The Protector

[MisterTwister]

http://movies.mainetoday.com/photos/55481/55481_aa_m.jpg

I was surprised to see no thread for this, considering it comes out Today.

I saw the Thai version of the movie just yesterday and it kicked my ass. I loved it and it had incredible non-stop fight scenes till the very end. 8/10

Anyways, Tony Jaa said in an interview that the Us release has some scenes cut out to tighten up the movie and an added soundtrack by the RZA. Doesn't sound too bad, but I don't know.

Anyone see this yet?

[ilovemovies]

Doesn't look that good to me. I'll probably still see it but I don't really have high expectations.

Fearless looks MUCH better IMO.

[Cronos]

while better than Ong Bak, The Protector (aka Tom Yum Goong) is still a very crappy film, badly acted and directed (although the fight up the stairs was very cool)

Fearless (while it's another pile of shit) is much better than both the above films

[dman476]

This is Tom Yun Goong?
Wow, I remember that title, but I had no idea it was this.
I could have bought this half a year ago...:o
I hate films like Ong-bak and Hero, so I'll be skipping this and Fearless for sure. Thanks for the advice Cronos...I believe it.

[APzombie]

Tom Yun Goong (the protector) is campy, cheesy fun. I loved it.

[Moviefan02000]

Passsssssssssssss.....:o

[RandalGraves]

I'll be doing a double header this weekend by seeing Crank again and then The Protector! I can't wait!

[God of War]

I saw this movie on Thai DVD almsot 6 months ago. One of my friends is Thai and he lent it to me and at first told me it was Ong Bak 2. Lol. Cus it is the same actor

The fighting is just WAY OVER THE TOP! I mean its insane the amount of breaks this guy does in it. I was actualyl exhausted at the edn of the movie. I've never seen so much action in a martial arts movie, before.

The elephant tusk fight is crazy as is the last battles with those two ENORMOUS guys!:)

I recommend watching it just for the fighting. It truly is rediculously over done. Lol But fun.

[E.C.]

This movie exists in two planes at once by being both unimaginably awful and mindblowingly brilliant all at once.

The plot is terrible. Remember how pointless Ong-Bak seemed where this bumpkin goes to a seedy part of Thailand just because of a Buddha head? The Protector (Tom Yun Goong) is more or less the same, except replace "Thailand" with "Sydney, Austrailia" and "a Buddha head" with "elephants" and put in a lot of parts that aren't supposed to be funny.

His dad is killed and his elephants are kidnapped and sent to Australia, and he has to get them back. Maybe it's a culture clash, but it didn't seem right for Kham to let the guy who killed his father go free 'cuz of elephants... Anyway, there's plenty of horrible things going on. Worthless characters, mounds of logic holes (security don't have guns?), and unintentional laughs (a Thai man walking with a CG baby elephant on the Harbour Bridge is just silly). I've seen the original and the new release; the cuts didn't hurt the film simple because the plot is terrible no matter how you cut it. There may have been an abbreviated fight (can't recall the double spin roundhouse that Jaa delivers in the original), but that's the only cut that you'll really notice. The sound was altered, bad English was overdubbed with better English, some of the Chinese & Thai speaking was dubbed, and a few comedic bits were taken out, but it's still the same bad plot in between the parts you want to see.

And speaking of those parts, as stupidly plotted or as bafflingly one-note the participants may be, the fight scenes are unparalleled. The director uses very impressive shots for the two major big set piece brawls, including the brilliant staircase scene which takes place in one very long, continuous shot that lasts over 4 minutes and is nonstop fights and stunts. Not many if any quick cuts are used, the slow motion is never overbearing, especially since it's practically called for when the physical feats are THAT amazing, and, as before, no wirework. Jaa and the fight team rival the work of Jackie Chan in his heyday with the style of stunts and choreography. Although The Protector doesn't quite achieve the same greatness since it does suffer from "bad guy waiting their turn to fight" syndrome a bit. That, and Jaa lacks charisma. As badass as he appears in this movie, there's little more than physical feats, yells, and the modified Muay Thai poses. As physically skilled as he may be (and regardless of the tribute in the film), he's still not Jackie Chan. The other highlights of the films include a great fight with one of the main baddies (using Wushu?), an amazing fight with a stunning Capoeira fighter, a great fight immediately afterwards with a Tonfa-wielding Jaa and a guy using a Chinese Sword, and a pair of brutal fights with ex-wrestler Nathan Jones and a group of huge men.

If you could manage to get through Ong-Bak's story and appreciate the amazing fights, be prepared to do the same with The Protector. The story's about as bad, better in some ways, but worse in others. But the fighting is definitely better, and some of the best acrobatic martial arts and stunts I've seen. As long as you don't come for the story, you will not be disappointed.

[anakinsrise]

Well bad acting,editing and voice dubbing aside The Protector is a fun action film.If you're an action,martial arts junkie like me you will leave the theatre satisfied.Watch Tony Jaa take on everyone from vicious roller bladers to rejects from WWE central casting.Oh and i loved the whip lady !!!
Scale of 1-10 an 8 because i got what i paid for !!!

