Rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody, Anna is the world's most skilled contract killer. However, when Moody is brutally killed, she vows revenge for the man who taught her ever... Read allRescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody, Anna is the world's most skilled contract killer. However, when Moody is brutally killed, she vows revenge for the man who taught her everything she knows.Rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody, Anna is the world's most skilled contract killer. However, when Moody is brutally killed, she vows revenge for the man who taught her everything she knows.
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Alexandru Bordea
- Anna's Father
- (as Alex Bordea)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
'The Protégé' was a perfectly fine simple action film up to an hour into it.
After that, the characters were just set loose. I was unable to understand why was anyone doing what they were doing. Every character's motivation was beyond me. What was the point of Jackson's fakeout? Why did Maggie Q and Keaton have a Mr. & Mrs. Smith dynamic but not really? Why does Jackson give moral speeches to people before the assassinations, this seems just a little hypocritical? Why did Maggie Q want a normal life in peace when she clearly had one and she never showed any signs of discontent with her murdering lots of people for money (it was more like she enjoyed it)? Barely anything makes sense in this film.
In the end, it seemed like Moody was the main villain and not some generic corrupt businessman. I mean, he never cared for the hacker kid who got steamed because of him, or his maid, he was perfectly fine with dead bodies piling up.
The thing is if you want to write in a twist - do so. Something stupid happening can't be a twist by itself. You can trick a viewer by showing him/her what you want, but not the characters of your film, it just doesn't work like that. The viewer assumes that if something affected a character's motivation - this actually happened.
Overall, 'The Protégé' feels like a moderately budgeted action film with a couple of big names filmed in cheaper and convenient countries with no-name extras. And this works alright until the characters become sentient and just do whatever they want at the moment.
After that, the characters were just set loose. I was unable to understand why was anyone doing what they were doing. Every character's motivation was beyond me. What was the point of Jackson's fakeout? Why did Maggie Q and Keaton have a Mr. & Mrs. Smith dynamic but not really? Why does Jackson give moral speeches to people before the assassinations, this seems just a little hypocritical? Why did Maggie Q want a normal life in peace when she clearly had one and she never showed any signs of discontent with her murdering lots of people for money (it was more like she enjoyed it)? Barely anything makes sense in this film.
In the end, it seemed like Moody was the main villain and not some generic corrupt businessman. I mean, he never cared for the hacker kid who got steamed because of him, or his maid, he was perfectly fine with dead bodies piling up.
The thing is if you want to write in a twist - do so. Something stupid happening can't be a twist by itself. You can trick a viewer by showing him/her what you want, but not the characters of your film, it just doesn't work like that. The viewer assumes that if something affected a character's motivation - this actually happened.
Overall, 'The Protégé' feels like a moderately budgeted action film with a couple of big names filmed in cheaper and convenient countries with no-name extras. And this works alright until the characters become sentient and just do whatever they want at the moment.
You've seen most of this before, brutality, revenge, rich people. I liked the cat and mouse chemistry between Keaton and Q despite the age difference. A good throwback feel.
Initially I was thrilled about getting to sit down to watch "The Protége" from writer Richard Wenk and director Martin Campbell, but someone had mentioned that the movie wasn't really all that great. So it was with a bit of doubt that I sat down to watch "The Protége". Regardless of how it was playing out, then I would watch it, as the movie had a rather nice cast ensemble.
And I must say that I am glad that I opted to watch the movie, because I happened to enjoy the movie. This was a good old fashioned action crime thriller, for better or worse. Sure, the storyline and plot may have been predictable and somewhat generic, but who cares? It made for good wholesome entertainment.
The storyline is easily followed and doesn't really require all that much in the intellectual department, so you just switch off the old gray and lean back and enjoy the movie. And yeah, that was actually a good thing about the movie, because it is a munch-on-the-popcorn-and-enjoy-the-action kind of movie.
"The Protége" has a good cast ensemble. And truth be told, of course I had to watch "The Protége" given the fact that Maggie Q was starring in it, as she tends to make some pretty decent action movies. And she was nicely cast for "The Protége", I will say that much. And it certainly was nice to have the likes of Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson in a movie such as this as well.
There is a good amount of action and fight scenes throughout the course of "The Protége", which definitely help bring the movie up and into a good pacing.
I was adequately entertained by "The Protége", and it is a movie well-worth watching if you like action crime thrillers.
My rating of "The Protége" lands on a six out of ten stars.
And I must say that I am glad that I opted to watch the movie, because I happened to enjoy the movie. This was a good old fashioned action crime thriller, for better or worse. Sure, the storyline and plot may have been predictable and somewhat generic, but who cares? It made for good wholesome entertainment.
The storyline is easily followed and doesn't really require all that much in the intellectual department, so you just switch off the old gray and lean back and enjoy the movie. And yeah, that was actually a good thing about the movie, because it is a munch-on-the-popcorn-and-enjoy-the-action kind of movie.
"The Protége" has a good cast ensemble. And truth be told, of course I had to watch "The Protége" given the fact that Maggie Q was starring in it, as she tends to make some pretty decent action movies. And she was nicely cast for "The Protége", I will say that much. And it certainly was nice to have the likes of Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson in a movie such as this as well.
There is a good amount of action and fight scenes throughout the course of "The Protége", which definitely help bring the movie up and into a good pacing.
I was adequately entertained by "The Protége", and it is a movie well-worth watching if you like action crime thrillers.
My rating of "The Protége" lands on a six out of ten stars.
There are some good action sequences in this Maggie Q vehicle that shows off her chops as a movie action star and her beauty. Unfortunately the story and script are rather generic, and the director hasn't made the best use of the exotic locations, with most of the film having a sound-stage feel. Michael Keaton is a great actor, but I found the casting of a 70-year-old white male actor as the love interest of a 40-year-old Asian woman very off. Hope Maggie Q gets the material she deserves one day.
Fun enough for a John Wick style movie, with some really good acting by the main characters. Sadly it couldn't make up for a nonsensical plot that forces the characters into illogical decisions. It also relied heavily on Hollywood's inability to figure out how many bullets a weapon can hold (in one scene a guy literally fires at least 50 rounds from a handgun with no reload.) Bottom line watch it when it streams for free.
Did you know
- TriviaIn Moody's room (where he received his birthday present) two paintings are visible. The one on the left is Giuseppe Arcimboldo's 'The Summer' (1563), the one on the right is Arcimboldo's 'Spring' (same year). Arcimboldo painted the portraits in what is called "double images paintings" in which a main image is created with other items, in this case, the figure of a face is built with pieces of plants, flowers, etc. It could represent double nature in both main characters: assassins and regular law-abiding citizens.
- GoofsWhen Anna is in the ceiling void and turns on the main sprinkler valve to activate the sprinklers on the bad guys, it would have already been open. Sprinkler systems are pressurized live all the time and are activated by heat sensitive heads.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Geeks + Gamers: THE PROTEGE: Movie Review - Another John Wick Wannabe?! (2021)
- SoundtracksThat Loving Feeling
Performed by Isaac Hayes
Written by Tony Joe White
Courtesy of Craft Recordings, a division of Concord
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- The Protégé
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $7,446,823
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,908,221
- Aug 22, 2021
- Gross worldwide
- $8,737,253
- Runtime
- 1h 49m(109 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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