The Protector, a 2005 martial arts movie about a guy whose beloved elephant is stolen by poachers, and he kicks the ass of everyone in sight to get it back, has become something of a kung-fu cult classic, mostly thanks to the impressive fight scenes featuring Tony Jaa. It is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, and it verges on cheesy more often than not, but its a lot of fun, full of good humor and plenty of broken bones. The Protector 2, in which Tony Jaa's elephant is once again stolen, this time by RZA, who wants to use the elephant both as bait to lure Jaa into joining his criminal organization of overly powerful martial artists, and as a bomb to sabotage the signing of a peace treaty between two warring states, sticks to the formula that made the first one so much fun. After the first ten minutes establish the basic plot, we are treated to non-stop action for the rest of the movie. In one scene Tony Jaa fights pastel-clad gangster riding motorcycles on a rooftop, and in another he fights a super-powered African American man while his foot is stuck to an electrical subway rail, leading them both to use electric kicks.
Petchtai Wongkamlao (alias Mum Jokmok), Jaa's sidekick in every one of his movies, and star of the action comedy series, The Bodyguard, once again returns to provide comic relief. When it comes to edge-of-your seat escapist entertainment, you really cannot go wrong with this one. Even if it is pretty much a remake of the first film, sometimes its best to stick to the script. And, hey, we get to see Tony Jaa fight RZA, no way you can go wrong with that!
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