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People don't watch films like The Protector for lavish visuals or a carefully constructed story -- they watch to see flying fists, spilled blood and shattered bones. Which is to say, if you're wandering through the video store looking for a movie with a satisfyingly rich narrative or a startling, breakthrough performance, keep on moving down the aisle. The only things being shattered in The Protector are plate glass, plaster and any number of extremities. Tony Jaa isn't a stranger to Stateside eyeballs, having first earned notice in 2005's import Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior. The film earned him comparisons to vintage Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, and Jaa returns here as Kham, a Thai man trained in the rugged martial art of Muay Thai. There's an inescapabale sense of deja vu for anyone who caught Ong-Bak during its limited theatrical run, throughout The Protector -- reuniting with Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew, this film swaps a stolen baby elephant for a missing Buddha head, creating a startlingly similiar story line to the previous film. Relying on a tissue paper-thin set-up, The Protector follows Kham to Australia, where with the help of Rick, a (conveniently) Thai-born Australian cop (David Asavanond), he embarks on a journey to recover the stolen pachyderm. Don't fret if you're lost amid the complex tangle of plot twists and characters motivations -- the screenplay tosses sense out the window not long before the credits unspool. This is the kind of movie where a line like "You killed my father and stole my elephants" is delivered without a trace of irony and moments of raw emotion are interrupted by a boot to the head. So why plop down cold, hard cash to see The Protector? Two words: Tony Jaa. The seemingly indestructible heir to Jet Li and Jackie Chan, Jaa is a human special effect, whose breathless stunts are truly jaw-dropping -- The Protector hinges on a series of ever more incredible set-pieces, one of which unfolds in real time in an astonishing single take. Aside from an over-reliance on slow motion and an unshakable sense that Jaa is living in a video game, these brutal scenes of combat shame most anything coming out of Hollywood -- save for the penultimate fight, which feels cribbed from Romeo Must Die. The fitful plot -- hobbled further by an odd mixture of subtitles, dubbing, the odd bit of horrifyingly amateurish blue-screen work and being trimmed of around 15 minutes for American consumption -- is an afterthought; the cast isn't first rate, but since the lead actor only boasts a violent brand of charisma (not to mention stilted line readings) and the villain can't even pull off evil convincingly, the stakes aren't terribly high. In a rare display of common sense, however, The Protector offered here in a two-disc set, is also presented in its uncut international version, which restores most of, if not all of the missing material which makes the U.S. theatrical cut borderline incoherent at times. Please select if this review was helpful below. Thank You If you have any questions about this review please contact us at contact@ck-auctions.com Posted by CK-AuctionsRead full review
One of the best martial art flicks I've ever seen. The story line is...ehhh ok. But there are all types of different martial arts including capoeria (spelling?), Mua Tai, and just straight brute force. There is ALOT of kicking, bone breaking and GREAT GREAT stunts, Tony Jaa does a great job as no wires/ropes/special effects are used whatsoever, all stunts are done as they appear. Now I'm not a huge fan of martial art movies, but this was a big favorite of mine. Watched it twice in one day. I would recommend this to any martial arts or kung fu movie guru.
1. Considering this is a foreign movie from Thailand. This movie is really amazing. Unlike HOLLYWOOD's film with big budget (150+ million to make) this film only used $7-8 million dollars. 2. All the stunts in the movie are truly amazing!!!!!!! They didn't use string or wire and you can literally see people flying in the air. And get this, THEY REALLY ARE FLYING IN THE AIR!!!!!! 3. There are lots of messages to lots of people throughout the movie. a. There is one scene @ the airport where Tony Jaa bump into Jackie Chan look-a-like. Yes, you may think that's nothing, but get this "It's a message to Jackie (and possibly Jet Li) that a new face of martial art actor has arrive!!!!!!!!!" b. The fighting scene in the temple with water and fire is supposed to be some kind of symbolic scene. Also, I definitely agree that the storyline is quite hard to follow, but who cares,the fighting scene is freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT made kung fu in the matrix looks like child's play to me...Read full review
I greatly enjoyed Tony Jaa's other starring role in "Ong-Bak", so I figured I would give this one a try. I am very glad I did! I like my martial arts movies to have great action and choreography. "The Protector" (AKA "Tom yum goong") has a surplus of both. (On a side note, DO NOT confuse this film with Jackie Chan's, "The Protector." That movie is horrible.) The film starts off a little slow with a cutesy "a-boy-and-his-elephant" storyline, but it is necessary to understand the depth of feeling involved and why a man would go through so much trouble to get his elephants back. I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone, but I will tell you that the fights keep getting more and more intense. When Mr. Jaa takes on fifty men in black suits and dispatches each one differently, you will cringe at the brutal efficiency of his attacks. If you like action and violent martial arts fights, you can't go wrong with Tony Jaa's, "The Protector."Read full review
I've noticed a disturbing trend in a number of these reviews: People are saying they didn't like this movie because of the lame plot. Do these people have any idea how insane this is? Who cares? People are getting spoiled, I guess, by all these expensive, arty, dramatic and well-acted martial arts movies that have been being released as of late, so now they can't appreciate a fun, old school and ludicrously-plotted stunner like "The Protector". (Or, more likely, they couldn't appreciate this kinda thing in the first place.) I haven't got anything against these fancy martial arts movies, mind you, but "The Protector" is a lot more fun than almost all of them, and letting the tired, thin plot get in the way of the spectacular fighting is just insane. The plot's like this: Some gangsters steal Tony Jaa's elephants, and he's gotta kill 'em all 'til he gets his damn elephants back. There's some subplots, yeah, but what'd I say about the plot not mattering. None of it matters in the least, or should matter, anyway. That said, I will admit that, in the international version, the story takes perhaps a bit too much screentime, particularly at the beginning. Occasionally it seems like the filmmakers forgot that the plot was to be ignored. Still, you never gotta wait around too long for it to get good, and damn does it get good. I guess the best thing to say is that if you enjoyed "Ong-Bak" I can't imagine that you wouldn't like "The Protector" as well. Jaa plays pretty much the same character he did in "Ong-Bak", being a naive, good-natured rural guy who happens to be a superhuman killing machine. It's a bit less stunt-intensive, on Jaa's part, anyway, but he still does plenty of amazing stuff, and the fights are even better then before. The fight in the restaurant is particularly renowned, and not without good reason. It's a 4 1/2 minute unbroken take as Jaa works his way up the stairs and takes out a few dozen opponents, and it would have to qualify as one of the most stunning action scenes I've ever seen. This is hardly the only standout, and we get plenty of other scenes that would put anything in most martial arts movies to shame: We've got the ultra-bizarre face off between Jaa and a pack of roller-blade clad goons wielding fluorescent lights; We've got him taking on pretty much the whole of the Australo-Thai mafia and breaking at least one limb on each of them; We've got him fighting a colossal, apparently invulnerable Australian dude in a burning, flooded temple. And it just goes on. The fights very pretty substantially in quality, but that's mostly because of how amazing the best ones are. Anyway, I've not got much else to say. Suffice to say, Tony Jaa is far beyond human and it'll be an absurd crime if he doesn't become far more popular in the States. Check it out.Read full review
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