The film is loosely based on the comic book written by Brett Lewis with art by Michael Avon Oeming.

Sixty years later, the nameless monk encounters and begins tailing a young pickpocket named Kar, suspecting he may make for a suitable successor based on his selfless nature.

The following day, Jade attends an exhibition at a human rights museum presided over by Strucker's granddaughter, Nina, who secretly and ruthlessly spearheads her grandfather's ongoing hunt for the scroll.

Strucker's reading is interrupted when Jade and Kar launch an explosive attack on the museum, killing most of Nina's men in the blast.

The monk, now aged, meets with Kar and Jade the next day, giving each one half of the final verse, deeming them inseparable.

In May 2000, it was announced MGM had paid high six figures against a potential seven-figure deal to turn the cult comic Bulletproof Monk into a live-action film that would star Chow Yun-fat as the title character with John Woo and Terence Chang’s Lion Rock Productions producing.

"[10] Robert Koehler of Variety wrote "adults will likely object to the innumerable plot question marks coming off the screen like so many kung-fu kicks to the head.

"[3] Koehler compared the film to Hong Kong action movies, noting that the fights are relatively tame, but the visual effects are generally excellent.

"[11] 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.

"[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.