SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Excellent, a Must See

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

As part of a centuries-old tradition in Thailand, certain people take on the duties to protect their all-important - and perhaps even sacred - elephants. These special people are known, naturally, as Protectors. Raised in rural Thailand as a Protector, like his father before him, Kham (Jaa) takes his responsibilities seriously - VERY seriously. When an unscrupulous gangster named Johnny Yai (Nguyen) kidnaps Kham's two beloved elephants, Kohrn and Por-Yai (yes, the elephants have names), Kham travels to Sydney, Australia to find them and bring them back home. Teaming up with a Thai cop named Mark (Wongkamlao), Kham has to fight wave after wave of baddies who really take their elephant-napping to heart. It's all being controlled by whip-wielding gangstress Madame Rose (Xing). Will Kham battle his way through the meatheads and retrieve the elephants? Find out today! Tony Jaa is just the Man. When it comes to Martial Arts fights, stunts, and choreography, he is arguably the best of his generation. What this man can do is unbelievably great and highly impressive. He gets the utmost respect not just for his considerable natural talent, but for his refusal to use wires or stunt doubles during fight scenes. His penchant for long takes is hugely appreciated and stands as the 180-degree opposite to the annoying "quick-cut" trend of today. The word on the street is, unfortunately, he has bad management that force him to do a lot of stupid movies and he went kind of nuts. He's kind of like the action movie equivalent of Dave Chappelle. Of course, this doesn't diminish him in any way.The plot, simple as it is, shows a fascinating cultural difference that we really enjoyed. In most movies, a disc of some sort would be the sought-after item. In this case it's elephants. The fact that elephants are so central to the Thai culture, and thus such a driving, motivating factor for the characters, was fascinating. To us Americans, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but we had to get over that and delve into the Thai mindset as best we could. Add to that the highly-impressive fight scenes and a fruit-cart boat chase, and you get sucked in to the movie quickly and effectively. There's even a boat-induced exploding helicopter. We don't think we've ever seen that before.Of course, there are some time-honored action movie clichés we all know and love (besides the fruit-cart chase and the exploding heli), such as the wacky taxi driver, the warehouse fights, etc. Of course, to viewers of Ong-Bak (2003), the whole structure will seem very familiar: Tony Jaa goes to a new and unfamiliar city in search of something important to his culture, and has to fight a ton of people in the process. Rather than criticize this, we applaud it. So many action movies have overly-complicated plots that don't serve the movie well. The Protector and Ong-Bak have nice, simple plots that clear the way and leave enough room for Tony Jaa to do his thing. No fuss, no muss. Finally.Sure, there is some shooting and a few blow-ups, but, thankfully, the talent of Mr. Jaa is given an excellent platform here. He really shines as he fights not just the "cannon fodder" type of goon but also other fighters with various levels of expertise: some of his opponents are simply labeled "Capoeira Fighter" (Crowder) and "Wushu Fighter" (Foo). Of course, he also has to take on a small gang of meatheads, but he has a secret weapon up his sleeve… We can see all the countless hours of blood, sweat and tears that went into making this movie, and it certainly doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. For a top Martial Arts viewing experience, we heartily recommend The Protector.

First off I unlike most people enjoy the revenge plot with kung fu movies. But this movie was worse than the new Godzilla movies in production. Usually kung fu flicks are fluid, but this one is like a rip off of the third sequel to Transporter or Rumble in the Bronx.It was bad on an unbelievable level. The plot wholes are unforgivable.It's not always just about kung fu like I said. I do enjoy entire movies.On a good note I got laid during it. So I guess it's a good date movie! But really guys if you want a good kung fu movie watch 36 Chambers of the Shaolin, Fist of Legend, Fearless, The Street Fighter, Fist of Fury, Police Story or Ong Bak 1 or 2.This one will disappoint. It's confusing why its not the watch now on netflix and the Ong Baks are on there. I look forward to the next Ong Bak. But this was so bad i turned it off eventually. Movies should get better not worse.

Tony Jaa and Prachya Pinkaew know how to butter their bread, and make it extra toasty for anyone interested in martial arts movies let alone die-hards. After the success of Ong-Bak, they went on to make another film that had a slightly sillier story - Tony Jaa's character is a 'protector' of a baby elephant and its parent or uncle or whatever, and after the two elephants are kidnapped he goes on a rampage to find the people who did it. Of course, this means Pinkaew and the writers have to concoct one of those plots in martial arts movies loaded with bad guys and some cops too, and other side characters of some value like a guy who sticks up convenience stores, badly, or that other guy who, frankly, is one of the only real matches to Jaa.These 'plot' scenes aren't too bad, and keep the story rolling and contain some decent performances. But we didn't go into the Protector to see an actual story, did we? It's actually kind of superfluous, and if it weren't for the significance of elephants in Thailand, it could be a MacGuffin. The story is, frankly, second to what the Protector really shines at: showing off Tony Jaa kicking ass and not having the time to take names since he kicks ass every other second. Jaa here more than proves his worth; like Jackie Chan he had the 'no stunt-double' thing going on, as happened in Ong-Bak, but here unlike in Ong-Bak there isn't super fast cutting in the action and fight scenes. Indeed there's a scene that reminds one of Oldboy, where a five minute long take shows Jaa going up a stair-case (all in stedi-cam, not hand-held thank goodness) and mercilessly beating the crap out of any henchman that gets in his way. It's so powerful because we know already Jaa can do it, and because the mis-en-scene is so relentless. In terms of grace and skill, if not service to the story, it even tops Oldboy.Oh, and that's not all. Some scenes seem to go forever with Jaa fighting off the ridiculous onslaught of henchman and thugs, which include a pack of wild skaters. And when it comes to that last showdown- where we see how a tragedy knocks up Jaa's "I'll kill you all!" meter a thousand points- it's breathtaking. It's hard to recommend The Protector for any other reason than for Tony Jaa and his meticulous, daunting, eye-popping array of technique and skills with his body as a martial artists. He's at the top of the crop of people who have ever appeared on celluloid doing this, up there with Bruce Lee and Chan. If the movie itself doesn't quite live up to it (albeit still relatively well-made and with its touches of humor), it's fine. 7.5/10

Tony Jaa is back with a bang, as the baby-faced yet deadly Muay Thai master. This time, he plays a young man who travels to Sydney in order to find two of his father's elephants who were stolen by a criminal organisation with less than favourable intentions.The result is a revenge movie of gargantuan proportions. With this film, Jaa has taken the success of Ong-Bak and upped the ante, creating more havoc, fighting more bad guys and breaking more limbs as he tears his way through Sydney's underworld in search of his pachyderm friends.A number of scenes in this film stand out. Jaa fights a group of gigantic men, akin to Zangief of Street Fighter fame. He also fights against a Capoeira specialist with the moves and direct look of Eddie Gordo from Tekken. However, the scene that stands out above all others in this film, is one that literally takes the breath away. Jaa fights his way up three floors of a pagoda-like structure, fighting countless enemies, throwing them off things, breaking objects onto their heads, and breaking their arms. This may seem like average fight-movie thoroughfare, but when you consider the fact that the whole thing was done in one take, it should do nothing but impress. Watching it, as already mentioned, takes the breath away, and paints Tony Jaa as the legend he surely deserves to be.Overall, this is a terrific film. More fights, more falls, more carnage. A terrific piece of cinema, with something for everyone. Jaa really is here to stay, and aren't we just glad he came.