Home :: DVD :: Art House & International :: Asian Cinema  

Asian Cinema

British Cinema
European Cinema
General
Latin American Cinema
The Protector

The Protector

List Price: $19.98
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Oh no!
Review: I know Jackie Chan has pulled off some real clunkers in his past, but I had no idea he'd ever been in a bad Dirty Harry knock-off. The Protector has little going for it. The story is cliched, and the dialogue is full of trite dialogue. I was under the distinct impression the writers had written stereotypical scenes and dialogue on pieces of paper, mixed 'em all up in a bucket, and yanked 'em out randomly. The result is that messy and uninspiring. For Pete's sake, when Jackie shows up at the beginning with his partner, and his partner talks about his kid and how he's going to give him this toy monkey, you just know the partner is doomed. Duh! This is such a cliche that even The Simpsons does a send-up called McBane.

Nevertheless, the cliches aren't necessarily the worst element of this waste of celluloid.

The martial arts are muted. Although the moves are fine, the camera-work muddies it up so badly that the effort is almost entirely wasted. For example, I think Jackie was doing something very frenetic and inspired, but a potted plant was between him and the camera. Who did the blocking for this? Whoever it is ought to have his or her head firmly planted between Jackie's foot and his target.

No one is a likable character in this film. Everyone is crooked and mean, and the womanizing Jackie shoots people into puddles of bloody gore while cursing like an angry eleven-year old from the bad part of town.

The only reason I don't completely denigrate this film is because there is a brief, shining moment when Jackie's brilliance shines through all the dung: while running through a bathhouse, he steps in either very hot or very cold water and makes a wonderful grimace. That's precious, scant cause to watch this film.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good action movie.
Review: I'm not sure if this is the American version or not, but I thought that the movie was pretty good. It had some pretty good stunts and some good fight scenes, including one with Bill "the Superfoot" Wallace. The story isn't that bad either. Basically Jackie is an immigrant NY cop who is sent to Hong Kong to rescue an American business women from a Hong Kong crime kingpin. Danny Aiello plays his partner in it. Overall I would recommend it to any Jackie Chan fan. I would have given it four stars, but I took one away because the Taiseng copy is awful. There is a high pitch squeal throughout the movie and the picture looks like a bootleg copy. Oh yeah, and you cant read the subtitles since it was originally formatted for the big screen.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Protector
Review: The movie was alright but James Glickenhaus wouldn't let Jackie do his way. Iam glad Jackie change the story line take away bad words&naked women.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Jackie Chan's THE REEDITOR
Review: The Protector was one of Jackie Chan's early attempts to break into the American movie market and overall it was a failure. The movie contains many unChan like elements such as excessive violence, nudity and profanity. The film's director apparently had the great idea to make Jackie Chan like Clint Eastwood, how ludicrous is that? Aside from a few stunts and a cool kick here and there the majority of the action is slow and clumsy, (How many times have you heard that said about a Jackie Chan film?). The final fight between Jackie Chan and Bill Wallace is one of the lamest fights you'll ever see Jackie Chan in. However the film was not a total failure. First, after producton wrapped Jackie Chan shot new scenes and redited the movie for it's Asian release. Jackie Chan's version edits out some of the violence and all of the profanity and nudity. A new subplot was added that introduced new characters and further advanced the original story. New action sequences were also filmed and they were edited in with some of the decent action scenes from the original. The end fight with Bill Wallace is so superior to the original version. Jackie Chan's version is in many ways a totally different movie. However even Jackie Chan's reedits could not totally save what was a pretty lame movie from the start. All in all his version is highly enjoyable. Good things always come out of bad situations and this film was no exception. The frustration from this movie inspired Jackie Chan to produce one of his absolute best films and that was Police Story. In many ways he did it to show The Protector's director, James Glickenhau, how to film an action movie. Jackie Chan's reedited subtitled version is the one to seek out, do not waste any time or money on the American version.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Chan movie controlled by others is not a jackie chan movie
Review: This 2 star, fair, movie is missing much of what makes a Jackie chan movie so much fun. The producers substitute Jackies wit and humor with Sex, Gore and Cursing the universal method of spicing up a poorly written script and mediocre direction. This is not a family friendly movie. Near the beginning of the movie Jackie uses the F@#% word and my wife and looked at each other.. we couldn't recall a Chan movie using that kind of language.

I have read that Jackie himself was so disappointed with what Hollywood produced here, he went on the make the police Story trilogy, which culminates in SUPERCOP. The music is more like the 1970's era sounding like TJ Hooker and other cops TV shows. There are a lot of good Chan movie and I think you can skip this one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Chan movie controlled by others is not a jackie chan movie
Review: This 2 star, fair, movie is missing much of what makes a Jackie chan movie so much fun. The producers substitute Jackies wit and humor with Sex, Gore and Cursing the universal method of spicing up a poorly written script and mediocre direction. This is not a family friendly movie. Near the beginning of the movie Jackie uses the F@#% word and my wife and looked at each other.. we couldn't recall a Chan movie using that kind of language.

I have read that Jackie himself was so disappointed with what Hollywood produced here, he went on the make the police Story trilogy, which culminates in SUPERCOP. The music is more like the 1970's era sounding like TJ Hooker and other cops TV shows. There are a lot of good Chan movie and I think you can skip this one.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The Protector (1985)
Review: This film is an ADULT FILM!! IT'S FILLED WITH BLOOD, GUTS FLYING, NUDITY AND JACKIE EVN SWEARS! A wealthy man's daughter is kidnapped and Jackie Chan and Danny Aiello are on the case!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Jackie's second American movie, Strike Two!
Review: This is not a Jackie Chan movie although he stars in it. It has nudity and a lot of cussing. It is also fake and you can see that the punches are fake. The plot is dumb, although the end sequence was pretty cool. Check out the Jackie Chan version of The Protector but not The USA version.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Don't listen to Leonard Maltin
Review: This is the HK version of the Protector, and much better than the American one. It has lots of the Jackie Chan mayhem you love, and some amazing stunts. (I'm not so sure about the plot, but Jackie Chan and plot seem to be mutually exclusive). It's also a hoot to hear Danny Aiello speaking perfect Chinese, and to see Jackie's lips speaking English, while his voice speaks Cantonese. However, I don't think I would pay $35 for it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not Too Bad
Review: This movie was pretty good the story was good it didnt have the jackie crazy stunts but has alot of action at least this movie is not dub it actually have jackie chan voice.


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates