and half-hearted direction.
But the film, which is now showing in about 3,000 theatres in the US, is fairly entertaining, with several winsome performances and a few spirited action sequences.
Chopra, who also served as executive producer on the $50 million film, produced by master filmmaker John Woo and Terrence Chang, and directed by first-timer Paul Hunter, had said in an earlier interview that he wrote Bulletproof Monk to celebrate courage and idealism. He expected the film to reach out millions of young moviegoers.
"I have inherited my father's and grandfather's storytelling gift," said Chopra, son of best-selling author and holistic guru, Deepak Chopra.
Grandfather Krishnan Chopra, a cardiologist renowned for his storytelling skill and wit, died a few years ago. "He knew how to convey wisdom without resorting to preaching," recalled Gotham who is writing his grandfather's biography. His comicbook series is different from other comics, he said, because, in addition to the classic comicbook tradition of humour and heroism, they also have a hero with a philosophical look.
Author of Child Of The Dawn and the recent Familiar Strangers: Uncommon Wisdom In Unlikely Places, Gotham wrote the comic series about 10 years ago.
Chopra, who says he wants to write for films and direct them for his own company, adds he learnt many aspects of the movie business while watching Bulletproof Monk being made.
Producer Chang readily admits the story in the movie, as scripted by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, is 'vastly different' from the story in the comic books. But he also says he had clearly instructed the writers they 'should keep the philosophy of the original material.'
Chow Yun-Fat, who gained international status with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon stars in the movie as the Monk with No Name, a Tibetan monk who protects the all-powerful Scroll of the Ultimate. The Nazis want the scroll badly and send a vicious German officer (Karl Roden) to get it.
The monk, who arrives in New York on a mission, bumps into Kar (Sean William Scott), a pickpocket with Kung Fu skills learnt while working as a projectionist at a fading Chinese movie house.
Though the monk knows Kar has wronged him, he sees plenty of fire and enthusiasm in the young man. After sizing Kar up, he wonders if the New Yorker is part of a prophecy, and whether he could be the next protector of the scroll.
Joining the often merry adventure is a sexy Russian mob princess called Jade, played with energy and naturalness by Jaime King.
"It is a movie with a heart," said Chopra, adding the film was not making claims to be a great comic film.
That is precisely why A O Scott, The New York Times' critic, liked it. 'Whether the weary, patient amusement Mr Chow registers as he trips over his English lines belongs to the actor or the lama he plays is hardly relevant; his charisma is infinite, and he finds a perfect foil in the slack-jawed, manic Mr Scott,' he wrote. 'They seem to be having a very good time, and why should they be the only ones?'
The San Francisco Chronicle said the movie 'has a life and style that other buddy action movies lack.'
But Lou Lumenick of New York Post just could not stand the film. In fact, most major reviewers slammed it.
'Aside from an artsy opening sequence, this is a moronic knockoff of Jackie Chan's buddy/action comedies, directed without much imagination or aspiration by music-video veteran Paul Hunter,' wrote Lumenick. 'This comicbook adaptation saddles an embarrassed-looking Chow as a monk with an endless string of fortune-cookie aphorisms.'
It is a 'nonsensical adventure,' he declared. 'The movie is released by MGM, best-known as the distributor of James Bond films. Now the audience will decide if Bulletproof Monk should die young -- or have a reasonably long life at the box-office.'
