Be sure to check out Tony Jaa's "Ong Bak: Thai Warrior"...it is a fantastic martial arts action film and Jaa's physical ability is a jaw-dropping wonder to behold.
"The Protector" is a dance of action figures
BY JOHN ANDERSON
Special to Newsday
September 8, 2006
"Give me my elephants!!!" isn't exactly "Hasta la vista, baby" or "Make my day." But Thai action star Tony Jaa - playing a member of an ancient Thai order of elephant keepers - isn't really big on words. Dislocations, hematomas, and demolished decor, yes, he delivers. Just as "The Protector" will deliver him on a flower-strewn path into the consciousness of the American young and kung-furious.
The sound equipment on this Thai import might have consisted of a hammer and a bag of walnuts, but the choreography of the film - "presented" by Quentin Tarantino, who has put his imprimatur on a number of notable Asian action films ("Hero," "Iron Monkey") - is spectacular.
The quandary faced by kung-fu stars, from Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan (who has a cameo here) to Jet Li, is that the bar isn't just raised from movie to movie, it gets raised during the movie. If you make your first fight scene unbelievable, the next two or three are going to have to be more unbelievable. So you hedge.
Not Jaa, who seems to be going for broke right from the start, as his character Kham loses his father and his two elephants to evil poachers who take the animals back to Sydney - and a restaurant that specializes in endangered species! (See: "The Freshman"). While the viewer wonders about the culinary possibilities, Kham opens a can of Muay Thai whuppass on the head of underworld Australia, which is being led by the evil Madame Rose (Xing Jing).
There is very little in terms of storytelling or filmmaking that's at all new in "The Protector." The film itself is made to look rough and grainy, perhaps to emulate an old Shaw Brothers production of classic Hong Kong kung-fu cinema, which also inspires the narrative stasis. The story merely serves as a springboard for the hero to do what he does best - which is to beat several dozen men at a time to near death - and that's wise, since Jaa seems to possess more raw sweetness and naivete than he does sex appeal.
As per the usual scenario, the hero is virtually invincible, mowing down more foes than The Bride in "Kill Bill," but he has to meet his match at some point - or come close. Kham comes close three times - against a capoeira fighter (Lateef Crowder) a swordsman (Jon Foo) and then a man big enough to have his own zip code (Nathan Jones). You'll be exhausted when it's over, of course, but harbor a lingering sense of vicarious accomplishment.
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