The Camera Department
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Production title: |
BULLETPROOF MONK |
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Position: |
steadicam / 'B' camera (2nd unit) |
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Director: |
Guy Norris (2nd unit) |
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Director of photography: |
David Herrington, csc (2nd unit) |
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Type of production: |
feature |
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Production company: |
MGM |
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Year: |
2002 |
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Type of camera used: |
Arri 435, Moviecam compact |
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Talent: |
Yun-Fat Chow Seann William Scott Jaime King Karel Roden Victoria Smurfit Marcus Pirae |
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Clip: |
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The Camera Department
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| The Monk is a Zen-calm martial arts master whose duty has been to protect a powerful
ancient scroll. Faced with finding the scroll's next guardian, the Monk's quest brings
him to New York City where--to his disbelief--it appears his successor is a smart-mouthed
pickpocket named Kar. Kar's a charming, street-tough wild card who enjoys his life
of no responsibility. As the Monk instructs Kar, the unlikely duo become partners
in protecting the scroll from a power-monger who's been chasing it for sixty years.
Amidst high-flying acrobatics and martial arts action, this comical odd couple has
to work together to keep the scroll--and mankind--safe. A Tibetan monk has spent the last 60 years protecting an ancient and powerful scroll, and now he's searching for his successor in the most unlikely of places--New York City. Story Go ahead and throw logic out the window on this one, folks. A mysterious Tibetan monk with no name (Chow Yun-Fat) has spent a lifetime protecting an ancient document known as the Scroll of the Ultimate--a parchment that will yield unlimited power to anyone who reads it. After running around the globe for 60 years, the Monk knows it's time to hang up his robes and find a new guardian, but spotting a successor isn't easy in the hustle bustle of the 21st century, where Tibetan traditions and rituals are almost non-existent. Maybe the next protector should be the crafty, rebellious pickpocket Kar (Seann William Scott), who learned martial arts from watching kung-fu movies; after all, Kar helps the Monk escape from the scroll's most avid pursuer, Strucker (Karel Roden), a sadistic old Nazi who wants to use the its power to rid the planet of inferior races. Or maybe the Monk's successor is the elusive but beautiful bad girl Jade (James King), whose skills are numerous and who seems to pop up to help Kar whenever he gets in a jam. Whomever the Monk eventually chooses, they must first unite to battle the ultimate enemy--and keep the scroll safe. Acting If it weren't for Yun-Fat, Bulletproof Monk would be pretty hopeless. The charismatic actor finds a nice balance no matter what he does, and in this case he resists the obvious temptation to play the Monk as a fish out of water in the big city. Since he's long been one of Chinese cinema's most well-known action heroes, he's definitely in his element in Monk standing on top of a car with guns blazing, and the Zen master persona he discovered in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon serves him well here, too. The script requires him to spout off fortune-cookie mumbo jumbo, but he manages to do it without sounding ridiculous. The petite King actually holds her own as the brawny-yet-brainy tough chick, but the wisecracking Scott is completely out of his element for the first time in his career. He handles the little comedic tidbits well, but in no way is it possible to believe that the ''Dude'' who couldn't find his car and the jackass who drank someone else's bodily fluids in American Pie can be a martial arts hero who saves the planet. It just isn't going to happen. Direction Bulletproof Monk relies on the ghosts of movies past, including Crouching Tiger and the 1986 Eddie Murphy stinker The Golden Child, for its plot, which results in a film that's chock full of cliches, especially the evil Nazi who has spent 60 years chasing after the scroll, using his tow-headed granddaughter, whose cover is an organization for human rights, to do the dirty work. A few bright moments with Yun-Fat, coupled with director Paul Hunter's good use of fast-paced martial arts action, make the rest of this unimaginative movie somewhat palatable--even novices Williams and King look good doing the moves--but all in all Bulletproof Monk is shooting blanks. Bottom Line Bulletproof Monk won't offer any enlightenment, but thanks to Chow Yun-Fat, it isn't a total waste of time. |
Scroll down to view production pictures, photos were taken with Fujifilm S1 Pro digital
camera.
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