[omegarich]

Was that a Jackie look-a-like Kham bumped into at the airport? Overall I am a big fan of Ong Bak and wanted to wait to see this one in a theatre than on dvd. Yes the story is very lackluster in every way possible but the action sequences were truly amazing. Jaa had me jumping in my seat multiple times through out the movie. My favorite scenes were the one shot staircase rumble, his disarming a gunman with his leg and straight kneeing bitches off of helicopters.

[MisterTwister]

I've heard around that the US version is really butchered. I'm curious to see what they have done to the film, but I had a blast watching the Thai version, I love the final fight scenes with Tony Jaa and the big thugs, Great stuff!

[stickmangrit]

time to ice skate up hill.


this movie fucking sucked.


first off, the story was non-existent, but that's to be expected. characters appear and vanish from the plot for absolutely no reason, the predominant villain for the first two acts simply stops showing up in the third, there's an utterly pointless scene involving poisoning of children(though it was pleasant to see someone with the balls to carry through on the aforementioned), and the scripting was non-sensical in the extreme.

'but hey', you're saying,' it's a fucking martial arts movie. so long as the action is great, nothing else matters, right?' fuckin a correct, but the action here sucks almost as hard as the story. there's almost no Mui-Thai to be found(i counted three, maybe four distinctively mui-thai moves, despite the emphasis on it from the plot. and the editing. just piss-poor in the extreme. i couldn't follow the first major chase AT ALL. totally incoherent.

and as for the "brilliant" steadycam shot, yeah, not that impressive. granted, in theory it's amazing, but you can see Jaa's exhaustion way too clearly, like this take was the fourth or fifth.

all in all, not worth theater admission. if you absolutely must, wait for the DVD.

[jolanar]

I agree with the person who said it sucked but was amazing at the same time.

The fight scenes were absolutely phenomanel, while everything else was kind of laughable bad.

9/10 for the fight scenes and Jaa's abilities.

2/10 for everything else.

[Strider]

The Protector - 6/10 or ***/***** stars

Tony Jaa may be physically impressive and well-trained in martial arts, but he seriously lacks charisma, and he's no Jackie Chan or Jet Li either. The Protector, Jaa's latest film, features a dreadful combination of subtitles, dubbing (which is something I despise), and English, and a wretched, convoluted story, but the action sequences save this film. The action sequences are so ridiculous and over-the-top, it's difficult not to laugh and sit back and enjoy. With a short running time of nearly 80 minutes, The Protector moves at a rapid pace and is never dull. I wouldn't say it's worth taking a drive to the local multiplex theater and paying full price admission, though.

Strider

[bigred760]

A pretty cool martial arts flick that doesn't hold back on the great fight scenes and kickass action sequences. The plot is nothing to brag about, but it's enough to make it a decent movie on its own. Luckily, it has the fight scenes that are cool as hell to watch and you find yourself laughing at how impressive it is. Tony Jaa is well on his way to becoming another Jackie Chan or Jet Li as he knows how to carry an action movie with some very impressive movies and fight choreography. There are several highlites to the movie, including a 4-5 minute long fight sequence where our hero is going up a round flight of stairs - kicking anyone's ass that gets in his way; and the finale where he's taking on three musclemen, among many others before them as Jaa basically breaks as many bones in peoples' bodies.

The story and characters leave a lot to be desired, and the elephant angle was kind of dumb - but I didn't go into this movie looking for awarding winning writing. And of course, any martial arts movie wouldn't be complete without the dubbed dialogue, though it's not throughout the whole movie - which saved it for me. Overall, great martial action and it's worth seeing the flick for that alone.

7/10

[biodtl]

Wow, I can't get over the negative comments. I thought this movie kidked ass. I think that Tony Jaa has more charisma and screen presence than any other martial artist since Bruce Lee. I is also great to see a different type of martial art- Muay Thai. Come on , guys, it is a marial arts film. Has there ever been a martial arts film that has a realistic story line or realistic fighting scenes. Tony Jaa's fighting scenes , I think , are amazing. I would much rather watch him than Jet Li. I'm just so surprised that I seem to be alone in my opinion.

[biodtl]

PS, and to EC, the dad was not killed in the movie. You see him later with a bandage around his abdomen.

[biodtl]

Me, again, Does anyone know who the semi rasta looking bad guy in the temple fight scene is and what kind of fighting style he was using?

[RandalGraves]

I'll be buying this dvd for sure!

[Lost in Space]

ill be in line for the dvd for sure

[Jim H]

I hate films like Ong-bak and Hero

Why did you put those two in the same sentence?

Tom Yum Goong I found enjoyable. I thought the fight scenes were well choreographed and shot (thought they're not as good as the better Chinese martial arts flicks). True, the rest of the film mostly sucks, but I still found the non-fight scenes entertaining in their badness.