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In Thai, with
English subtitles
Director - Prachya Pinkaew
Writers -
Napalee, Piyaros Thongdee, Joe Wannapin and Kongdej Jaturanrasmee,
based on a story by Prachya Pinkaew
Director of photography
- Nuttawut
Kittikun
Music by the RZA
Production designer
- Akadech Kaewkot
Martial arts choreographers
- Tony Jaa and Panna Rittikrai
Produced
by Prachya Pinkaew and Sukanya Vongsthapat
Weinstein Company. 84 minutes. Rated
R for martial-arts violence.
STARRING: Tony Jaa (Kham), Phetthai
Wongkhamlao (Mark), Bongkod Kongmalai (Pla), Jin Xing (Madame Rose),
Nathan B. Jones (T K) and JohnnyTri Nguyen (Johnny).
Some
films are enjoyable on their own terms and defy scholarly critique.
The Protector is one of these.
In terms
of cinematic conventions, the film offers
little in the way of character development; action sequences are strung
together with seemingly minimal concern for narrative flow; dubbed
dialogue rarely matches up to the movements of
actors’ mouths, even when their lips actually form English words;
individual shots within individual scenes suggest the work of seven or
eight different production designers. Heck, The
Protector plays like a low-budget, third-world homage to
Tarantino-Rodriguez collaborative paeans to pulp cinema. It’s a pastiche
of cult-film references, from Lee and Chan to Mad Max, from the World
Wrestling Federation to the World Wildlife Federation, from Crouching
Tiger to Two Brothers. Huh.
But none
of that really matters. In part it’s because director-producer Prachya
Pinkaew puts all those familiar elements into a new and interesting
setting. The central conflict, which involves a murder and the theft of
two elephants, is established in rural Thailand instead of Hong Kong or
Shanghai. Then when Tony Jaa, as Kham, sets out to wreak revenge, the
trail takes him to Australia, where the animals are being utilized in a
truly diabolical manner, one that is disgustingly villainous and
original.
Naturally, Jaa emerges victorious through the power of loyalty and mere
flesh (and bones).
Also,
The Protector works in part because Pinkaew stages visually
stunning action sequences.
As I
typed that last sentence, the film’s trailer ran
again during the third quarter of the Steelers-Dolphins game, and
I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Nine tenths of the movie is like the
trailer. Seriously. This is not one of those films where the trailer
shows you all the best parts. Not by a long shot.
In one
early fight sequence, Jaa out-Chans Jackie
Chan in a lengthy and tightly choreographed fight that weaves in and out
of three abandoned streetcars. Later, the ante is unbelievably upped
when Jaa battles his way through literally dozens of adversaries, all
while ascending some six or seven levels of a restaurant club
— in a single tracking shot that takes
up almost an entire reel. No kidding. By the end of the shot, you can
tell that Jaa has been pushed to his utmost physical limit, but the shot
is flawless in its execution.
And
there are still two mind-boggling fight sequences to go.
If you
see The Protector, see it with an audience. And see it with an
audience that loves martial arts films, if you can. Even if you don’t
enjoy martial arts pictures, you will gain some appreciation for why a
lot of people do —
and you will thoroughly enjoy the audience reaction, even if you don’t
enjoy the film itself.
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