Bulletproof Monk
 

I just saw the preview for this over at MGM's website....anyways...yeah..it looks like a rip-off from Matrix w/ a smattering of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...but I'm still interested...

Hey..it's got the awesome Chow Yun Fat...and the very hot Jaime King...

Vu

Don't see how Steve Stiffler fits in. Its just doesn't look right with him in it, can't take it seriously.

Dude...I totally agree....notice in my original post I didn't mention that fact....heheheh...he's not a draw for me in seeing this movie....

In fact....he is the anti-draw for me...hehehe

Stiffmister is the reason to see this movie...

But that Jamie King on the other hand...

Stiffler makes it feel like a highlander spin off/rip off. I'm passing on what I have seen so far.

i might go see this..looks kind of interesting, but it all depends on what else is out at the time

Could they have come up with a crappier title? The audience breaks into laughter everytime they show the title in the trailer.

Well that was the name of the comic book. Besides, it's a comedy with a liberal dose of action added. My only complaint is that I was hoping there'd be no wire fu and lots of gunplay when I heard the movie was in production but sadly it seems the filmmakers chose to tone done the gunplay and jack up the action scenes with a lot (me thinks too much) wire fu.

Oh well. It still looks good and maybe it's just the trailer that's ho-hum. At least that one shot when Chow Yun Fat pulls out the two guns gives me hope.

BTW, am I the only one who notice4d that the trailer for this was edited almost exactly the same way as the trailer for The One. It even has the same music from that trailer. That was a little lazy of whoever made this trailer (perhaps the same person(s)?).

Mixed feelings about this. Still... it could be good.

I wasn't completely enamored of the trailer, but its Chow Yun Fat, so the absense of hope is impossible.

And Jaime King is in it after all...

I agree :thumbsup:

Saw the trailer a few months ago - I'm certainly gonna go see it.

Need Help with Music from This Trailer (New Bulletproof Monk)
 

http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/bu...k/t_large.html

Somebody please tell me the song that first song that comes on after the initial narration..I believe its prodigy but am not sure.

I think its Firestarter but I'm not quite sure.

I don't think thats it I think it goes something "Guess I should have known"

Oh well that song, with its "get busy" chorus is a Crystal Method song, "Busy Child." It's from the album titled Vegas.

I think its called "Guess I Didn't Know" by Crystal Method.

Thanks all

Bulletproof Monk - Biggest Matrix ripoff yet?
 

The first time I saw the trailer for this I was in shock. I mean, I know Hollywood is typically unoriginal, but this seems like too much. We have slow-motion bullets, kung-fu practice sessions, rooftop and helicopter fights, a teacher/student relationship involving a "he is the one" plotline, the ability to control your suroundings if you believe you can, etc etc. Is anyone else amazed at how derivative this movie looks?

Isn't the movie based off a comic book?

Hmm, hadn't heard that.

Well considering Matrix was essentially a collection of rip-offs, I'm not too hurt that itself is being ripped off.

I'm sorry, I must rant. I AM SO SICK TO DEATH OF PEOPLE CALLING EVERYTHING A MATRIX RIP-OFF. No I will not see Bullerproof monk. Yes, it looks stupid, that is why I will not see it. But it IS NOT A MATRIX RIP-OFF. It's based on a comic book (a pretty bad one) that came out BEFORE the Matrix.


The people saying EVERYTHING is a Matrix rip-off seem to only base their statements one of 3 things. 1: If it uses wires or bullet time 2: If a character wears black & 3: if they use two guns. THIS IS COMPLETELY RETARDED. For one YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THE MOVIE YET. And two, by that rationale, a movie is a Matrix rip-off it it has a guy & girl in it, if it has cars in it, if it has music, etc. hopefully you see where I'm going with this. So explain to me why Monk is a Matrix rip-off. And why is Matrix not a rip-off of say. . . Blade. Blade came out first, blade had a character in black leather, Blade had a character use guns. Blade had a lobby shoot out scene. Blade had wire work. Is Matrix a Balde rip-off then? NO, JUST B/C A MOVIE USES ONE OR TWO OR EVEN 3 SIMILAR THINGS DOES NOT MEAN IT'S A RIP-OFF!!!.

i'm sorry, I'm sure I will be flamed for this rant. So flame away.

It's based of the comic book -- the name that is -- there is no character like CYF's in the comic book. The aforementioned monk appears only in a couple of flashbacks and has nothing to do with the real story. There's very little kung-fu or gun fights or anything like that in the books, and nothing fancy or over the top.

It's a cool sounding name so they bought it.

Flamed? Nope.. simple Just breath, step back from the computer and breath. ;)


Well I guess the whole "Matrix Rip-off" comes from really what the matrix did over all. sure it had the guns, the music and everything else that has been done in little amounts before. Blade had the electronic music and the dark outfits, etc. but I guess the matrix was the first one to push all these items and take it to a new level setting the standards up a notch.

I take it when someone says "it's a matrix rip off" that they are basiclly saying that it's not raising the bar any higher but is just there performing the same old gimmicks that are now below the bar of what they should/could/would be.

Now as for Bullet Proof Monk.. the trailer makes it look really cheesy. I will not see it for this. The trailer also uses the effects that were set up on a high standard by the Matrix and since it is now the standard for what effects should look like, folks get that triggered reaction when they see them, that it is an effect that best connects them to the Matrix.

