Simply Perfect

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Ling (Lo Lieh) and Guan are the Black and White Chiefs of the Eagle Escort security firm: during the opening credit sequence, we see them recover a stolen shipment of gold; by the time the credits have run, the two are literally knee-deep in bodies. And THE PROTECTORS just gets better from there. Beautifully directed by Wu Ma, it's a tale of betrayal and murder and more betrayal and even more murder. Guan, in debt to local gang boss Jin, agrees to help Jin steal a gold shipment. En route, Guan convinces some of his fellow employees to help him pull a switch (bricks are used to replace the gold, which is buried). When Jin's gang ambushes the escort, Guan "manages to escape." His fellow would-be thieves do not. Ling arrives on the scene too late to help and is bamboozled by Guan. When Jin and his gang learn that they, too, have been tricked by Guan, everybody's gunning for everybody else. There are more betrayals per square foot in this movie than in all the American Republican politics of the last decade. Often suspenseful and amazingly well-crafted, THE PROTECTORS is definitely worth seeing.