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Movie Review for Protector, The
Movie Review for
Protector, The
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Protector, The | | |
| Also known as: | |
83 Reviews total.
Release date: 9/8/2006
Run length: 84 mins.
Categories:
Action/Adventure
,
Art/Foreign
,
Comedy
,
Drama
Summary:
Kham's life is turned upside down when an international mafia syndicate, based in Australia, captures his two beloved elephants and smuggles them thousands of kilometers away to Sydney. The two elephants are far more than mere animals to Kham and his father; they are part of his family and were being prepared to be presented as a token of devotion to his Majesty the King of Thailand. The only way Kham can possibly save the animals is by venturing into a foreign land for the first time. Taking on a mafia group to rescue two elephants from a foreign country presents a huge challenge, even for a martial arts master like Kham. Despite the help of Sergeant Mark, a Thai police Sergeant based in Australia, and Pla, a Thai girl forced into modern day slavery, the going gets tough. They must take on the ruthless gang of Madame Rose, whose henchmen include Johnny, a Vietnamese thief and martial arts expert, and the hulking TK. Kham has no choice but to risk his own life for the animals he loves.
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Kevin Carr
of 7M Pictures (7/0)
While the story doesn't really hold up throughout the film, the action sequences are some of the ...
By
Steve Murray
of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/0)
...guilty-pleasure adrenaline rush...
By
Steve Murray
of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (7/0)
This guilty-pleasure adrenaline rush has one goal in mind: to be an airtight action machine that ...
By
Brian Clark
of Austin Chronicle (7/0)
By the end you're so invigorated that narrative issues seem like an afterthought.
By
Wesley Morris
of Boston Globe (7/0)
The filmmakers are smart enough to slow down the shots so that when Jaa's foot lands on a head, t...
By
Reece Pendleton
of Chicago Reader (7/0)
Pretty tough to sit through.
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Robert K. Elder
of Chicago Tribune (7/0)
...an overstuffed action vehicle about a man looking for his elephants. You read that right.
By
Joshua Tyler
of CinemaBlend.com (7/0)
Imagine the worst movie you've ever seen. Now mix in a greatest hits collection of Jackie Chan's ...
By
Jeffrey M. Anderson
of Combustible Celluloid (7/0)
The resulting fights range from choppy, grainy garbage to a truly spectacular centerpiece.
By
Edward Douglas
of ComingSoon.net (7/0)
PETA may have a field day with this one, but few others will.
By
Michael Booth
of Denver Post (7/0)
Jaa is energetic and inventive as he climbs walls and performs backflips; Pinkaew directs like a ...
By
Michelle Alexandria
of Eclipse Magazine (7/0)
After Ong-Bak and The Protector, Jaa has proven without a shadow of doubt that he is the real dea...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Dan Lybarger
of eFilmCritic.com (7/0)
Who needs plot when you have all of this ***-kicking?
By
Marc Bernardin
of Entertainment Weekly (7/0)
It's silly, at times laughable, sure, but Jaa has a reckless, bone-cracking grace that transcends...
By
Eric D. Snider
of EricDSnider.com (7/0)
When the fight scenes, choreographed by Jaa himself, kick in, boy howdy.
By
Walter Chaw
of Film Freak Central (6/1)
Tony Jaa is a bad mother****er.
By
Daniel Eagan
of Film Journal International (7/0)
Resurrects the bad acting and absurd plotting of old-fashioned kung fu movies, as well as their e...
By
Michael Ferraro
of Film Threat (7/0)
Scene after scene is fashioned together in the most confusing (read that as meaning 'dull') fashi...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Don Willmott
of filmcritic.com (7/0)
Sadly, the production values don't do Jaa any favors
By
Brian Orndorf
of FilmJerk.com (7/0)
The Protector is a jaw-dropping, exhilarating action war cry rarely offered to American audiences...
By
Jeffrey Lyles
of Gazette (MD) (6/1)
makes 'Kill Bill' look like a stroll through Sesame Street.
By
Liam Lacey
of Globe and Mail (7/0)
Director Prachya Pinkaew, armed with a bigger budget (than Ong Bak) and facing a whole new potent...
By
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
of Goatdog's Movies (7/0)
These early fights, as goofy and inventive as they are, build up our goodwill toward Jaa, [but] t...
