Bulletproof Monk

Bulletproof Monk is apparently based on a comic book, although not one I've heard of. The basic plot - kung-fu monk has to train someone to succeed him in looking after a scroll and so picks implausible American pick pocket instead of highly skilled martial arts specialist - sounds like a mixture of almost every martial arts film ever made, although most reviews fail to mention how similar it is to Karate Kid. Given that it's heavily accented with comedy, the film lacks Jackie Chan, with the lead role is taken by the more serious Chow Yun-Fat, who doesn't seem to get particularly good assignments these days, although co-star Seann William Scott's star appears to be on the ascent. Rather than the expected Randy Edelman or Media Ventures lackey score, the somewhat notorious Eric Serra puts his best tunes forward and in typical style manages to contribute music that is by turns reasonably good and fantastically irritating.

The trouble with scores that contain 35 tracks - and especially ones by Eric Serra - is that trying to make meaningful comments on any on track would require more listens to the album that I think I could tolerate. There are certainly some good moments, the broad, suitably oriental tune introduced in Kung is ostensibly the main theme, although it only really appears a handful of times, presumably when something mystical is happening. The action music, perhaps unsurprisingly, has little to do with the tone of the main themes or indeed, little to do with the tone of anything in particular. Serra likes his electronic toys and, judging by the liner notes, half the tracks are sampled from something else, although frankly, the list is too extensive to replicate here. However, they contain enough banging percussion to upset the neighbours, over which the aforementioned samples and occasional bit of orchestra is laid. However, instead of a the polished integration of layers achieved by Media Ventures (or Danny Elfman, come to that), it all sounds a touch haphazard and so rather than being loud and exciting, it just clatters along making noise for its own sake.

There are a couple of other minor themes, notably a comically evil brass tune for the villains, which first appears in My Brother Monks and a light hearted pizzicato melody, but with an light eastern whiff. Serra keeps the structure of the score simple, the tunes are for the bits between the fights and the loud knob twiddling for the exciting bits. As well as the numerous samples, several of the cues are co-composed with either Stephane Brossolet or Nicolas Fiszman, although since continuity isn't the score's strong point (indeed, it's liable to induce short term memory loss), you'd never realise anyone else had contributed. Not particularly bad for this kind of film, but enjoyment is rather dependent on the listener's tolerance for synthetic drumming and musical incoherence. Nice that it has a lot of variety and is moderately imaginative, but at almost exactly an hour, outstaying it's welcome some time before the end.