The Protégé is a 2021 action thriller directed by Martin Campbell, and written by Richard Wenk. Campbell is an accomplished director known for his revenge thrillers, including 2017’s The Foreigner (review and trailer here) starring Jackie Chan, Edge of Darkness (2010) starring Mel Gibson, and last but not least James Bond films Goldeneye (1995) and Casino Royale (2006).
Rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody (Samuel L. Jackson) and trained in the family business, Anna (Maggie Q) is the world’s most skilled contract killer. But when Moody – the man who was like a father to her and taught her everything she needs to know about trust and survival – is brutally killed, Anna vows revenge. As she becomes entangled with an enigmatic killer (Michael Keaton) whose attraction to her goes way beyond cat and mouse, their confrontation turns deadly and the loose ends of a life spent killing will weave themselves even tighter.
The full cast includes Maggie Q, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, Patrick Malahide, David Rintoul, Ori Pfeffer, Ray Fearon, Caroline Loncq, and Robert Patrick.
The Protégé released in theaters on August 20th, courtesy of Lionsgate.
THE GOOD
Okay so I have to admit, this movie was very much under-the-radar for me from the beginning. I feel like they did a poor job with the marketing up until maybe a week before release, which makes zero sense considering the big name cast and very accomplished director. I mean I didn’t even watch the trailer until a few weeks ago when I realized this would be a wide release movie, which is very odd for me since I pretty much watch every single trailer. Once I finally watched the trailer, I was excited for what The Protégé had to offer. The cast included the beautiful, badass, and very underrated Maggie Q, the legend that is Samuel L. Jackson, and one of my favorite veteran actors, Mr. Michael Keaton. If you haven’t seen the cult classic comedy Multiplicity, what are you doing with your life? I mean, seriously. Plus, as I touched on in the intro the man behind the camera, Martin Campbell, knows his way around a gritty R-rated revenge thriller. If you have yet to see The Foreigner and you enjoy a good revenge flick, watch it ASAP. I absolutely love a well made revenge flick, and have seen Gerard Butler’s Law Abiding Citizen at least 30 times. So what did I think about Campbell’s latest?
Long story short, The Protégé is a very engaging and very fun movie. As I mentioned, my expectations were moderate going in but I was hoping to get something that felt similar to The Foreigner, and that is exactly what I got. The action scenes and fight sequences are brutal and very bloody, taking full advantage of that R-rating. The lead character Anna, played by Maggie Q, knows her way around a knife, or any sharp object really, and can also fire a handgun or shotgun with the best of them. I lost count as far as how many bad guys ended up as brain graffiti on the nearest wall, but it was a lot. The movie poster and trailer point out that the studio also churned out the John Wick franchise, and similar to that deadly pet loving assassin, Anna is not interested in sending her enemies to the ER, she is looking to put them on a slab in the morgue. So yeah, best to avoid getting on her bad side.
I enjoyed so much about The Protégé , but more than anything else I loved the energy and the feel. The opening scene set the tone for me, and really established that John Wick-esque element that I was looking for. In order for a movie like this to work, the main character has to be believable as someone you just do not mess with, and they were able to accomplish that, and then some. For a movie that is just shy of 2-hours, The Protégé never feels slow which speaks to the very effective pacing to keep the story moving along. I also really liked the relationships they established between the characters. The acting in itself was stellar, especially from the big 3, but I feel like that was a given. I mean sure Maggie Q is underappreciated in so many ways and is without a doubt one of the biggest female action stars in the business right now, but many of us expected her to crush this role. She is formidable, intense without seeming over the top, and just the perfect balance of beautiful and dangerous. I mean lets be honest, she is the girl we all want but know in our heart of hearts, we couldn’t even come close to handling.
Maggie Q, born in Hawaii as Maggie Quigley, moved to China after high school to pursue acting and modeling. She soon realized people in China had a hard time pronouncing Quigley, and changed her name to Maggie Q. The rest is history as the physically gifted actress who trained under the one and only Jackie Chan in the late 90’s, would go on to star in Mission: Impossible III and the hit CW series, Nikita. She is legit, folks. Oh, and she did all of her stunts for The Protégé with little to no training fresh from bed rest while recovering from spine surgery. Just let that sink in.
Which brings me to one of my favorite elements of The Protégé , which is the relationship between Maggie Q’s Anna and Michael Keaton’s mysterious Rembrandt character. As I mentioned earlier I am a big Keaton guy, so I was pumped that he was in this movie. Anna and Rembrandt cross paths in such a unique way, and to say that relationship develops into something none of us expected would be an understatement. I wasn’t quite sure how Keaton’s character would fit in to the plot I just knew he was one of the “bad guys”, but I really, really loved how many layers were given to his character making it so he was a fan favorite even though he was literally “in bed with the enemy”, which is an inside joke you’ll get once you see the movie. His relationship with Maggie Q’s character was something I was looking forward to seeing develop during the entire movie, and it was never predictable that is for sure.
On the technical side of things, I was thrilled with the fight choreography and stunt work which was top notch. As I mentioned Maggie Q did all of her own stunts and for that reason Anna was established as a real badass after the first 5 minutes of the movie, and it got better from there. I really liked the cinematography as well, taking full advantage of the filming locations in both London and Vietnam. As I touched on before, this is a very violent and very deserving of the R-rating movie. We are treated to a bit of nudity early on, but the majority of the rating is thanks to the many enemies who meet their demise, most of which with either a knife to the jugular, a face that goes Chip Gaines demo day on a sink, or just an old fashioned close range bullet to the head, which is always a crowd pleaser. I loved one scene in particular where Keaton’s character makes it a point to break an arm and a leg of one of his enemies quite violently, before making a hammer part of this unlucky guys face. But don’t worry, it was well deserved.
THE BAD
Okay so as you could tell from the previous section, I really enjoyed The Protégé . But, it wasn’t perfect. One of the biggest and easiest knocks, or lowest hanging fruit as they say, would be that the storyline itself felt fairly “been there done that”. But, I will say that they added some unique wrinkles with the relationships between the characters to make sure that it all still felt unique and new. With that being said, it still had other missed opportunities.
I felt like a more energetic soundtrack would have been a great addition to Maggie Q’s “don’t you even think about messing with me” energy. But I can honestly say that the soundtrack, or lack thereof, had little if any impact on me. I think about the Jason Bourne franchise as an example, it always had a great soundtrack and the final scene right before the screen faded to black always had that trademark score/soundtrack that left you wanting more. I also felt like some of the bigger and more pivotal scenes lacked the intensity they needed, but it was never a deal breaker.
THE VERDICT
An extremely violent and unique take on the revenge thriller genre, The Protégé is a thoroughly enjoyable and not so subtle reminder that former Nikita star Maggie Q is a legit badass and Hollywood needs to take notice. Sure you can argue that revenge flicks are a dime a dozen, but for me they never get old especially when they are able to add in a few unique and intriguing wrinkles we didn’t expect. I thoroughly enjoyed The Protégé and feel like it does more than enough right taking full advantage of a stellar cast and is well worth seeing in theaters.
TED TAKES RATING - 7.5/10
The Protégé is now playing in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.