Bulletproof Monk(2003)

David Edelstein of Slate contended that Bulletproof Monk was "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for the American Pie audience"; panning its poor special effects and cinematography (the former he compared to an "afternoon Japanese kiddie series"), and concluded that "they made a ton of junky movies in Hong Kong, but those were dazzlingly fluid and high-flying junky movies. This American retread has the same sort of hack plot but none of the bravura. It makes them look like monkeys, and not bulletproof ones."[12] Bill Stamets of the Chicago Reader panned Bulletproof Monk for having "routine" fight scenes and juvenile humor, and that "the film plays off Chow's imperturbable persona, but the Tibetan philosophy boils down to the paradox of hot dogs coming ten to a package while buns are sold in sets of eight."[13]

Bulletproof Monk(2003)

Based on a comic book, Bulletproof Monk finds the titular monk (Chow)--who doesn't appear to be bulletproof so much as a good healer--entrusted with the protection of a mystical scroll coveted by evil Nazi Strucker (Karel Roden) and his granddaughter Nina (Victoria Smurfit, created by Gargamel to corrupt the smurfs with non-homosexual longing). Nina (shades of Alison Doody's forgettable Aryan femme in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), under cover of a human rights organization, sends endless henchmen in the pursuit of Monk while Monk sniffs out the makings of Prophecy in slacker Kar (Scott). Meanwhile, Kar has designs on Jade (Jaime "Stop Calling Me James" King), the naughty chop-socky squeeze of ridiculous lesser-boss Mr. Funktastic (Marcus J. Pirae). Prophecies get fulfilled, guy gets girl, Monk walks off into a guqin and sheng triumphal sunset, secure in the knowledge that Kar-san has learned all there is to know about waxing on and off. 041b061a72