Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

The Protector is Jackie Chan’s second American made movie with him as the star (not including Cannonball Run, in other words). While slightly more readily available than his first American movie, Battle Creek Brawl, it’s not easy to find on DVD even on the internet. That’s because it’s one of his worst movies ever, at least of those he’s actually starred in (he has appeared in or been involved with worse).

If you are a collector that wants to see or own Protector the main fact you need to know is that there are 2 vastly different edits available. Jackie was so upset about the end result of the movie that he changed the edit and even shot completely new scenes. Personally I think his version is considerably better and recommend it over the original. I’ll try to give you as much information as I can about both.

The first negative is the plot. It’s weak and slow. Jackie and Danny Aiello are cops assigned to menial duties as a result of their penchants for getting into trouble. Being in the right place at the right time they witness a kidnapping. They are able to determine that the victim was taken to Hong Kong and is caught in the middle of a misunderstanding between her criminal father and a Chinese drug lord. Rescuing her means Jackie and Danny going to Hong Kong (where Jackie’s character, Billy, is originally from) and facing off against the might of Mr. Ko. Ko has influence in high places so the cops set out to make allies of their own strong and brave enough to stand up to Ko’s thugs. It’s a deadly battle that not everyone will survive.

The fighting is stiff although we do get to see Jackie use some of his patented use-anything-as-a-weapon style. In the Hong Kong version Jackie’s final battle with Superfoot Wallace is redone to make it more exciting and fluid. Another fight scene was added in classic Lucky Stars style with Jackie facing off against two physical fitness trainers interested in impressing a girl. It’s fast and funny with Jackie using weightlifting equipment and other things in his battle. This one scene more than anything made me glad I bought the movie. Very little of the rest of the movie is impressive as far as action.

Comparing Jackie’s original fight scene to the rest of the movie, I don’t see how Glickenhaus, the original director, got into movies. His stuff is pretty bad. Take for example a shootout scene in which a man is lifted off his feet and carried through a window by the force of a hand gun. Can we say physics taking a back seat? It’s stupid stuff like that that worsens the movie.

The acting is decent at best. Don’t expect anything good. Danny Aiello doesn’t completely suck, but he still falls into typical B-movie action cheesiness. Jackie struggle with his English which hurts his performance. A couple of the Asian actors aren’t bad, but they aren’t given enough light to actually shine.

Content:
This is a major difference between the two edits. The original has several shots with nudity including 5 different women showing full-frontal. There are a couple of sexual situations and perverted discussions, bloody violence, and a lot of really bad language. The Hong Kong version takes that down to PG13 material. All of the female nudity is completely removed. I think you can still see some bare male butts, but blink and you’ll miss them. Since the voices are overdubbed by Asian actors and the movie is subtitled in English rather than using the original soundtrack, something like 98% of the language has been removed. You’ll hear worse language on a tame TV show. The violence is still worse than the average Jackie Chan movie except for the new scenes.

DVD:
I’m afraid I’m not going to be much help on this part. I got my DVD, the Hong Kong version, by having it imported from Hong Kong. I have never seen the same version offered again. I have yet to see the original American version offered on DVD though it’s entirely possible that one of the distributors specializing in obscure movies might offer it. I have also not seen an American release of either version except for VHS so if you want it you will have to do some searching.

My imported version has audio and video quality about as good as a clean VHS copy. The redubbed audio is in 5.1 surround. It offers subtitles in multiple languages, including English, but no English audio track. I doubt you will find the original English audio track with the edited version of the movie. You will have to decide which version you would rather have and search it out.

My version has few special features other than some previews. There is a trailer for the movie and two bios. The bios are written in Chinese and English, but the translation is poor making them hard to read. I’ll be surprised if there’s ever a release with anything of note on it.

Final thoughts:
If you get the chance to rent it I say go ahead, but for a purchase make sure you know what you’re getting. Only fans devoted enough to do a little searching need worry about tracking it down. If you’re that big a fan the Hong Kong version should be your top priority, but don’t expect a lot out of it and expect even less from the American version. It gets 3* mostly for Jackie’s new gym fight, otherwise it would be a 2*.

For anyone interested in more detail, the following is a list of the major differences I noticed between the two versions. There may be some spoilers, but some of it won’t make any sense until you’ve seen the movie. “C-“ means Chinese or Hong Kong version; “A-“ means American.

