The Protector
The Protector
R | 23 August 1985 (USA)
The Protector Trailers

Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.

Reviews
bcheng93

Everybody and their mothers bashed this movie including Jackie himself who reshot and added more action and fight scenes in Hong Kong. I think Jackie bashed the movie himself because it was a flop.This was an above average 80's action cop-buddy movie with some very expensive action scenes. In NY harbor they blew up 2 boats and in HK they blew up a helicopter. The fights were good to excellent including a Jackie fight with legendary MMA fighter Bill Wallace and a crazy fight in a massage parlor and that is just off the top of my head. Probably my favorite scene is the fight and chase scene in Kowloon harbor on the water itself where a population of boat people live year round. He does 2 death defying stunts in that scene alone, one involving a motor-cross bike and one with a long pole.It was not a typical Jackie flick because Jackie curses a lot and is seemed to be a cocky womanizer and there is a lot of nudity in this movie and it wasn't a comedy. His acting wasn't bad and i thought his chemistry with Danny Aiello was pretty good too.Personally, i am a huge fan of Jackies being that i think i saw just about all his movies including some bad ones went he was just starting out in the early 70's and as a fan i'm glad he switched to a new role in this movie...and i don't know but there is just something about this movie that makes me watch it again and again. People ripped the endsong and i thought there was nothing wrong and it was a good song.It doesn't hurt that the gorgeous Moon Lee is in the movie too! All in all this is probably in my higher selection of Jackie movies that i like. When and if you do watch this movie, know that this is not a typical Jackie movie and just start from there and i hope you will like this movie also.

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daworldismine

i am a huge chan fan, seen all his movies, and while this one is cerainly not his best. it is still a good action movie, with some great fight scenes and stunt work. this movie is very voilent and is definitely not for younger chan fans, as there is also a considarable amount of nudity in here. the movie has no comedy at all, and as it was his second English language movie, he is very hard to understand. but when it comes to the action, chan delivers, offering some truly brilliant stunts, and some brutal fight scenes. most fans bash this movie, and i suppose i understand that if your wanting a typical chan comedy, but I've always loved him as an actor peiod and some of his best movies have been his dark serious one (crime story, new police story, and shinjuku incident). and while this doesn't hold a candle to them movies. its a solid 80's action movie, and i recommend if in the right mood

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victorpf

OK not a great Jackie Chan movie but this film actually gets better with age. Everybody criticizes this as not a "Jackie Chan" movie, but if you watch Kirk Wong's CRIME STORY, Jackie's character is actually very similar! I have seen the Hong Kong version of this movie with the added scenes, but actually the US version is a lot more realistic because of the tougher (cursing) dialogue and nudity. The HK version has added scenes with Sally Yeh that actually make no sense as far as the plot goes. Plus it is strange listening to the American actors speaking perfect Cantonese! This movie was actually ahead of it's time because it seems to have influenced a lot of the gangster movies of the '90s. It also seems to have inspired Chow Yun-fat's TIGER ON THE BEAT with its chainsaw scene. I know Jackie was not happy with this film and it shows. Still it inspired him to make better films such as POLICE STORY. For that we should be thankful.

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westpac

This movie suffers from the fact that for years Hollywood had no clue as to how to package Jackie Chan for the masses. His low-budget Hong Kong movies were all fast-paced kinetic thrillers that highlight his amazing gymnastic skills and talent for light comedy. His early Hollywood films stuck him in the same movies that were being packaged for Stallone or Chuck Norris. There is nothing about Chan's character in this movie that requires the character to be Asian except for his being the star. In his Hong Kong films Chan is never dull, with the movies being one rapid-fire martial arts sequence after another, but "The Protector" is lifeless throughout. Danny Aiello isn't given much to work with either and the lacking chemistry between the two probably is more a result of the script and direction than how the two actors got on together. Both have been better in worse movies. The best thing about the movie is the Hong Kong settings. The worst part is the appalling way that Jackie Chan comes off so colorless and drab. It wouldn't be until the made-in-Canada "Rumble in the Bronx" that the west would finally figure out how to make a good Jackie Chan movie.

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