In our modern era of action filmmaking, maximalism tends to rule the day.The Raid, theJohn Wickfranchise,Nobody,Extraction,Shang-Chi— we love to see as much performatively audacious, bone-crunching, blood-spurting action as humanly possible, and we love to see it now, please. These films and this style of action construction are full of obvious, visceral pleasure. But can it overwhelm, deaden, turn a film’s overall sense of shape and dynamics into white noise?
EnterThe Protégé, a 2021 action-thriller marketed as being “from the studio that brought youJohn Wick” (Lionsgate, who’s gone above and beyond with this beautifully color-corrected 4K blu-ray) but actually feels like a different kettle of fighting fish altogether. This is not a pervasively-built vehicle of carnage. This chooses its footwork and strikes carefully, resting and recharging when it needs to, reminding us not to take well-choreographed pieces of physical conflict for granted. It’s a cliché, but less is indeed more forThe Protégé.
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This is not to sayThe Protégédoesn’t have exquisitely crafted and executed action sequences. It’s full of ‘em, and they’re rife with well-trained stars likeMaggie QandMichael Keaton, wonderful stunt performers,fluid cinematography, and punching panache. But these sequences are calculated around a sense of primal minimalism, of reminding the viewer of the inherent power inonehand-to-hand fight,onegunshot,oneviolence-driven idea. Instead of the film’s peers’ gleeful sense of borderline cartoonish invention at best, oversaturated haziness at worst,The Protégé’s action is funneled and sharpened to exactly the point it’s trying to make; an intentional sniper shot over a Gatling gun barrage. Welcomely, the action is thus less tracked to a removed, omniscient appreciation of the filmmaker’s expertise and more aligned with what the characters are going through. Anna’s (Q) first burst of action lasts a short amount of time but tells us so much about how she operates, details that could get lost in a busier, overactive take on the material.
When the film’s taking its time between set-pieces, it’s continuing to build character, ensuring that these set-pieces hit hard on an emotional level as well as with its requisite physicality. Despite many of its peers sharing the same R-rating,The Protégédoesn’t revel in a similar level of outrageous, extreme content. Its dispatches of violence appreciate in depth and psychological complication rather than Rube Goldberg-esque heightening; its curse words are spoken sparing and with meaning, rather than dotting every other line to quickly signify edginess (even withSamuel L. Jacksonin the cast!); its use of sexuality is… well, if I’m being honest, many of the other filmsThe Protégéshares a similar space with don’t bother with any depictions of romance or sex, makingThe Protégéfeel even more mature and authentic. It’s confident in its patience and pacing, knowing that giving us what we need (character development) in between what we want (action scenes) will only strengthen what we want.
And again,The Protégéis very good at giving us what we want; its action scenes are dope and hard-hitting and fun and all the good things you’d want from an action-thriller like this! But they hit with a particularly different-feeling sense of strength, a quiet confidence that knows real power comes from not needing to speak unless you absolutely have to. The candy corn of aJohn Wicktastes real yummy, but the steak dinner of aProtégénourishes deeper.
The Protégéis now available on 4K blu-ray from Lionsgate.
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