It's silly, at times laughable, sure, but Jaa has a reckless, bone-cracking grace that transcends the film's triviality. For fight fans, he's worth the price of admission.
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09/23/06
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The Protector (2006)
54
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:92
Fresh:50
Rotten:42
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Despite some impressive fight scenes, this trimmed-down version of the Thai action pic is an off-putting mix of scant plot, choppy editing, and confusing subtitles and dubbing.
Theatrical Release:Sep 8, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $11,905,519
Synopsis: THE PROTECTOR is the highly anticipated full bodied action film starring International Martial Arts superstar, Tony Jaa (Ong Bak). His world shaped by ancient traditions, a young Thai fighter... [More]
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Reviews for The Protector
The story is incoherent (possibly due to Weinstein cuts in the Thai original), but if you enjoy fight scenes, this is an eye-popping amazement...
09/15/06
Jaa-dropping stunts buried in an overly sentimental plot.
09/15/06
The whole point here is the action stuff, and, wow, does it deliver!
09/15/06
Anyone familiar with Quentin Tarantino knows he has a love for martial arts movies and cult films. So no one should be surprised to see his name in the credits of "The Protector," which he presents to American audiences.
09/14/06
"Protector" is just awful outside of the martial-arts scenes, and even the fights don't showcase Jaa's immense talent to full effect.
09/14/06
The Protector is the kind of film that goes beyond cinema straight to spectacle.
09/13/06
Tony Jaa is a bad mother****er.
09/13/06
At least four stars' worth of guilty pleasure, and maybe more.
09/13/06
The editing is wildly haphazard, the story continuity is a mess, and some of the photography is just terrible, but I'll be darned if the movie isn't fun.
09/12/06
These early fights, as goofy and inventive as they are, build up our goodwill toward Jaa, [but] the limb-breaking, tendon-severing finale dispels it.
09/11/06
After Ong-Bak and The Protector, Jaa has proven without a shadow of doubt that he is the real deal. Now I want to see him in a real movie, not just a showcase. This movie is a mess, but you ignore it because Jaa is so mesmerizing.
09/10/06
When the fight scenes, choreographed by Jaa himself, kick in, boy howdy.
09/10/06
Sadly, the production values don't do Jaa any favors
09/09/06
The film suffers from choppiness and pacing...yet, Pinkaew delivers some terrific action set pieces studded with visual puns and the incredibility physicality of...Tony Jaa.
09/09/06
When you've got a male lead who can break heads like Tony Jaa, a little bit of story line goes a long way.
09/08/06
As a breathtaking follow-up to 2003's Ong-Bak: Thai Warrior, it's a whole lotta fun.
09/08/06
A furiously choreographed martial-arts spectacle wrapped in a fumbling narrative.
09/08/06
... it's little more than a disjointed succession of kick-ass action scenes motivated by a country bumpkin's quest to rescue his giant pets from big-city baddies.
09/08/06
... include[s] some incredible sequences of precision-engineered ultraviolence ...
09/08/06
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