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.
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Reviews
Too much of everything
Such a frustrating disappointment
Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
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.
This film generally gets bad reviews, mostly it seems from Jackie Chan fans. It is a more 'American' type of action film and if like me you do not like the usual lighthearted Chan films then you may well like this as it is a lot more serious.Pleasantly surprised by this one, great action scenes. Pretty violent and very little or no slapstick comedy!!! Chan gives a fairly poor performance in this but then he not the best actor in the world anyway and it does not really matter. His fight scenes are very good, though not as elaborate as in his other films. This makes the whole thing more realistic, with more emphasis on bloody gunfights and explosions as is typical of James Glickenhaus' work.Not bad at all. Enjoyable.
This is a very mediocre Jackie Chan film and one of his absolute worst James Glickenhaus ruined it!. All the characters are decent i guess, but the story is so so, however Jackie Chan is still amazing in this even if he did look bored. Jackie and Danny Aiello had zero chemistry together, and it was very boring a lot of times, however the finale was above average and managed to be fairly entertaining, and had some good stunts!. I have not yet seen the Hong Kong version, however i'm sure it's better then this dud, plus the twist is very predictable!. It's really lifeless and bland, and i don't blame Jackie for not looking happy in this, and if he didn't star in this it would have been unbearable and completely unwatchable. The opening is supposed to be memorable, but it's nothing i haven't seen before and done better at that, and i thought the whole film was rather lazy and could have been an awesome film if Jackie had control of it!, plus i really didn't root for any of the characters. This is a very mediocre Jackie Chan film, and one of his absolute worst James Glickenhaus ruined it!, not recommended even for Die hard Jackie Chan fans. The Direction is terrible!. James Glickenhaus does a terrible job here, with extremely bland camera work, bad angles, and keeping the film boring for the most part throughout. The Acting is so so. Jackie Chan is AMAZING as always, however he is not his usual energetic self, and looks bored and Ps*ed off throughout the film, had zero chemistry with Danny Aiello, and i really don't blame him either! (Jackie Rules!!!!!). Danny Aiello is OK here, as Jackie's partner, but his character is a bit of an ass, and he had zero chemistry with Jackie, he did OK i guess. Roy Chiao is decent as the main villain, but was just going through the motions and wasn't all that menacing, he still is damn cool though. Rest of the cast are average at best. Overall Not worth your time or money. *1/2 out of 5
The perfect example of the difference between HK, and American action, this one exists in two forms: the James Glickenhaus pile of garbage, and the fairly entertaining Jackie re-edit with new subplot and fight scenes....I can't really recommend either, but the Chan edit, is well, obviously better, and it turns out the villains CAN fight.....Sad to compare the two really. I still get a rise out of seeing former pro-wrestler Big John Stud in an early scene as a robber.....