This is one of those movies where guys literally stand in line, waiting to get beaten up.
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09/08/06
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The Protector (2006)
54
%
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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
Top CriticDespite another routine mangling at the hands of the Weinstein brothers, there’s enough of Jaa’s and [director] Pinkaew’s dazzling artistry still intact to make this one of the most rewarding action films of the year.
09/08/06
Tony Jaa is an expert Muay Thai fighter and trained stuntman who, like Bruce Lee, never appears to inflict the same injury twice. When he sails into a room, as if by slingshot, your blood pressure rises.
09/08/06
Top CriticWhile the story doesn't really hold up throughout the film, the action sequences are some of the best I've seen.
09/08/06
No one can do that cool running knee drop like Tony Jaa, but he'd better start flexing his smiling muscles more if he wants to be the next Jackie Chan. All the bone crunching makes Steven Seagal look like a restrained kitty.
09/08/06
The moral of this story is if you steal a kung-fu master's elephants, you WILL have your legs broken. Period.
09/08/06
You're going to The Protector for the skull fractures and sky-high knees to the groin. And if this is all you're after, your mind may be black and blue, but you'll be all smiles by the end.
09/08/06
Who needs plot when you have all of this ***-kicking?
09/08/06
Scene after scene is fashioned together in the most confusing (read that as meaning 'dull') fashion, like a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle missing half the pieces.
09/08/06
The downtime since Ong-Bak has left us hungry enough not to care that the plot and frequent action feel a bit recycled.
09/07/06
The Protector is a jaw-dropping, exhilarating action war cry rarely offered to American audiences anymore, and presents Tony Jaa as a timeless martial art icon to rival Bruce Lee.
09/07/06
You know you have bought a ticket to the wrong movie when star Tony Jaa confronts the bad guys, strikes a fight-ready pose and screams, 'Where are my elephants?'
09/07/06
The premise is both absurd and intricate.
09/07/06
The ambitious staging of Jaa's lean and long-limbed Muay Thai fight scenes makes them look impressive. There is just too little happening in between to engage a wider audience.
09/07/06
Amidst all the atrociously edited, laughably dubbed and poorly plotted action ... is a bravura sequence that single-handedly saves the movie.
09/07/06
There's not much here for anyone who isn't a die-hard, unreconstructed chop-socky junkie.
09/07/06
Although true fans of old-style kung fu movies will love The Protector, the uninitiated may be put off by the movie's slipshod editing, the waxworks acting and the confusing story.
09/07/06
Top CriticAfter we're supposed to get off on a bunch of ironmen getting their shoulder blades handed to them, what's next? Snuff films?
09/07/06
You'll be exhausted when it's over, but harbor a lingering sense of vicarious accomplishment.
09/07/06
Top CriticThis is one wicked-ass cool movie, a last blast of summertime action insanity before the pretentious dramas of autumn arrive.
09/07/06
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