· C- updated to say that the big rig was carrying computers. The A- line that says “You stopped for a red light in the Bronx?” (the quote may not be exact) is now “…a red light with a truckload of computers?”
· C- Jackie shoots Big John Studd multiple times (A- version is just 1 shot)
· C- The boat crash is better with quicker edits
· C- There’s a funeral for Jackie’s (Billy’s) dead partner whereas the A- version has no such scene.
· C- A line referencing Jackie as a “supercop” is added (an inside joke for Chan fans).
· C- The black cop that claps for Jackie first speaks to him (in A- version he only claps).
· C- The “chink” reference is removed from the fashion show scene.
· C- The reference to Heroin is cut out.
· C- The scene with the Chinese cop is changed. Now he tells Jackie & Danny that the superintendent has been chasing Ko for a long time and is afraid the American cops will get in the way (justifying the superior’s resistance to them, in other words). He also gives them the clue that the massage parlor is linked to Ko where no such explanation is given for their visit in the A- version.
· C- The scene of Jackie & Danny entering the massage parlor is cut.
· C- Though there is a shot of a guy’s butt in the background, all female nudity and sexual references have been cut.
· C- New Scene: Jackie meets Sally at her ballet rehearsal. The following fight is the best scene in the movie. Sally is introduced as a new link to Lee Hing, who ultimately leads the cops to Ko in the original plot, adding a little more strength to the plot.
· C- The dialogue during the trip to the boat is altered to fit with the new Sally sub-plot. The boat trip is a lot shorter.
· C- Lee Hing’s dialogue is shortened and changed. His reason for helping is different (more honorable) and Soo, his daughter, becomes Jackie’s contact instead of the black guy as in the A- version.
· C- New Scene: Ko has his henchman beaten for his failure to assassinate Lee Hing which will later tie in to the new Sally sub-plot.
· C- The dialogue during the assassination is changed and cleaned. It sounds more natural and realistic than the A- version.
· C- New Scene: Benny comes to Hong Kong.
· C- There is no scene of Jackie and Danny discussing horses as in the A- version.
· C- New Scene: (actually just a quick shot) of Ko arriving at the horse dedication in his helicopter.
· C- Ko’s speech is shortened.
· C- The plan of action Jackie and Danny discuss after throwing the bribe money at Ko changes. It more clearly explains what is about to happen.
· C- New Scene: Benny (played by Superfoot Wallace) visits the kidnapped Laura. An arrangement is made to pay a ransom for her equal to the amount of an unpaid shipment. With relations between the organizations smoothed out, Benny wants to help get rid of the cops before they can cause any more trouble. The bad guys are now united against the cops although Laura is not immediately released.
· C- New Scene: Hing has a midnight meeting with his friend finding out where Laura is being held: a secret heroin lab. It adds more realism to the process of the investigation. This leads into the fight Hing and his friend have with Benny which is in both versions.
· C- The fight with Hing’s friend and Benny is faster with better editing.
· C- Jackie meets Soo at the shipyards at night instead of on the boat.
· C- Hing’s death is less violent though his friend’s is more gruesome.
· C- No fortune teller scene as in the A- version.
· C- New Scene: Jackie goes to see Sally at her home and saves her from a bomb. The henchman he chased on the boat (the same one Ko had beaten) is Sally’s uncle. He shows up ready to turn over a new leaf and rats out Ko to Jackie in exchange for safety. This leads into Danny staking out the shipyard which is in both versions.
· C- New Scene: Jackie takes Sally and her uncle to the airport to escape Ko.
· C- There is no meeting between Ko and Benny as in the A- version.
· C- The boat conversation is changed. There are no lines about what might happen if they get caught. There is a new line about containers being welded together which serves to explain how a space as large as a building can exist in a stack of shipping containers.
· C- There are several new and altered shots of the adventures in the shipping container lab. Shots of Benny have been added. Every last bit of nudity (which is pretty extensive in the A- version) is removed meaning that some of the action, though basically the same in both versions, has been re-shot. For example, the scene where Laura is rescued includes 4 nude women in the A-, for the C- it’s just prison guards which makes more sense anyway. Even if 4 butt-naked women working in an heroin lab is realistic, which I doubt, having the prison in the same room (which is the setup in the A- version) doesn’t make sense. The C- guards’ reactions are pretty much the same as the A- just without the naked women.
· C- The final fight has been re-shot to look much better and faster. Most of the blocking is the same as the A-, but it’s smoother and generally more exciting. Jackie now uses clay pots and such as weapons, and there is more chainsaw action. Benny still cuts through the stack of pallets, but now Jackie is rolling across the top of them. Benny also still gets electrocuted, but the angles are different.
· C- The editing is tighter in the final scene and the dialogue is different.
· C- The closing theme is more exciting.



Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age