''The Protector'' is a 1997 American action film written by Jack Gill,

Dee McLachlan Dee McLachlan (born Duncan McLachlan; January 1953) is a film director, producer and writer from St Kilda, Victoria. Under her assigned name, McLachlan directed such films as ''Scavengers (film), Scavengers'', ''The Double 0 Kid'', ''Running Wi ...

Stuart Beattie Stuart Beattie (born 4 August 1971) is an Australian filmmaker. His screenplay for '' Collateral'' (2004) earned him nominations for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay and Saturn Award for ...

, and Andrea Buck, and directed by Gill. It stars Matt McColm as Kenneth James Conway, an ex-commando and a private detective investigating the disappearance of a virologist. Supporting cast includes

Ron Perlman Ronald N. Perlman (born April 13, 1950) is an American actor. His credits include the roles of Amoukar in ''Quest for Fire (film), Quest for Fire'' (1981), Salvatore in ''The Name of the Rose (film), The Name of the Rose'' (1986), Vincent in th ...

John Rhys-Davies John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944) is a Welsh actor known for portraying Gimli (Middle-earth), Gimli in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy and Sallah in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise. He has received three ...

, and

Carol Alt Carol Ann Alt (born December 1, 1960) is an American model and actress. Early life Alt was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, the daughter of Muriel, an airline employee and model, and Anthony Alt, a battalion chief from the 18th Battalion (Sou ...

Cast

* Matt McColm as Kenneth James Conway *

as Dr. Ramsey Krago *

as Agent Monica McBride * Annabel Schofield as Marisa *

as Rasheed *

Morgan Brittany Morgan Brittany (born Suzanne Cupito; December 5, 1951) is an American actress. She began her career as a child appearing in films ''Gypsy'' (1962), '' Stage to Thunder Rock'' (1964) and '' Yours, Mine and Ours''. In 1970s, Brittany began work as ...

as Sloane Matthews *

Clint Howard Clinton Engle Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American actor. He is the second son born to American actors Rance and Jean Howard, and younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard. His more than 200 acting credits include feature films ...

as Hutch *

Michael Paul Chan Michael Paul Chan (born June 26, 1950) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Lieutenant Michael Tao on the Turner Network Television, TNT series ''The Closer'' and ''Major Crimes (TV series), Major Crimes''. Chan also acted in ''U. ...

as Dr. Anthony Mane * Rodger LaRue as Agent Leo Dumass * Jack Gill as Dr. Stanley Erhardt * Terrence Stone as Myles Vale *

Henry Kingi Henry Kingi (born December 2, 1943) is an American stuntman and actor. As a stuntman he has worked in films like ''Fast Five'' (2011). His acting roles include Goody in ''Car Wash'' (1976), Shell in '' Earth Star Voyager'' (1988), the mean Indian ...

as Van Driver *

Patrick St. Esprit Patrick St. Esprit (born May 18, 1954) is an American character actor, best known for playing tough, authoritative roles such as Romulus Thread in ''The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'', Elliot Oswald in ''Sons of Anarchy'' and Los Angeles Police De ...

as Security Guard *

Kane Hodder Kane Warren Hodder (born April 8, 1955)According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905–1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com is an Americ ...

as Guard

Production

In 1996, stuntman and actor Matt McColm has been labelled by ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' as "Hollywood's next-generation action star," following in the footsteps of

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

and

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

. His previous entries in the action genre included '' Red Scorpion 2'' (1994) and '' Subterfuge'' (1996). ''The Protector'' gave McColm a chance to impress the audiences with both his perfect musculature and martial-arts skills—since he has a black belt in

Kenpo Karate American Kenpo Karate (), also known as American Kenpo or Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, is an American martial art founded and codified by Ed Parker. It is synthesized mainly from Japanese and Okinawan martial arts such as karate and judo, with in ...

. Prior to the filming director Jack Gill worked primarily as a stuntman, stunt coordinator, and second unit director.

Release

A-Pix Entertainment released the movie in the United States on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

in 1997. The following year the film was released in Canada by Coscient Astral Distribution, under the title ''Conway''.

Reception

Douglas R. Pratt reviewed ''The Protector'' in his 2004 guide ''Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!, Volume 1'', noting, "the story is an adequate backdrop for the gunfights, car crashes, and other activities this sort of movie can be depended upon to deliver." In a journal for ''Dammaged Goods''—a cinema-related website—''The Protector'' was called a "quasi exploitative action film" that "makes good use of its resources, has some fun in the process and doesn't try to be something it's not." Furthermore, the central performance is praised: "Stunt performer turned leading man Matt McColm plays Conway with rogue charm while flexing his muscles and martial-arts prowess. Ruggedly handsome, McColm doesn't take things too seriously and is a likeable enough hero." ''Yippee-ki-yay!'' editor Albert Nowicki complimented McColm in his leading role, calling his character a "convincing cinematic tough guy", with a "stunning musculature" and good magnetism. He went on to berate other cast members, though, and called Carol Alt an "expressionless beauty". Cinema.de provided a negative note, giving it one star out of five. ''Movies Room'' described the movie, along with ''Subterfuge'', as "tacky and second-class" but also "enjoyable".

References

Bibliography

* Pratt, Douglas R. (2004).
Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!, Volume 1
'. 178–179. Harbor Electronic Publishing. .

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Protector, The 1997 action films 1997 films American action films Films about infectious diseases Films about scientists 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language action films