Protector

Oscar Wilde once said that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” and he could have been talking about a lot of things. Too often though, it feels like we live in a copycat society—because when someone finds something that works, you’re almost guaranteed to see a whole lot more of it. For this conversation, let’s focus on movies, and specifically the surge of “one person against the world” action films. Personally, I’m here for it. I love seeing the work that stunt performers and fight choreographers put in, because no matter the budget, those people are always giving the effort.

Joining the ever-growing one-person army list is Adrian Grünberg’s new film Protector. The only question is: does it land its punches, or does it pull them?

Nikki (Milla Jovovich) is a soldier who has devoted her life to serving her country, but that dedication has come at a cost—she’s missed most of her daughter’s life. Now her daughter Chloe (Isabel Myers) is turning sixteen. Nikki’s husband has passed away from cancer, and Chloe is firmly in that rebellious teenage phase, blaming her mother for never being around. Nikki still sees Chloe as her little girl, but Chloe just wants to hang out with her friends and enjoy her freedom.

That’s how she ends up at a bar one night, where her friends introduce her to a guy and then leave her alone with him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have good intentions. He drugs Chloe’s drink and kidnaps her. Nikki actually witnesses part of the abduction and almost stops it—taking out two of the men involved—but a third manages to escape with Chloe. Now you’ve got one very angry mother on your hands, and Nikki isn’t going to stop until she gets her daughter back, no matter how many bad guys she has to take down along the way.

Written by Bong-Seob Mun, Protector makes some bold narrative decisions, including a twisty ending and what feels like the omission of some crucial story beats. If those ideas had fully landed, they might have helped the film stand out in the crowded field of lower-budget action movies. Instead, Protector ends up feeling fairly generic. That’s not the only issue, either. Several subplots pull focus away from what actually works best: watching Jovovich kick some serious ass.

The film clearly wants to reach for the kind of emotional depth found in First Blood, or Taken but it never quite escapes the shallow end of the pool. What does work is Jovovich’s commitment to the role and the stunt work. She delivers a few memorable action moments and stands out from the rest of the cast in a big way. Unfortunately, many of the supporting performances feel stiff, with actors delivering lines awkwardly and rarely matching Jovovich’s level of commitment.

For a movie like this, the bread and butter should be the action. Strangely, though, many of those moments happen off-screen, robbing the audience of what could have been some of the film’s most exciting sequences. In the end, Protector just isn’t all that compelling. While there are a few solid action scenes sprinkled throughout, they’re far too few to overcome the film’s larger shortcomings.