The beautiful and talented Maggie Q needed a much better story than this cliche-riddled one that's been told many times before. For that matter, had she, Keaton and Jackson not been cast, Protege would've been just another B grade action flick.
The directing by Martin Campbell was decent - nothing spectacular, and the writing by Richard Wenk was underwhelming and predictable. It needed more action to stand out, and a better story than the typical villain revenge we've seen a thousand times before - and much better. It lacked any compassion or thrills, and was simply a flat story. There were sub-plots and back stories that could've been used better, as well as many left out and bogged down scenes i.e. Why the fake death and let his protege risk her life to revenge him? I mean c'mon now, that's 5th grade drama class mentality - a twist that's as lame as it gets. All three leads deserved much better, and it's such a waste of great talent. Wenk owes these leads a huge apology.
Cinematography, score, pacing and runtime were all decent. It's a good one-time watch if there's nothing better to see. It's a very generous 7/10 from me, mainly out of pity for the wasted talent.
The directing by Martin Campbell was decent - nothing spectacular, and the writing by Richard Wenk was underwhelming and predictable. It needed more action to stand out, and a better story than the typical villain revenge we've seen a thousand times before - and much better. It lacked any compassion or thrills, and was simply a flat story. There were sub-plots and back stories that could've been used better, as well as many left out and bogged down scenes i.e. Why the fake death and let his protege risk her life to revenge him? I mean c'mon now, that's 5th grade drama class mentality - a twist that's as lame as it gets. All three leads deserved much better, and it's such a waste of great talent. Wenk owes these leads a huge apology.
Cinematography, score, pacing and runtime were all decent. It's a good one-time watch if there's nothing better to see. It's a very generous 7/10 from me, mainly out of pity for the wasted talent.