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'The Protector' backflips from scene to scene

By STEVE MURRAY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

GASP! as Tony Jaa scales fences faster than the wind and leaps from a skyscraper toward a hovering helicopter and decimates a mob of bad guys, filmed in a single four-minute take!

THRILL! to the spectacle of a martial arts movie that doesn't rely on wire work or computer effects for its eye-popping fight scenes!

The Weinstein Company

'The Protector'

B+

The verdict: Crunchety-crunch-crunch — thanks a bunch.

Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Starring: Tony Jaa, Petchthai Wongkamlao, Bongkot Kongmalai, Jing Xing, Johnny Nguyen
Run time: 84 minutes
Release date: Sept. 8, 2006
Rating: Not rated.
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TREMBLE! as sound-effects artists create bone-snapping noises to match Jaa's smackdown of dozens of black-clad killers!

Even in her standoff at the House of Blue Leaves, "Kill Bill's" Uma Thurman had nothing on Jaa. Maybe that's why Quentin Tarantino has attached his name as the presenter of "The Protector," Jaa and director Prachya Pinkaew's follow-up to their martial-arts adventure "Ong-Bak" (2003).

This guilty-pleasure adrenaline rush has one goal in mind: to be an airtight action machine that leaves you dizzy from the crunchety-crunch-crunch of Jaa as he proves himself a contender with Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

What's the plot? Well, it nearly defies synopsis as the movie backflips from one knockout scene to the next. But here goes ...

Kham (Jaa) is a young Thai man raised by his father as protector of royal elephants, believed to instill Thai kings with divine power. Kham's particular charges are the full-grown Por Yai and his baby-elephant son Korn, who get stolen away to Sydney for nefarious purposes orchestrated by dragon-lady mob queen Rose (Xing Jing).

Before his path leads him to her lair (where she wields a very long whip), Kham first contends with mob underling Johnny (Johnny Tri Nguyen). Plus countless Australian thugs on skates, bikes, motorbikes and ATVs. Oh, also some crooked cops looking to merge with Rose's crime ring and blame various murders on Kham. He also gets some help from an honest cop, Mark (Petchtai Wongkamlao), who assists him in the quest for truth, justice and ... elephants. (Fair warning: The movie's elephants may lend "The Protector" a deceptive "aw, gee" kiddie appeal, but its R rating is earned, especially in the increasingly brutal last half hour.)

"The Protector" is a showcase for the Muay Thai style of fighting, and Jaa — with his low center of gravity — performs amazing moves with legs transformed into lethal weapons. It may take you a moment to realize (and marvel) that one of the most destructive fights, played out in a multilevel atrium, is shot in a single, unbroken four-minute take.

The movie aims for visual poetry at times — for instance, in a fire-and-water battle inside a ransacked Buddhist temple. But mostly the look is gritty and herky-jerky. Some scenes are so over-the-top, you may laugh out loud, though Jaa plays his role with utter earnestness. (Well, except for a throwaway gag near the start, when he bumps into a Jackie Chan look-alike at the airport.)

The film is being released in the United States by the Weinstein Co., notorious for nipping-and-tucking foreign films that don't need it. Though "The Protector was originally 109 minutes, the Weinstein brothers acquired a French version, edited to 93 minutes. They then cut another nine minutes out, and it was probably the right choice. Sure, supporting actors — like Bongkoj Khongmalai as a sympathetic woman somehow involved with Johnny's gang — have been reduced to virtual cameos. And who's doing what to whom can sometimes be confusing. But this isn't the kind of movie that needs, you know, things like character development and developed back stories. It just needs to keep moving.

And, man, does it ever.

FLY! to your neighborhood theater at once!