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Protector, The
The Weinstein Company


8.6

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 15 votes
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FILM:

Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

MPAA RATING: R for pervasive strong violence and some sexual content

Starring Tony Jaa, Petchtai Wongkamlao, Bongkoj Khongmalai, Xing Jing, Nathan Jones, Johnny Nguyen, Lateef Crowder, and Jon Foo

The Protector is the highly anticipated full bodied martial arts epic starring international superstar Tony Jaa. His world shaped by ancient traditions, a young Thai fighter (Jaa) is called upon to defend his people and their honor after outsiders invade their home and destroy all that is sacred. Fueled by desire to protect a way of life and avenge the wrong done to his family, he will bring fight to their city. (The Weinstein Company)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Comedy \| Crime \| Foreign \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, Napalee, Piyaros Thongdee, Joe Wannapin and Prachya Pinkaew (story)
DIRECTED BY:	Prachya Pinkaew
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 16, 2007 Theatrical: September 8, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	84 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Thailand
LANGUAGE(S):	Thai / English / Mandarin / Vietnamese (with English subtitles)

Original title "Tom Yum Goong"; Previously known as "Warrior King" and "Ong Bak 2"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

A furiously choreographed martial-arts spectacle wrapped in a fumbling narrative.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

The Protector is about 84 minutes long, and only four of those minutes are devoted to plot.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

The Protector is the nuttiest movie I've seen all year, and I've seen the last 20 minutes of "The Wicker Man."

The New York Times Nathan Lee

The Protector supersizes the formula of "Ong Bak."

Entertainment Weekly Marc Bernardin

It's silly, at times laughable, sure, but Jaa has a reckless, bone-cracking grace that transcends the film's triviality.

Austin Chronicle Brian Clark

But while every expertly choreographed Muy Thai bout delivers, the film suffers from haphazard editing. Entire sequences of explanation are missing, as if Pinkaew made a 2 1/2 hour martial-arts film and then cut everything but the fighting scenes.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Delivers a steady stream of cheap B-movie thrills, plus two positive messages for young people: Be nice to animals, and when in doubt, always aim for the tendons.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The movie is a series of ever more elaborate fight sequences and increasingly more and larger opponents.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

While the story's silly, the stunts, choreographed by Jaa and popular Thai filmmaker Panna Rittikrai, are spectacular.

Variety Derek Elley

Boasting the same refreshing avoidance of CGI and wire work as "Warrior," slickly made production (largely by the same team) is more consciously aimed at the international market, with its Australian setting and multilingual dialogue.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Even a superstar needs to surround himself with better material than this.

Slate Dana Stevens

In truth, only hard-core martial-arts fans will be able to keep from squirming in their seats with boredom through at least some parts of this 82-minute kablammo-fest.

San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson

A bad film with a great star and some truly amazing action sequences.

LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson

Jaa has the skills for the job, and shows them off in numerous fight scenes; it's just a shame that the movie he's in is barely acceptable in any other respect.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Lives up to Tarantino's imprimatur, both in its cheesy grind house aesthetic and its occasional forays into brilliant, bravura filmmaking.

The Hollywood Reporter Richard James Havis

A relentless focus on action over character and story will leave more mainstream viewers cold.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

It's little more than a disjointed succession of kick-ass action scenes.

Chicago Reader Reece Pendleton

A general lack of charm make this pretty tough to sit through.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Anytime Jaa isn't on screen, The Protector sputters.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

The movie is basically a love story between a man and his elephant, and if viewed as such, it's not nearly as ridiculous as the movie it first appears to be.

Film Threat Michael Ferraro

Sadly, the greatness of Jaa's movements are drowned by an ocean of bad editing, terrible dubbing, disorienting action sequences, and repetitive fight sequences that feel as if they were copied straight from a side-scrolling videogame like "Streets of Rage."

New York Post Kyle Smith

This ludicrous Quentin Tarantino-chosen low-budget movie features choppy editing and an amateurish script, and it switches strangely back and forth between dubbing and subtitles.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Riren gave it an8:
Tony Jaa returns to the American screen in another wildly entertaining martial arts flick. Like a Kung Fu movie, this Muay Thai movie doesn't ask for much thought as to its plot. It's emotions are worn on its sleeve as it runs towards the next fight scene. And like Ong Bak, the fight scenes are some of the most eyepopping you could ask for.

Sean P. gave it a9:
Absolutely fantastic! Muay thai martial arts are demonstrated here in such fluency that even the hard-hitting nature of the art could almost pass as wushu. Jaa is fantastic throughout the film, and has obviously learnt from his mediocre acting in Ong Bak. Although the plot is limited, people watch films like this for the martial arts involved, and in that specific area this film excels. An absolute masterpiece!

Danny H. gave it an8:
I don't think I've ever cringed that much in a martial arts movie. Tony Jaa is such an amazing and ruthless fighter, half of this movie is spent clutching your seat and going "ooohhhhh, that would hurt SO much!" Plot and acting is practically nonexistent, but since when do you ever watch a martial arts movie for the storyline?

Jorge C. gave it a10:
Best.Movie.Ever. For anyone who loves martial arts movies, martial arts, or just plain ass-kickery in general... this movie is a must see.

Mort S. gave it a10:
No other fight scene compares to his limb breaking rampage.

Colin B. gave it a7:
A disappointing followup to ONG BAK. The story line was terrible and the cinemaphotography was bluish and washed out. As one person already stated, the fight scenes were repetative. That said, it was still a pleasure to see some very unique martial art moves from a genre that is practically dead. My favorite part was the main character's fight with martial artists of different styles. Bruce Lee still did it best in his last film, but Tony Jaa comes close in giving us a refreshing twist with his art. If you're hungry for a martial arts film, then by all means see this one. If you're picky for a great martial arts movie, then pass this one up.

Randal G. gave it a9:
I've seen every Bruce Lee movie, and most of Jackie Chan's and Jet Li's movies. There is very little swordplay in The Protector so it can't be compared to the Kill Bill movies or the Seven Samurai. Finally, if you consider a movie like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to be a martial arts movie, then your definition of kung fu movie might match mine: mostly realistic hand-to-hand combat. By that definition I consider The Protector to be the best kung fu movie ever made - by far! It is not repetitive at all. Tony Jaa incapacitates more than a hundred foes in more than a hundred ways. And his acrobatics are as good if not better than Chan's. Sure, the editing is nowhere near as good as some of the martial arts blockbusters out there, but that just means the movie is stripped down to the fast paced action scenes. If you like watching the UFC or cagefighting on TV or if you like any of the Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movies then you have to see The Protector.

Protector, The The Weinstein Company

Protector, The
The Weinstein Company