The Protector (1985)

Am I Missing Something?

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Billy Wong (Chan) is a tenacious and dedicated cop who always gets his man - but doesn't always play by the rules. Because of his rogue ways, he's busted down to "crowd control". While with his new partner Garoni (Aiello) at said crowd, a fashion show displaying "shimmering cocktail wear", a woman named Laura Shapiro (Ellis) is kidnapped by marauding thugs which crash the fashion show. Tying her kidnapping to the nefarious Hong Kong crime lord Harold Ko (Chiao), Wong and Garoni travel all the way from their home base in New York City to Hong Kong to rescue Laura and bring down the criminal enterprise of Ko. While there, they team up with some unlikely allies, Stan Jones (Ballistic director Kim Bass) and Soo Ling (Lee). Will they achieve their mission, and not destroy Hong Kong in the process? Find out today! We really loved The Protector. It's classic 80's fun all the way, with no shortage of action. Not only does the movie look great, thanks to its excellent cinematography, but it truly is Jackie Chan as you've never seen him before. We can see why he and director Glickenhaus had a falling out over differing visions, but, without giving away any spoilers, you just have to check out the scene between Jackie and none other than Big John Studd. It's amazing. In the New York City scenes, there are some great shots of the World Trade Center towers that add another layer of nostalgia. But besides the WTC, there's also a great example of a WYC (a White Yelling Chief, that is). The entertainment value never lets up.This movie was released at the height of Glickenhaus' powers as a director - we can see why Golden Harvest wanted to do a deal with him. He was smart enough to give action fans all of what they want, and none of what they don't. There's no stupid, annoying kid, there's no stupid, annoying romance, it's just one super-cool action setpiece after another, with Jackie doing what he does best. What more could you want? Plus, we get to see a slimmer Danny Aiello teamed with Jackie Chan. This truly was a once-in-a-lifetime pair-up. We thought they made a great team. Aiello wears a red jacket with no shirt, but with a medallion, which was a cool style for the day, and he's familiar with Hong Kong in the film because he was in Vietnam and they used to go there for R & R.The Protector is a winner - it's just wildly enjoyable fun from beginning to end. Featuring the song "One Up For the Good Guys" by Chip Taylor, we strongly recommend The Protector.

i didn't mind this movie pairing Jackie Chan and Danny Aiello.it's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination,but it kills some time.i've always liked Danny Aiello,so he elevates the movie a notch for me.the movie itself is a pretty generic crime drama.it's much darker in tone than The Big Brawl,Chan's first American movie,which had some humour in it.this one really doesn't.i didn't think the dialogue was all that great in this movie either.some of the lines were unnecessary or just plain silly.still,the movie was entertaining enough.this is Chan's second American movie(Cannonball Run II was just a small role,so it doesn't count)for me,The Protector is a 5/10

THE PROTECTOR. You hear the name. You think, "ah, it's a crappy Hong Kong movie." Guess what - it's not Hong Kong. And yes, it is crappy. This amazingly stupid Jackie Chan film, ruined by us, yes us, the Americans (I'm boiling with anger, ooh, I think I'll jump out that window!), has Chan as a New York cop hunting down a gang, avenging the death of his buddy. Sounds cool...but it's not. Don't waste your money renting it. To prove he could make a better cop film, Chan made the amazing POLICE STORY (1985).

This movie was the reason why Jackie didn't do a movie in the US for about 13 years (This is what Jackie said in an interview for the German DVD-release of "WHO AM I"). He was so deeply disappointed with this movie, that he reshot a lot of the scenes when he returned to Hong Kong.And now for my experience:I have seen nearly all Jackie Chan movies, and I wanted to see this one too. So I rented this one, although a friend told me that I would puke afterwards. And my friend was right.If you see it, you can also understand why Jackie didn't make movies in the US for such a long time.... Believe me!