Protection rapprochée

Not going to waste more time on this, just to say it is genuinely one of the worst films I've seen.

18 minutes in we get the dramatic uttering 'This matter needs to be dealt with swiftly, and with the utmost urgency'. That kind of sets the scene for the quality of dialog to come. And the acting is worse.

If you read this review before seeing the movie, save yourself.

I'm afraid to say I watched most of it, but only in that 'watching a slow motion train wreck' kind of way. It was genuinely bad. So bad you cant look away.

And now the review helper says my review is too short. How much more of my life must I waste on this horror?

This is a movie about a bodyguard who has to protect somebody but can't do a worthwhile job of it.

Like most action movies of this sort, it loses logic about 20 minutes in.

The bad guys are too bad for their own good, but they look good in fancy suits and with nice weaponry.

The good guys are too dumb - tough but dumb.

Now, if I had to relocate a witness, I would not take them to places that would be popular or hot or known to anybody.

I would throw them in back of a beat-up car, wearing rags and take them to some place that nobody would ever think of.

They would listen to me or I would bust their teeth.

However as in every other witness relocation/protection movie - logic is misplaced for what is supposed to be a story.

The performances are bad, the story is bad and the action is also bad.

However for a comedy, it's not too bad...if you want a little bit of action with your funny.

With a whole bunch of useless and needless locations, scenes, action sequences and dialog as well as major plot holes - this could be one of the lost comedies that you may find interesting.

The nightclub scenes are pretty interesting...walking around in ski masks in a nightclub and nobody notices.

Brandishing weaponry across a dance-floor and nobody moves until gunfire is sprayed.

Yep, it's the little things that can make a movie good or it's the little things that can make a movie horrible.

This does the latter.

This movie is a waste. A waste of time, a waste of money and a waste of the actors involved.

Chazz Palminteri has delivered a few really good performances in his career, a few excellent ones and Til Schweiger while not the greatest actor can usually do a well enough job.

Not in this movie, with this script, with this dialogue.

One more thing, one of the other reviewers has called this a typical Euro-Movie and that is complete nonsense.

If any, it is an untypical Euro movie as it has no aspirations at all.

Anyone who has any knowledge about European cinema would laugh at a classification like that.

I have yet to read a single positive review for this film anywhere, most people say it's clichéd, predictable, and stupid with a done-to-death plot, and it kinda is, but that dosen't mean it's not a hell of a lot of fun. Palinteri does a pretty good job, though he's played this type of role so many times he could do it in his sleep, and Schweiger's not much of an actor, so it's fortunate that he dosen't try and stretch himself too much here, the rest of the cast is pretty average. When it comes to action however, this film really delivers, Gerry Lively certainly lives it up to his last name, as the actions scenes are indeed lively and entertaining and they easily make up for the weak story and mostly average performances, all in all i'd say it's a 6 out of 10.

Action scenes --especially those taking place in Barcelona-- are filmed as if in slow motion, with telegraphed blows. The characters behave oddly. The former hit-man --whose life has been threatened by fellow gangsters intending to stop him from giving testimony before the courts-- is paraded by his bodyguard (the movie's hero) all over Barcelona. The bad guys are incredibly clumsy as well: horrible aiming with the guns and slow motion movements, thus allowing the hero to conveniently kill all of them. The two police officers assigned to assist in the protection are dumb: they open the door at a simple knock, without preparing themselves (and, lo and behold! both are instantly killed by the bad guy, at the other side of the door). And so on. One point for the effort of making an action movie in an unusual environment. They should keep trying: it was a good idea. But, even though it is a relatively simple genre, shooting these action films takes some practicing and learning too.