|
 Movie
B |
Video A- | Audio A
| Extras B+
Chow Yun-Fat, Seann William Scott, Jaime King,
Karel Roden, Victoria Smurfit, and Marcus Jean Pirae
director Paul Hunter | MGM
2003 | Action - Supernatural | PG-13 | 103 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
anamorphic
widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio
|
Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Chow Yun-Fat stars in the title
role as a nameless monk who is entrusted by his master to guard the secret
Scroll of the Ultimate. The powerful magic powers of this scroll is
explained by his master:
"Whoever
reads its contents in its entirety out loud
will have the power to control the world.
They can turn it into a living paradise or a living hell.
Mankind is not ready for so much power,
and they may never be.
That is why it is our duty to protect
the scroll from being read by anyone,
including ourselves."
He manages to keep the Scroll from
humanity until the
present day. Tired from his world travels and guarding the scroll, he
seeks a new guardian who would fulfill the three noble prophecies:
1. "Defeated
an army of enemies, while a flock of cranes circled above",
2. "Battled
for love in the Palace of Jade",
3. "Freed
brothers you never knew, with the family you never had."
Enter Kar (Seann
William Scott), an unlikely candidate as a New York City pick pocket and
common thief. The nameless monk and Kar
meet up in unexpected circumstances, and they keep running to one another
accidentally. The nameless monk manages to lose the scroll, and he
recruits Kar to help him get it back. Along the way, they meet the
beautiful and fiesty Jade (Jaime King) who stirs Kar's emotions.
The story is based on a comic book of
the same name.
Though the opening sequence is fabulous, with awesome marshal arts magic
and visual special effects, the rest of the story can be quite cheesy at
times.
Nevertheless, if you're an action/marshal arts fan, there may be enough
of a plot here to keep you awake between the action sequences.
Special Features: We were unable to review
the bonus features first hand, since our review disc was a special
screening copy made without bonus features. Special features
include: audio commentary by director Paul Hunter and producers Charles
Roven and Douglas Segal; audio commentary by the writers; deleted scenes;
alternate ending; "The Tao of Monk" behind-the-scene
featurettes; "The Monk Unrobed" featurette
DVD released on 9/9/2003 | Reviewed 9/21/2003
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Staff@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-NS725P progressive scan DVD player, Sony
KP-65WV600 65" rear projection HDTV-monitor (16:9 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable
ULT V1000 Ultra Series THX component video cable, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
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