The Bodyguard From Beijing aka The Defender is a solid action classic starring Jet Li and directed by Corey Yuen. Prior to this project, Jet Li had only done period kung fu movies. This is his 1st modern action movie that combines martial arts with gunplay. Jet Li is a bodyguard from mainland China imported to protect a prosecution witness ( the gorgeous Christy Cheung) from harm. Christy Cheung's character initially does not like the elite bodyguard hired to protect her. As she falls into danger, Jet Li keeps her out of harms way, she then finds appreciation for Jet Li and his dedication to his job. A bond and mutual attraction grows between them. Kent Cheng appears in this as well as a cop assigned to work with the bodyguard. Kent, equally adept at drama and comedy is mostly the comic relief for the film. Corey Yuen did a fine job directing here with keeping the right tone, telling the story fluently with the right amount of action and getting good performances from the cast. Corey also is the action choreographer so he is responsible for the quality of the action also, which was done well with a healthy dose of guns, explosion and kung fu. He also works with Jet Li as action choreographer on all of Jet's US films. Overall, TBFB is a solid action flick and when I want to watch a Jet Li movie with guns this is my 2nd choice only to the awesome, incredible action classic Black Mask.

Not one of Jet Li's best pictures, in my opinion; not as good as "Meltdown". The plot is a routine and unimaginative reworking of Kevin Costner's "The Bodyguard", and there is a distressing lack of martial arts action. Jet Li does his best to hold the movie together: he looks great with a gun, he moves faster than the speed of light (no need for the wires at a couple of points, though) and he gives a fine dramatic performance as well - his character is rigid at first, but becomes more human as the film progresses. The problem is that he has only one (!) notable fight scene in this movie, at the end, against Ngai Sing. Sing holds his own and the fight is fun to watch, but I do remember seeing him in a better - and longer - fight against Kenny Ho at the end of "Red Wolf" (another much superior film). Christy Chung serves as the eye-candy and little more, but I don't quite find her as attractive as she's supposed to be. (**)

This is a surprisingly great Jet Li film, i was pleasantly surprised, it had a cool story and an awesome fight at the end!. All the characters are great, and very likable!, plus Jet Li is simply amazing in this!.Jet and Christy Chung had awesome chemistry together, and the story is constantly interesting, plus it also had a few cool action scenes as well!. The opening is really cool, however the ending confused the hell out of me, that being said it was still pretty cool, and very emotional, and as i said the final fight was just fantastic!, plus The dubbing wasn't too bad in my opinion!. At 1st i found Christy Chung's character to be selfish and annoying, however she soon became likable, and the fight choreography was excellent!, plus Jet had a really cool character!. Some of the dialog was bad, but quite amusing at the same time, and i find this film to be quite underrated!, plus i though Jet's acting was fantastic!. This is a surprisingly great Jet Li Film, i was pleasantly surprised, it had a cool story and an awesome fight scene at the end, i highly recommend this one!. The Direction is very good. Corey Yuen and Kazuya Konaka do a very good job here, with great camera work, awesome angles, and keeping the film at a very fast pace!. The Acting is great.Jet Li is amazing as always, and is amazing here, he is very likable intense, had a very cool character, had awesome chemistry with Christy Chung, kicked that ass, had some decent dubbing, and was especially good at the end! (Jet Rules!!!!).Christy Chung is gorgeous, and does fine with what she had to do, she was a little annoying at 1st but soon became likable, and had awesome chemistry with Jet, i liked her. Kent Cheng did what he had to do well i liked him lots. Collin Chou is excellent as the main villain,he is a great martial artist, and was very menacing i liked him a lot.Wing-Chung Leung did what he had to do well as Ken, and was rather likable. Wai-Kwok Ng is okay as James but didn't have much to do. William Chu is terrible as the kid, and was annoying to boot. Rest of the cast do okay. Overall i highly recommend this one!. ***1/2 out of 5

**some spoilers** The Bodyguard from Bejing (aka the Defender) is a great Jet Li movie. When I first rented it, I was expecting action, action, and more action. To my delight, I was wrong! Even though I like to see action, I was happy to see Jet in a semi-romantic role. The tension and angst between himself, Christy Cheung, and her rich boyfriend is really nicely done, and the romantic scenes are perfect (although I REALLY wish Jet had kissed her!). Alot of people also dislike Christy Cheung's character. She is whiny, high-tempered and spoiled, right? Jet's character has invaded her life, and totally changed it. She has every right to be angry with him, and act like a brat. She doesn't treat other people that way. Her character is sweet, friendly, and charming when Jet isn't around. Her behavior toward Jet changes when she begins to fall in love with him. And he in turn softens as time goes by.There was also a surprising amount of guns and bullets. Usually Jet is all hands and feet, but this time it's more like guns and... more guns. Alot of Jet's got upset about how much gunplay there was, but I say variety is the spice of life. You can rent Meltdown or Hero if you want kung-fu. Although the picture and sound quality make you think the movie was done in the 50s, the film itself is great. There's comedy, mystery, romance, and of course action! Must see for any Jet fan!