The Protector (1985)

Let's be realistic.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

(57%) Back in the mid 80's Mr Chan didn't much care for this movie as he felt it was made not fully utilising his talent, for which I can understand. Featured here there's none of his trademark comedic fights, or insanely dangerous stunts, instead we get a gritter, more typically 1980's R-rated American action flick with plenty of shoot-outs, fist fights and explosions. The level of strong language, along with quite a lot of nudity also sets this apart from the usual Chan flick, but I cannot say I didn't enjoy this. The action is solid with plenty of it, and for a medium budgeted 80's action flick this is better than average.

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

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.

Jackie Chan's strength is in my opinion his talent in performing action comedy and fighting in creative settings. This movie puts Jackie Chan in an average cop-action movie that hardly takes advantage of Jackie Chan's strength. If someone else has played the role that Jackie Chan played in this movie, the movie could be a decent one. But Jackie Chan's presence in the movie gives expectation of something else than what this movie is. This is the problem of this movie: using Jackie Chan in an unsuitable role; or on the flip side, giving the role to someone unsuitable for this movie, Jackie Chan.