First off, this is really the first time I have ever accused something of being a Matrix rip-off. I understand that it's common for certain elements of a popular movie to be borrowed; we see it all the time. (and yes, I know that The Matrix is guilty of this too) This just seems different.

You say people use three things and "only" these three things as evidence that something is a Matrix rip-off. Well, of the three you mentioned, I used only one, plus five different ones. No matter how you look at it, there's no denying that this movie resembles the Matrix in enough ways to bring attention to that fact. (everyone in my theater laughed when they saw the slow-mo bullet and the kung fu).

Ok, I didn’t realize this was a comic book beforehand. So I guess its possible that these obvious similarities are mere coincidence. Stranger things have happened. But still, you just can't look at this trailer without being instantly reminded of The Matrix, and I wouldn't doubt that what Tuan Jim points out about the changes is entirely accurate.

Now go get some rest. You seem irritable.

That I can certainly understand & a it's a valid point. I just think, at these boards especially, that the second people see black outfits & guns or wire-fu they immediately say it's a Matrix rip-off. And I absolutely agree that Black leather outfits are being done to death as well as wire-fu. But I don't agree that just b/c a movie employs these things, the movie becomes a Matrix rip-off.

And I'm a big Matrix fan, but it also annoys me that people think Matrix is the end all & be all over the last 10 + years when I think Blade beat it to the punch on a lot of the things people give the Matrix credit fo.

But I am a extra angry when it comes to Monk. for 2 big reasons.

1: Yun-fat is one of my 3 all-time favorite actors. And it drives me nuts that America takes a guy who is cooler w/ guns than anyone in the history of film(IMO of coarse) & has an over 50 year old actor who has NEVER done kung fu before & puts him in a movie like this.

And 2: As a life long comic book fan it makes me sick that studios are rushing out to put out anything based on a comic book. Monk is an awful comic that was forgotten by the comic book world for a reason. It does not translate into a good idea for a movie.

I guess it has to focus around the issue of movies just employing the gimmicks for the hell of it, mainly if they are Employing them in a useful way or in a newer fashion, at the very least not just rehashing them for the sake of it then it looks forced and falls flat on it's back.

heh...my friend's friend is in this movie.
only this time, he's just a photo. apparently, in a scene where monks were worshipping him.

he was also in "the corrupter". he was thrown down the stairs by Fat-gor in the whorehouse.

Um, you could say The Matrix itself was a rip-off caiman.

You could, but you couldn't say that it brought nothing new and incredible to the screen. The very fact that we see so many elements from The Matrix in tons of films to follow proves that it was revolutionary, despite not being 100% original (but really, is any movie entirely original?) Like some others have said, it's not as much the use of Matrix-esque elements that constitutes a "rip-off" as much as it is doing nothing new with them.

Please explain how this movie was 'revolutionary'. That bullet-time trick was used years before such as in films like 'Buffalo 66'. The entire premise is a reworking of William Gibson's classic 'Neuromancer'. Whole scenes from the film seem to be lifted from Momoru Oshii's 'Ghost in the Shell'. I could go on and on. The fact that that Keanu bending over backwards in slo-mo clip has been parodied in dozens of films since hardly makes 'The Matrix' revolutionary. Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Now that can be called revolutionary without a hint of hyperbole.

It's a comedy. I thought it was funny. I'll probably go see it again.

Sessa17 not need to take it personal

LOL :)

If I can decifer your caveman talk, ;)how did I take it personal? I used self-depricating humor, I acknowledged I was about to rant about a pet peeve I had. We all have them & we all rant about them. Then I discussed it with Jack & I even agreed w/ him & said he had a great point.

Is the Matrix an important movie? Absolutely, it has inspired some Hollywood filmmaking and is many times emulated. Yes, many of its parts are derivative of other works, but quite frankly there were no movies I can think of that looked and felt like the Matrix prior to...the Matrix. Perhaps some anime, but I've never seen them nor do they truly count as they do not have the wide audience that the Matrix does. To be revolutionary you have to reach a wide audience...otherwise you're revolutionizing nothing. And this movie truly did something new through borrowing from old. In that way it has a lot in common with Pulp Fiction which, while quite original, also was quite derivative of other films and is one of the more influential movies of the last couple decades. I'd say more so than Matrix definately.(br)

Regarding Bulletproof Monk, is it a Matrix ripoff? Sure it's based on a comic book, but I'm pretty sure that this movie got it's greenlight based on the fact that it would be like the Matrix. I'm pretty sure that without the Matrix, this movie would probably not exist. And considering so many elements of the movie are similar to that movie, that the comic book supposedly isn't really like this, I'd say it borrow heavily from the Matrix. Perhaps even, a rip off. And I'm no Matrix junkie. I like the movie, I love the style, I think it's flat in the character department, but is a fun action movie. But I can understand that the movie is quite influential in its style whether you like it or not.

It's simple... The Matrix combined a lot of good tricks that were not fully used or taken to their limits and mixed them together in a perfect blend thus stamping those effects as a Matrix Like effect. Sure their was bullet time before, but I could easily say that THE MATRIX really made full use of it in a different style that worked so well and looked good.

Let's wait 'til we see the film... and slow motion is hardly an invention from Matrix (nevertheless, the use of slow motion was interesting and new), if they use the same story line as in Matrix I will declare it a rip off otherwise any film with violence would be a rip off of any silent film from before 1915. :)