The Protector

The Protector *1/2

Now, I do enjoy these martial arts movies. Alot of them have some really interesting fight scenes. The stories are always a bit of a stretch, but for breathtaking action, this is the place to go. Often times, there are some amazing visuals, like "House of Flying Daggers" and "Hero." However, "The Protector" is pretty much one dull and lifeless image after another, with some of the most uninspired fight scenes that I've ever seen. We have newcomer Tony Jaa return with his follow up to "Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior." "Ong Bak" was terrific. Pretty to watch, to the point, with a somewhat alright story, and some stunning action sequences. It was clear that Jaa had talent. However, he seems to have taken a step down. He feels as if he proved himself with the previous film, and now he can just do whatever he wants to do. Not true.

Here, Jaa plays Kham, a young fighter whose father is killed by a man who is trying to steal his elephant. The elephant is a sign of honor and respect, and Kham decides to track down the man who stole the elephant to Sydney, Australia. Kham meets a dectective who speaks his language, and the two set off to find the elephant. However, he gets involved into something more deep and layered than what he first thought. He gets involved in a gang led by a woman who had to kill the two people that were above her to get the job as the leader, and a business scam that would touch the highest point in the Australia business circle.

Like I said above, in these movies plot isn't important. It's the martial arts sequences. Nobody is going to walk into "The Protector" looking for a great story, they are walking in to see some action. However, the action here is pretty by the book. Sure, it's fun to watch Jaa as he does his own stunts, but he didn't do anything breaktaking here. In "Ong Bak," my mouth was wide open the entire time, watching, and taking in everything that Jaa did. Here, he punches people in the face, kicks them, no gravity defying stunts. In addition, the film was poorly edited for the United States. Once again, the Weinstein Brothers screw up another imported film. Here, so many scenes have been edited, that I really wonder how much of the actual original story was there. And I wouldn't mind that the film was edited, but I minded that it was so damn obvious. There was a fade in at one point to a room with about four people, and an English overdub said a line, and then there was a fade out. At one point, two characters were talking in a car, there was a fade out, and when it faded in again, there was suddenly this big action scene in a house that was on fire for no reason at all. It just didn't make any sense. Scenes were cut to the point that whatever the story was it didn't even make sense anymore.

And another thing. The film was partially in English and partially in Thai. And some of the characters speak English, and yet they decided to overdub the English speaking actors with different lines. This was just a poor effort at trying to translate this film for Hollywood, and it was sickening. So, with a story butchered to the point where it didn't even exist anymore, and action scenes that weren't worth a damn, "The Protector" was a very bad film. Maybe it's actual version was good, but whatever Hollywood did to it, it didn't agree with it. This is just lazy importing. I really hope that Jaa picks up again. "Ong Bak" was a martial arts masterpiece, and this one is just a poor effort. I want Jaa to blow me away, and I know that he has the power to. I've seen him at his best.