Reviewed by: dandan Date: 07/17/2009 Summary: beware of the hong kong mosquito with high heels... two new york cops, billy wong (jackie chan) and danny garoni (danny aiello) head to hong kong after the daughter (laura shapiro) of a rich businessman is kidnapped by the drug lord harold ko (roy chiao). jackie's second attempt to work in america, hampered by director james glickenhaus' reluctance to let jackie do what he does best. terribly disappointed by the degree of violence, bad language and nudity that glickenhaus had filled the film with, upon his return to hong kong jackie re-shot several action sequences, re-edited the film, added a sub-plot with sally yeh, trimmed out most of the bad language and cut the nudity. i haven't seen the american cut, but finally found a copy of the hong kong cut last year... this isn't a great film and even jackie's reworking can't save it from mediocrity. sure, it's kinda fun to watch jackie and aiello as a pairing, there's some entertaining, if not inspiring, action and a plot of a similar standard. the good news, of course, is that jackie would swiftly go on to make 'police story', which i'm sure everyone recognises as a good thing... decidedly average...

Reviewed by: cal42 Date: 05/20/2006 Summary: BAD! Short review: It’s total crap. Long review: Lots of swearing and pointless nudity. One good move in the whole film. There is a Hong Kong version, and it’s a little less crap. The plot synopsis from the back of the Universe DVD is one of the most enjoyable aspects of this film. I quote: “Super action star Jackie Chan being the Director and actor this time in “The Protector”, co-starring Sally Yip and other action actress [maybe they forgot Moon Lee’s name?]. New York policeman Billy Wong (Jackie Chan) chase after the gangsters who killed his partner on the ground, on the ramparts and in the air [sounds like he was REALLY unlucky to be killed three times!]. He investigates a kidnapped case and chase to Hong Kong and discovers Mr. Big is the leader of the gangsters [NO! Surely it’s Mr. Henchman??! They’ve spoilt the surprise now!]. Finally, a big fireball lights up the beautiful harbour of Hong Kong.” Priceless, and a damn sight more entertaining than the film itself. I read an amusing interview with director James Glickenhaus back in the early 90’s talking about this film. The interviewer asked what he thought about Jackie re-shooting some of the scenes for the Asian market. Glickenhaus replied that Jackie only re-edited the film and didn’t add or re-shoot any of it. The reviewer apologised and said he’d seen the Asian print, and he definitely re-shot some of the footage, to which Glickenhaus, somewhat miffed, replied “well, he had no right to do that”. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Jackie’s version is now considered the definitive version, and dispenses with the pointless nudity altogether, adds a little humour and tones down the swearing. Thankfully, when Jackie went back to Hong Kong he made Police Story, and the world became a better place again. Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 10/26/2005 After Jackie Chan's first attempt in breaking into the American market with The Big Brawl failed, he headed back to Hong Kong. Even though his career was in a slump (it was years since his last big hit Drunken Master) Chan thought he could do great things back in his hometown. And, after a series of flops like Fantasy Mission Force, he did. With a string of hits that included Project A and My Lucky Stars, Chan was back in the game. With his confidence back, Chan decided to give Hollywood another crack with this movie. Unfortunately, many of the problems that plagued The Big Brawl (most notably an inept/uncooperative director) popped up in this movie as well. As a result, what we have here is an interesting take on a Jackie Chan movie but one that ultimately fails to hold up with most of the rest of Chan's work. The basic plot has Chan and partner Danny Aiello as New York City cops who are investigating the kidnapping of a wealthy man's daughter. The investigation eventually leads to Hong Kong and uncovers a conspiracy that involves a major heroin ring. It's here in the film's basics that it fails -- the movie tries to make Chan into a Dirty Harry-esque character and fails miserably at it. The filming of this movie occurred when Chan was at his apex of being the "clown prince" of kung fu movies; his films at this point had just as much (if not more) comedy in them, and trying to make Chan into a totally serious character doesn't work, especially when he's trying to act in English. Chan tried to make Glickenhaus change his role, but the director would have nothing of it. Jackie went so far as to try to get Gilckenhaus fired, but he had an ironclad contract to finish the film. After the film's dismal US release, Chan stepped in and shot some new footage for the Asian version of the movie and also cut out what he deemed was "gratuitous" swearing and nudity. So which version is better? Well, neither really. It's actually kind of fun seeing Jackie swearing like a sailor and getting a "massage" in the US version, but (as you might expect) the HK version has better fight scenes and more Moon Lee footage (you can never have too much Moon in my book). Though this might just be a moot point; no matter which version you watch, The Protector is a stunningly average film. The only good thing that came out of this whole mess is that it gave Chan the inspiration to do Police Story, which would end up being one of his most successful and influential films. [review from www.hkfilm.net]