By
Peter Canavese
of Groucho Reviews (7/0)
The downtime since Ong-Bak has left us hungry enough not to care that the plot and frequent actio...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Kit Bowen
of Hollywood.com (7/0)
The moral of this story is if you steal a kung-fu master's elephants, you WILL have your legs bro...
By
Jim Slotek
of Jam! Movies (7/0)
With obvious international marketing pressure to make his next movie, y'know, a little less Thai,...
By
Andy Klein
of Los Angeles CityBeat (7/0)
The whole point here is the action stuff, and, wow, does it deliver!
By
Robert K. Elder
of Los Angeles Times (7/0)
An overstuffed action vehicle about a man looking for his elephants.
By
Mack Bates
of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (7/0)
A welcome throwback to the ways of old-school kung fu movies, The Protector doesn't hold up to sc...
By
Colin Covert
of Minneapolis Star Tribune (7/0)
This is one wicked-ass cool movie, a last blast of summertime action insanity before the pretenti...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Ken Hanke
of Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) (7/0)
At least four stars' worth of guilty pleasure, and maybe more.
By
Nathan Lee
of New York Times (7/0)
...infectious b-movie smack down.
By
John Anderson
of Newsday (7/0)
You'll be exhausted when it's over, but harbor a lingering sense of vicarious accomplishment.
By
Frank Swietek
of One Guy's Opinion (7/0)
So muddled as to be virtually incoherent...but the chases and fight scenes are the raison d'etre ...
By
Nathan Rabin
of Onion AV Club (7/0)
Jaa's ingratiatingly ridiculous Protector delivers a steady stream of cheap B-movie thrills, plus...
By
Roger Moore
of Orlando Sentinel (7/0)
The star of Ong Bak is back for more revenge in The Protector, a poorly plotted variation of Ong ...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Fiore Mastracci
of Outtakes With Fiore (6/1)
Bottom line: you see this movie for the fight scenes - and Jaa's moves are sweet.
By
Susan Tavernetti
of Palo Alto Weekly (7/0)
Four screenwriters get credit for the bottom-feeder script.
By
Linda Cook
of Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) (6/1)
Anyone familiar with Quentin Tarantino knows he has a love for martial arts movies and cult films...
By
Mark Pfeiffer
of Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema (7/0)
The Protector's plot is as sturdy as a piece of balsa wood, which wouldn't have mattered so much ...
By
Pam Grady
of Reel.com (7/0)
Fun, violent, and featuring some great scenes of lumbering elephants, it isn't art, it isn't part...
By
Laura Clifford
of Reeling Reviews (7/0)
The film suffers from choppiness and pacing...yet, Pinkaew delivers some terrific action set piec...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Frank Wilkins
of ReelTalk Movie Reviews (7/0)
It plays like a bad B-movie where we suddenly leave an ongoing conversation to join a fight in pr...
By
G. Allen Johnson
of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
...a bad film with a great star and some truly amazing action sequences.
By
G. Allen Johnson
of San Francisco Chronicle (7/0)
The Protector is a bad film with a great star and some truly amazing action sequences. The movie ...
By
Sean Axmaker
of Seattle Post-Intelligencer (7/0)
...a furiously choreographed martial-arts spectacle wrapped in a fumbling narrative.
By
Jeff Shannon
of Seattle Times (7/0)
As a breathtaking follow-up to 2003's Ong-Bak: Thai Warrior, it's a whole lotta fun.
By
Rich Cline
of Shadows on the Wall (7/0)
There's plenty to enjoy about this silly thriller--from the sumptuous Thai landscapes to the fren...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Nick Schager
of Slant Magazine (7/0)
The Protector isn't a sequel to Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior but it is a thinly disguised retread.
By
Dana Stevens
of Slate (7/0)
When you've got a male lead who can break heads like Tony Jaa, a little bit of story line goes a ...
By
Nick Rogers
of State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL) (6/1)
No one can do that cool running knee drop like Tony Jaa, but he'd better start flexing his smilin...
By
Maitland McDonagh
of TV Guide's Movie Guide (7/0)
... it's little more than a disjointed succession of kick-ass action scenes motivated by a countr...
By
Brian Tallerico
of UGO (7/0)
It's tremendously refreshing to see a film that relies solely on the choreography of its athletic...
