The Protector — The Protector (UHD/ Blu Ray boxset)
From the mid-80’s, The Protector was Jackie Chan’s second attempt at breaking into the US market. It’s a speeding bullet-paced buddy cop action movie- with some neat daredevil stunts, more than a few bloody shoot-outs, and towards its end some great martial arts action. The film regards a Hong Kong-born New York-based cop (Chan) returning to his homeland with his NYC partner to track down the kidnapped daughter of a gangster. Here from 88 Films is a deluxe four-disc set- two UHDs & two Blu- Rays- release of the film- it takes in three different cuts of the picture, two commentary tracks, a few extras, and an eighty-page book.
The Protector is from 1985 and was a US/Hong Kong co-production. It was directed by New York-born James Glickenhaus. Between the mid 70’s and mid 90’s, he had seven other features to his name. These took in the likes of weird folk horror The Astrologer (1975), classic so-bad-it’s-great action film The Exterminator (1980), action-packed spy thriller The Soldier (1982), and sci-fi western Timemaster (1995).
As mentioned earlier, this release takes in three versions of the film- USA Version:95 minutes. Hong Kong Version (Jackie Chan's personal edit): 92 minutes, and Japanese Extended Version: 97 minutes. For my review of the film, I watched the first US version, though I listened to the commentary track on the Hong Kong version.
So, the film kicks off with fourteen or so minutes of pretty non-stop action. We go from a nighttime HGV robbery, where the doors are pulled off by a group of punks & little people. Onto a bloody shoot out between coked up villains and cops- one of the gang gets away, so chase is taken up, which moves onto the water with speedboat and copper action.
As we settle down for a moment, we get introduced to our two cop leads- Billy Wong ( Chan), who recently celebrated his tenth year living & working in New York City. And sweary/ likes carrying an Uzi/ Vietnam vet Italian American Danny Garoni (Danny Aiello).
We see the pair dressed up in their finest threads to attend the fashion launch connected with one of the city's biggest gangsters. His daughter, Laura(Saun Ellis), is kidnapped, and it’s clear she has been taken to Hong Kong, as it has to do with an American/ Asian drug trade.
So, of course, Wong and Garoni are sent over to Hong Kong to try and get Laura back. Here we move from a massager pallor fight/ shoot out. motorcycle/ pole vaulting/ running across a boat chase. A Neon sign set shoot out/ acrobatics. Finishing off with a fifteen-minute finale that moves from brutal warehouse flight out onto a pallet high up in the sky fight.
The action focus is much more on your standard gun battles, stunts, and chases you’d expect from a US film. Yes, in this version Chan gets a few martial arts fights, but these are largely stuck at the end of the film, so you can fully understand why he wanted to make his own version of the film.
Chan and Aiello are fine as our cop buddy leads- getting a few quotable lines, light touches of humour, a fair bit of swearing, and of course some great/ daredevil stunts from Mr Chan. The rest of the supporting cast is largely good too, with special mentions going to charming/ well spoken bad guy Mr Ko( Roy Chiao). And Richard Clarke as the starchy Superintendent Whitehead, who is constantly telling off the pair for causing damage/ crossing the line.
We get a fair bit of blood in the shoot-outs, as well as a few occasions of full-frontal nudity, and swearing- hence the eighteen cert. All in all, I wholeheartedly enjoyed seeing Chan in a largely more formal US action film- if you're looking for his more martial arts-based fighting, you may be disappointed, but I found The Protector a most entertaining mid-80s action film.
For review purposes, we were sent just the two Blu-ray discs, so I’m guessing the same content is on the UHD discs. First off, we have to mention the 4k scan- this looks very crisp and clean, with a good/ even balance of dialogue and music.
Moving on to the extras, the first Blu-ray disc is disc three in the set. On this, we find the US cut of the film. And the following( I believe are all new extras). Mars Cheung on The Protector (15.46). Hard Edge: Interview with Writer/Director James Glickenhaus ( 24.23). Follow the Puck (33.45) Interview with Cinematographer Mark Irwin. A Tale of 2 movies with Steve Lawson (18.12): A side-by-side comparison of the HK cut and the US cut of the film.
On disc four, we have the two other cuts of the film- the Hong Kong and Japanese Extended- both of which feature Cantonese language, with English subtitles. The Hong Kong version takes in two new commentaries- the first is new and with East Asian film experts Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) & F.J. De Santto. And the second archival one is with George Clarke & Mike Leede. I played the new track, and this is a nicely informative/ chatty affair. The pair begin by saying that this HK version is the best cut of the film, and that it was a key film in Chan’s development. We find out the direct translator of the Chinese title was Mighty Dragon, Fearless Detective. It first showed in HK before the US- playing between July 11th and August 7th- making fourteen million HK dollars, getting to number eleven in the HK box office for 1985. They discuss how the opening scene has a rather Mad Max/ The Terminator tone, which just doesn’t appear again. They talk about how the US cut of the film presented Chan in a very different light from normal, going for a more eastern Clint Eastwood feel, with the bloody shootouts, F-bombs, and female nudity. They comment on the NYC locations and point out moments when Chan is switched out for a stuntman. We find out the film started filming in NYC with a budget of seven million dollars. Later on, they discuss the additional scenes Chan shot for his version of the film, and you can identify these as his hair is shorter. They talk about how these additional scenes fill out some of the characters, and more.
The finished release comes with an eighty-page book. This features new writing by William Blaik and Thorsten Boose, and there is an interview with cinematographer Henry Chung.
It’s great to see 88 Films pulling out all the stops for this deluxe release of The Protector, with its clear and crisp 4k, three versions of the film, interesting extras, and the eighty-page book. If you want to see Chan’s take on Dirty Harry, this is the film for you.