Reel Reviews - Movie Review


Julia Roberts factor:						0/5
Macho factor:						5/5
Babysitter factor:						0/5
Get Lucky factor:						0/5
In-law factor:						0/5
Of Mice and Men factor						3/5
Wrap-up factor						1/5
Se7en factor						2/5
Reel rating:						1/5
What the categories mean

Reel commentary: ... Interesting plot, exciting martial arts sequences, or beautiful cinematography - give me at least one! ... full review

Movie Review

By Frank Wilkins

Don't let the title banner "Quentin Tarantino presents" fool you. The Protector is no Kill Bill. And for that matter, neither is it a worthy follow up to Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior, 2003's breakthrough hit for Muay Thai master Tony Jaa.

Often mentioned in the same breath as Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, Jaa prides himself on his nonuse of wires, computer graphics, and stunt stand-ins for the action sequences. A worthy ambition I guess. And most appropriate for The Protector because it's clearly more about the fighting than it is the story. In fact, the film's choreographer Panna Rittikrai (who returns from Ong Bak) proudly hails the lack of wires, CGI and stunt doubles as a similar underlying concept to Ong Bak. There you have it. Clearly more interested in whose ass gets kicked and how it gets done than anything resembling coherent storytelling.

Produced in Thailand and already released in Europe and Asia under the title Tom Yung Goong, the film arrives in the U.S. with not only a new title, but also a shorter runtime (80 mins, vs. 110), which might explain its perfunctory plot and sloppy editing. It plays like a bad B-movie where we suddenly leave an ongoing conversation to join a fight in progress. Subtitles are haphazardly mixed with unsynchronized audio dubbing, and most scenes are unevenly lit. With recent releases like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero, we've come to expect more out of these type films, so it's a bit of a challenge to accept these inadequacies as serious filmmaking. Interesting plot, exciting martial arts sequences, or beautiful cinematography - give me at least one!

But we didn't enter the theater with expectations of seeing Gone With the Wind now did we? After all it's a Kung Fu film and I'm fairly certain that's all it really wants to be. But even as an inventory of exciting fight sequences, The Protector falls short. Although it contains innovative stunt work and martial arts moves pulled from a little known band of Thai soldiers not often seen on film, it all looks the same to me. Dark-clad bad guys line up, one after another (but never at the same time), to take on Kham (Tony Jaa) who delivers an arse-whoopin' like a Muay Thai carousel.

In search of a pair of sacred elephants stolen from his family by evil thieves, country boy Kham travels from his native Thailand to a bustling Sydney, Australia. Once there, he not only encounters the poachers, but also inadvertently uncovers a conspiracy that reaches up to the highest levels of the Aussie government. Jaa's one-dimensionality never allows us to feel any sympathy for Kham and his loss. He's clearly an extremely efficient fighting machine, but Jaa will eventually need to display a bit more on-screen charisma to be taken seriously as a contemporary of Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Frank Wilkins

Comments

Gump Says:
September 9th, 2006 at 13:12
Some of the best fight footage ever on film. Especially the scenes with the bikers and skaters.

Dragon Says:
September 11th, 2006 at 15:43

You just obviously don't like martial arts films. This was one of the best.

Georgie Says:
September 21st, 2006 at 09:11

No. This was not a very good movie, even for a martial arts film. Just because it had cool fight sequences does not make a good movie. The plot was virtually nonexistent and it was put together very sloppily. And withe regards to one of the comments below this one - The scene with the bikers and skater was terrible. They used flourescent light tubes as weapons for crying out loud! Now there's a powerful weapon. Just a bad movie!

Jilly Says:
October 25th, 2006 at 13:10

You're wrong on this one Frank. This was a great movie. If you don't know the intricacies of Muay Thai fighting, you shouldn't attempt to comment on it.

Frank Says:
November 5th, 2006 at 12:13

Jilly, a good filmmaker and a good film would find a way to make me care about the story without the need to be well-versed in the art of Muay Thai fighting.

Your Ad Here

DVD Information

Screen formats: Widescreen 1.85:1

Subtitles: English

Language and Sound: Thai: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.

Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; making-of featurettes; cast and crew information; cast and crew interview; trailer.

Commentary - Feature-length audio commentary featuring Asian film expert Bey Logan.

Featurettes

"No Wires Attached: Making 'The Protector'" - Making-of (15:00)

4 separate Tony Jaa martial arts demonstrations (5:00)

Interview with Tony Jaa (06:30)

"8 Limbs" (03:39) - cell phone video

Documentary

Director's Guided Tour: The Stairwell Scene (35:00)

The Making of "Tom Yum Goong" (55:32)

Short Films - films directed by three winners of a "Take on Tony Jaa" contest.

Number of discs: - 2- Packaging: Two disc keepcase

Individual Grades

Movie

DVD

1/5

3/5

DVD Experience

2/5

Buy the DVD