One reviewer drew a parallel to "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior", saying the movie follows a similar idea, with a start based on traditional values and then action for the rest of the movie. I agree. But the problem emerges with the plot which tries too much at the same time and fails miserably. There are really bad and cringe scenes we could have gone without. Often throughout the movie characters speak English and it's painful to listen to the actors (to which English isn't a native language) at those times and even harder to understand them. Action is for some reason even more over the top now and Kham is constantly seen almost flying through the rooms delivering kicks and people are often sent flying from the powerful kicks and punches. This doesn't mean all fights are bad. There is a very good and creative fight scene when Kham faces a group of attackers on roller skates and bikes, or the one where he ascends the VIP area of a restaurant. Ending is really over the top though. Petchtai Wongkamlao returns again as a comic relief and it's nice to see him, but sadly that can't help the fact movie has a very bad plot with pacing issues. Don't get me wrong, I don't need a lot of story in an action movie, but "The Protector" so desperately tries to have a story that it forgets that story should be a sensible or a good one if it's a big part of the movie's screen time. Personally, I wouldn't mind hour and a half of action scenes instead of that, but hey, it is what it is. I give the movie 6.5/10! It isn't worst thing you can watch and martial arts movie fans will be happy with the featured action, but the heavy focus on the uninteresting story and movie's bad pacing really ruin the enjoyment more than some over the top action scenes.
Review of The Protector
