The Protege

I will be the first to admit that I can be a bit of a nit picker. I can’t help but watch movies with a critical eye and it can often be hard not to notice all the little things that a movie doesn’t do quite up to snuff. With many OK or average movies, when I am looking for something to say about them, what stands out is their faults and so I end up mostly ripping apart their few but glaring weaknesses. The Protege falls into the category of just OK movies, but does not lend itself to such nit picking, in the best possible way.

The Protege is a pretty decent, slick modern thriller with good action and good writing. It tells its story well and is shot and acted capably. Michael Keaton’s performance, in particular, stands out for the deftness with which it portrays the slippery, sometimes villain sometimes ally energy of his character. The movie looks good and is mostly fun to watch. The action is more in the vein of John Wick, with a more grounded and visceral feel, than in the ultra polished and extravagant action set pieces of big budget franchise blockbusters of the likes of Marvel or The Fast and The Furious. Perhaps the closest equivalent would be a late 80s or early 90s action spy or revenge movie, but with the slicker visuals and improved cinematography of a modern movie. For example, this movie makes the most of modern cameras’ superior low light capabilities to capture night scenes with excellent dynamic range, something it also shares with John Wick and others.

In other words, it is a pretty good movie. However, as you might have guessed by how many times I’ve already mentioned it in this review, it does come across as a bit of a John Wick clone. The protagonist is a highly trained and motivated killing machine. The action is heavy in traditional, grounded action with well choreographed and filmed gunplay and martial arts. They even both have a revenge story at their heart, although they both take that idea in wildly different directions. Unfortunately, The Protege doesn’t deliver on its premise quite as well. It is sad to say, as it isn’t really a fault of the film’s quality in a vacuum, that it simply suffers from not coming out earlier. Where John Wick got to feel fresh and clever for its revival of traditional action filmmaking, The Protege comes across like the baby brother that tries to do all the same things but just a little less well. Take, for example, the action set pieces. As good as Rembrandt’s fight at the Chinese restaurant or Anna’s escape from the holding cell are, neither can quite match the heart pounding close quarters mayhem of John Wick’s nightclub shootout.

The Protege is also less stripped down and minimalist in its storytelling. This could have been to its advantage, but the complex conspiracy plots and past sins creating present woes slightly over promise and under deliver. All these things make it not quite as good as one of my favorite action movies of recent years… which honestly isn’t that big of a critique. I would put it about on par with John Wick 2, which is also a slick, fun action movie that just isn’t quite as good as its antecedent.

Truly, the only major complaint I have is with The Protege‘s relatively lame final minutes. It is as if the story engine turns off and the movie just coasts to the credits. It drags horribly and ends on a very unsatisfying note. It is unfortunate, too, as the emotions you carry with you out of the theater often have an outsized influence on your overall assessment of a movie and such a weak ending can really color an otherwise enjoyable action romp.

It is hard to talk too much about The Protege without comparing it to others because it’s good enough to have very few obvious faults but not exemplary enough to gush passionately about everything it did so perfectly. It is in this category of average goodness that doesn’t feel like an endorsement but is. For anyone that has seen John Wick and liked it, I would recommend giving The Protege a try. For anyone that hasn’t seen John Wick but is interested in a return to the smaller, more grounded, less grandiose action of yesteryear, I recommend you watch John Wick… and then if you like it give The Protege a watch afterwards.

Would Recommend: If you grow tired of the action formula popularised by Marvel that is now in seemingly every modern action film.

Would Not Recommend: If you’ve seen John Wick and didn’t understand what all the hype was about.