The Protector

To put this movie into the proper context, let me translate the plot into a scenario you can better relate to. Let's say that Timmy's dog, Lassie, was kidnapped by some neighborhood thugs. Then Timmy chased down those thugs and broke every bone in their body, slit every tendon holding their bones together, and then mercilessly killed them, all in the name of Lassie. Well, that's the plot of The Protector. But instead of a boy and his dog, it's a man and his elephant.

To be honest, I've never quite seen such horrific misplaced compassion before in my life. To save his elephant, the star of this movie kills about 47 people, breaks at least 1,417 bad-guy bones, all while having flash backs of the joy of riding in an elephant's tusks. You couldn't have two further extremes in a movie. It's like the Jungle Book meets Resevoir Dogs, like Bambi meets Bloodsport, or like Dumbo meets Kill Bill.

The plot is paper-thin, the characters just as two-dimensional, and the directing is horrific. The editing was the worst I think I've ever seen; it was like an ADHD MTV video editor got a hold of the film. There was an elaborate boat chase sequence that should have played out for at least 10 minutes that was cut down to a minute-and-a-half. Speeding boat, crash, speeding boats, explosion, man gets away in boat.

So needless to say, the only things holding this movie together was stylistic camera work and Jarr, the Thai star of this flick. He's the Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan for the next generation. His stunts are phenomenal and his action sequences are fast and furious. So if you can get past the laughable plot and over-the-top violence to just appreciate the wonderful martial arts styling of the star, you might just find yourself enjoying this film.

Rating: 8 out of 10