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 01/13/2002 Summary: Not bad Despite what a lot of people say about this, I think it's actually not that bad. It's the movie that inspired Rush Hour, and although at the time it didn't do much for Jackie Chans career, it did alright in the US. The film making side of things were not done in Hong Kong only, which means that there is a heavy touch of American movie making in this, and it works out okay. I watched this again recently before reveiwing it and I noticed that Jackie Chans English seems to be better in this than in other US movies like Rush Hour. Moon Lee sounds good at English in this too, but that's unfortunatly all she does...she only has a few lines in the film. This is a serious action movie, not comedy, which I prefer Jackie Chan doing, although he doesn't have a lot of script to act out. Someone was saying that there was not much action or something, but that's completly untrue, there is a lot of action, even if some of it is slow. Not really a classic, especially for Jackie Chan, but still not a bad little film. I've seen this one several times before, and most movies I only watch twice. Rating: 3.5/5 (This rating is based on the year & genre, so don't think it's based as a comparison on new releases etc.)

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 05/05/2001 Summary: One more thing There is a USA version and Hk version and i watch the USa version!! I heard the HK version had more scenes add in it and more action so..............just saying!!

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 05/05/2001 Summary: Ummm.......... Another attempt of Jackie's early attempt to get into the USA market, and fails again!! Jackie actually SWEARS in this movie and the action is not up to jackie's standards!! Probably when this movie came out, the American's are wondering, who is this Jackie guy?? OH well they did learn 10 years later what Hollywood was missing out all this time........... 4/10

Reviewed by: hellboy Date: 09/04/2000 Summary: Rush Hour: the Early Years They tried to turn Jackie into Dirty Harry but failed miserably. As stated in previous reviews stay away from the domestic release! The HK version has a subplot injected into it with a few extra scenes as well as a re-directed final reel with a much more furious pace than the domestic release. The extra scene in the weight room also seems incongruent to the rest of the movie as it has almost a comic feel to it as opposed to the "dark, brooding" undercurrent of the domestic version. Compare the two endings scene for scene and you have a textbook example of how US action choreography differs from HK choreography. The HK version of the Protector is available through Tai Seng here in the US. 4/10 US version, 6.5/10 HK version. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 Chan plays a US cop who is teamed up with Aiello. The two of them must go to Hong Kong in search of a wealthy businessman's daughter who has been kidnapped. In the process they uncover a drug trafficking ring and must put an end to that. This is Jackie's second and last attempt to break into the US market. The film contains much violence but very little in the way of descent martial arts. (5/10) [Reviewed by Dave Warner]

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 A tough Chinese cop is sent to Hong Kong to combat drug dealers. Plenty of martial arts and other action in a violent and undemanding film. Switch your brain off and enjoy this fast-paced nonsense. (2/5) [Reviewed by Elliot's Guide to Films on Video]

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 BTW, did you know that 2 versions exists? There are missingfootages in both the English/North American Release and the Hong Kong release? Different footages in both make up about 10mins of difference. [Reviewed by Jay Fong]

Reviewed by: spinali Date: 12/08/1999 Summary: NULL NY cop Jackie Chan and his new partner Danny Aiello (!) go to HK to crack a drug smuggling operation. The standard issue plot is an excuse for big-budget, less-than-involving set pieces -- including chases by car, helicopter, motorboat and motorized junks. It concludes with Jackie crushing a helicopter with a crane, but the most entertaining scenes were the one or two short, tightly choreographed martial arts pieces. (2/4) [Reviewed by Steve Spinali] Reviewer Score: 5