Hollywood Reviews and Movie Trivia

"The Protector", written, directed, and produced by Prachya Pinkaew is audaciously over the top, with bad dialoge, horrible dubbing, but a fun ride and scores a C...

With the opening title credit "Quentin Tarantino Presents" one can just about bet on a project being a bit off center. Previous 'presents' include: 2006's "Hostel", and "Hero" (2004). Both of which had their unique edge that did make one want to see how it ends. "The Protector" has dual moments. Some when the production techniques were simply amateurish, and surprisingly in contrast, production techniques that are amazing. I know that sounds like a negation but true! The redeeming factor is the superior athletic martial art skills of the star Tony Jaa. One is reminded of Jackie Chan in his younger days...

First I'll start with the story, and then I'll pass along some outrageous observations that somehow all came together for a fun-ride. As with most martial arts films, the story is very basic. Kham (Tony Jaa) comes from a family with a long line of Thai descendants that raise elephants that are chosen by kings and are representative of power. These same descendants are also the guardians of the elephants and highly trained in multiple forms of martial art styles. When poachers steal a prize elephant and its calf and his father killed, Kham follows the trail. The poachers have arranged for the elephants to be shipped to Australia and Kham is in hot pursuit.

Once in Sydney, Australia, Kham following the leads, runs up against, here goes, gangsters, crooked cops, and the mobster's niece Madame Rose (in an absolutely ruthless performance by Xing Jing) who has the Sydney police department in her back pocket! Of course Kham has a multitude of bad guys to fight including a totally outrageous fight in a warehouse where a gang of bike-riding, roller skating, four wheel vehicle driving group, where Kham uses virtually every foot of warehouse space to kick butt! Kham with the physicality and style of Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Sonny Chiba all rolled into one, Kham not only sprints up walls in traditional form, but does ceilings as well! There's another scene where Kham, in the tradition of "The Bride", Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" fights the famous "88 keys" (the men in black masks and suits), Kham's fight scene tops that. The camera starts in a medium shot as the bad guys come into frame and he battles them. During the scene the camera is doing a slow 360-degree turn around Kham. While turning, it's also widening. By the time the shot is at wide angle, there must be a couple of hundred bad guys in black laying about all around Kham!

There are quite a few thrilling sequences that really showcase the athletic skills of Tony Jaa. The one that stands out, and will likely become the marital arts scene to top in future martial arts films is what I call the "winding staircase sequence". Inside a brothel, run by Madame Rose, Tony Jaa, in one long take that had to be at least 5 minutes long, Jaa battles his way up what has to be a 6 story winding open-air staircase! The camera follows Jaa every step of the way as he fights his way to the top, without a single camera cut, where Jaa, clearly out of breath, just keeps on going! What a sequence!

Conversely, the inconsistent production items, in a strange off-the-wall way, added to the fantasy aspect of "The Protector". The look of film had the texture of being filmed in16mm film and being blown up to 35mm, which resulted in a highly grainy washed-out look. The sequences in the character's native land had an amber edge to it, which is fine. When the story shifts to Australia, the scenes have a blue hue to them. Not just a light tint like director Steven Sodenberg used for "Traffic" where the Mexico scenes where lightly tinted amber and the US scenes more color rich and crisp. The Sydney scenes were so blue that sometime the colors were almost completely washed out! Language was a major dichotomy. It starts off with the native tongue with English subtitles, goes to some English badly dubbed still with subtitles, and once in Sydney, which is an English speaking country, the dubbing totally broke down! The main factor that made it a fun movie to watch through all the flaws is the extraordinary skill of the star, Tony Jaa. With absolutely amazing athleticism, definitely look for more from this extremely talented martial artist!

Grade: C