A wealthy businessman hires a bodyguard to protect his girlfriend who has become witness to a murder. Feelings start to develop between the two and things get tricky...
Jet Li - The Defender [DVD]
The Defendersees Hong Kong martial arts master Jet Li playing a bodyguard from the Beijing ... more
secret police, sent to Hong Kong to protect a beautiful young witness to a mob killing, played by Christy Chung. Li turns her home into a high-security prison, c...
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A review by Sim09 on Jet Li - The Defender (DVD) June 22nd, 2006
Author's product rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Liked it
Story
Very weak
Characters / Performances
Unmemorable
Special Effects
Standard
Soundtrack
Average
Advantages:
Decent Action Sequences . Entertaining .
Disadvantages:
Badly Dubbed . Sub par Acting .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Jet Li stars in this Kung Fu Film as highly trained bodyguard John Chang sent to protect the girlfriend (Christy Chung) of a wealthy businessman after she becomes the sole remaining witness to murder.
But that you can find out just by reading the back of the case.
First things first... the dubbing. To be honest it is just what you should expect from an early 1990's Chinese film. I.e. So bad it borders on hilarity. As with many martial arts films (e.g crouching tiger) it would be better to simply have it subtitled and read what the characters are saying. Another thing you should be expecting is acting that won't be winning any Oscars either. But even so it's still not up to scratch. Especially the budding romance between the bodyguard and his charge. That period especially slows everything down and drags it out in between fight scenes, but hey. they had to give Christy Chung something to do besides scream in terror as Jet Li saves the day.
This brings us onto the main part of any martial arts film. The action. While there isn't as much as you would perhaps wish the film more than makes up for it with the scale of it all. Over the course of 3 or 4 sequences Jet Li racks up an impressive body count whether it's out at the shopping mall or in the final showdown at the end. The final sequence by the way, is great. Intense fighting in a room that steadily fills with gas. It's great.
DVD Extras? None. This is pure film.
To conclude this film is definitely worth a look (although paying full price for it should probably be avoided - get it cheap). While it isn't pushing any boundaries or winning any awards, it's entertaining and great for whiling away an hour and a half. Although the story/acting are bad it serves to link the action together into some sort of cohesive plot.
Advantages: 2 movies in one, bonus trailer footage, two audio language if you can't stand dub. Disadvantages: None i can think off sorry.
...Reason why its excellent to me is because both movies the defender and the enforcer were both really good movies, the first movie the defender, JetLi plays the part of a chinese PLA officier trained as one of the worlds best body guards, train in a series of martial arts with weapons training. His mission is to protect a girl who witnesses a murder conducted by a traid lord. During his mission he works along side two hong Kong Police officiers, along with the girls younger brother. The triad lord hires a series of assasins from Mainland China two of which are brothers who are ex-PLA soldiers. One of the brothers are killed by JetLi and the younger brother comes after jetLi for revenge.
The second movie the enforcer, JetLi is a chinese agent, who goes into Hong Kong undercover as part of a triad ring, leaving his song and wife...
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Plot: A wealthy businessman hires a bodyguard to protect his girlfriend who has become witness to a murder. Feelings start to develop between the two and things get tricky...
DVD Description
A wealthy businessman hires a bodyguard to protect his girlfriend who has become witness to a murder. Feelings start to develop between the two and things get tricky...
Release details
DVD Region: DVD
Studio(s): HOLLYWOOD PICTURES HOME VIDEO; WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINM
Release date: 04/10/2004
No of Discs: 1
Catalogue No: BED 888480
Barcode: 5017188884808
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Listed on Ciao since : 10/08/2005
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07.08.2007