By
Willie Waffle
of WaffleMovies.com (7/0)
You know you have bought a ticket to the wrong movie when star Tony Jaa confronts the bad guys, s...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Ann Hornaday
of Washington Post (7/0)
There's not much here for anyone who isn't a die-hard, unreconstructed chop-socky junkie.
By
Bill Muller
of Arizona Republic (6/1) No reference
Although true fans of old-style kung fu movies will love The Protector, the uninitiated may be pu...
By
Christy Lemire
of Associated Press (3/4) No reference
This is one of those movies where guys literally stand in line, waiting to get beaten up.
By
Jonathan Trout
of BBC (3/4) No reference
Pure, dazzling, entertainment.
By
Wade Major
of Boxoffice Magazine (3/4) No reference
Despite another routine mangling at the hands of the Weinstein brothers, there’s enough of Jaa’s ...
By
Rob Thomas
of Capital Times (Madison, WI) (3/4) No reference
"Protector" is just awful outside of the martial-arts scenes, and even the fights don't showcase ...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Devin Faraci
of CHUD (6/1) No reference
The Protector is a disaster, barely made viewable by Tony Jaa's incredible physical abilities, of...
By
David Edwards
of Daily Mirror [UK] (3/4) No reference
As you watch Jaa's mastery of his art, you'll have to master the art of laughing while your jaw's...
By
Jeff Vice
of Deseret News, Salt Lake City (6/1) No reference
The elephants featured in The Protector have more personality than the star, which is a real prob...
By
John Monaghan
of Detroit Free Press (3/4) No reference
Plenty of punches get thrown in The Protector, but most left me numb.
By
Luke Y. Thompson
of E! Online (3/4) No reference
...watching Jaa fight his way to the top of a Guggenheim-like building in one long, uninterrupted...
By
Dan Jolin
of Empire Magazine (3/4) No reference
Thankfully, the bits that matter most -- the dust-ups -- are superb.
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Richard James Havis
of Hollywood Reporter (6/1) No reference
...high on action but low on drama.
By
Richard James Havis
of Hollywood Reporter (6/1) No reference
The ambitious staging of Jaa's lean and long-limbed Muay Thai fight scenes makes them look impres...
By
Nell Minow
of Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies (6/1) No reference
The premise is both absurd and intricate.
By
Elizabeth Weitzman
of New York Daily News (3/4) No reference
An earnest -- if bone-crunching -- ode to Thai culture.
By
Kyle Smith
of New York Post (3/4) No reference
...features choppy editing and an amateurish script, and it switches strangely back and forth bet...
By
Lisa Rose
of Newark Star-Ledger (3/4) No reference
All in all, it's a disappointing follow-up to Jaa's 2003 breakthrough, Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior....
Reviews of Protector, The
By
M.E. Russell
of Oregonian (3/4) No reference
The Protector is ridiculously fun to watch.
By
Mike Ward
of Richmond.com (6/1) No reference
You're going to The Protector for the skull fractures and sky-high knees to the groin. And if thi...
By
Jack Garner
of Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (3/4) No reference
The Protector (aka Tom yum goong) is on a par with most Jackie Chan films, but without the off-th...
By
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
of St. Paul Pioneer Press (3/4) No reference
After we're supposed to get off on a bunch of ironmen getting their shoulder blades handed to the...
By
David Jenkins
of Time Out (3/4) No reference
Very silly.
By
Geoff Pevere
of Toronto Star (3/4) No reference
... include[s] some incredible sequences of precision-engineered ultraviolence ...
Reviews of Protector, The
By
Matthew Turner
of ViewLondon (3/4) No reference
At 109 minutes, the film is around 20 minutes too long, particularly as the fights start to becom...
By
Jeffrey Chen
of Window to the Movies (3/4) No reference
The editing is wildly haphazard, the story continuity is a mess, and some of the photography is j...
By
Daniel M. Kimmel
of Worcester Telegram & Gazette (3/4) No reference
The Protector is a good followup to Ong-bak in introducing Tony Jaa to American action audiences....
By
Mary F. Pols
of Contra Costa Times (6/1) Not Reachable
A wearying spectacle of unpleasant crunching sound effects (enough to put us off soft shell crabs...
By
Peter Debruge
of Miami Herald (6/1) Not Reachable
Tony Jaa may have impressed in Ong Bak, but unlike idols Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, he has yet to...
Movie Distributors
The Weinstein Company Production Companies
Baa-Ram-Ewe
Sahamongkolfilm International Movie Studios
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