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The Protector . . . starring Thai martial arts master Tony Jaa - the greatest thing to come out of Thailand since Chinese food!
If you’ve ever seen an old martial arts movie that looked grainy, jumped from scene to scene, the dialogue didn’t match what actors were saying, had subtitles…and some amazing fight scenes, that’s exactly what you can expect from this movie. The story (we use that term loosely) is centered around a man from Thailand who goes to Australia to rescue stolen royal elephants and to avenge his father’s murder. As expected from this type of movie, the acting is horrible, the story is weak but it’s filled with intense fight scene after intense fight scene which displays what are clearly very talented martial artists. One redeeming part of the story is that the ending is pretty satisfying, even though it is pretty corny.
The Protector's range and volume of martial arts moves is undeniably impressive. Everything else about the movie is, well, excruciating. Although the story is, fundamentally, simple and very typical, the movie is extremely difficult to follow. According to the final credits, they had acting coaches, English teachers, everything they needed except, apparently, enough film. There are gaps in the movie big enough to drive an elephant through - which, incidentally, they do. In fact, there are a lot of exotic animals in this film, which actually does make sense considering that we're fairly certain it was edited by a crazed monkey. However, in spite of the skipping around, ridiculous plot twists, and absurd dialogue, there is at least one redeeming scene - a 4 minute continuous sequence fight scene that is truly brilliant. So, maybe a lot of our issues with the movie are more cultural differences than horrible filmmaking. Plus, you have to respect any man that can kick butt like Tony Jaa.
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