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The Protector Review
Image Credit: Vertical Entertainment
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Marguerite Moreau– Key
Graham Greene– Brand
Aryeh-Oh– Gael
April Lee– Sona
Mark Lane III– Kellan
Christopher Redman– Chris
Edgar Feliciano– Nayati
Mark Keith Lane– Rebar
Treci Lane– Tracy
Victory Jones– True
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Raul Gasteazoro
Screenplay by Raul Gasteazoro
Distributed by Vertical Entertainment in partnership with JD Beaufils of Blacktop International
Not Rated
Runtime– 103 minutes
https://www.protectwhatisleft.com/
The Protector is currently available on all major Digital and Cable Video On Demand platforms
The Protector, written and directed by Raul Gasteazoro and currently available on all major Digital and Cable Video On Demand platforms (it did play in select theaters when it came out in late May), is a new, message filled post-apocalyptic sci-fi action flick that, for the most part, works. While made on a clearly modest budget, The Protector uses its resources well and manages to balance both the sci-fi entertainment aspects of the story and the messaging aspects (the movie is preachy, but it isn’t preachy in an annoying way. It helps that director Gasteazoro’s message is incredibly important). If you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic sci-fi action flicks in general, The Protector is a movie that you will enjoy quite a bit and most definitely vibe with.
The Protector stars Marguerite Moreau as Key, a badass warrior in 2042, trying to exist in a world that has been ravaged by a massive ecological disaster that has turned most of the world into a desert, made water a super valuable commodity (there’s only one known aquifer left where Key lives), there’s a disease called “The Rot” that, if you get it, slowly destroys you, and children have become basically non-existent (women are barren). The government as people knew it is essentially gone, with heavily armed warlords and their armies in charge for the most part (one of the big ones that Key deals with is Gael, as played by Aryeh-Oh). When we first meet Key, she is being let out of a prison operated by Gael’s forces and sent to meet with Gael in person about a mission that he wants her to complete for him. The mission involves infiltrating what’s left of a Native American reservation, befriending the last Native on the reservation (Brand, as played by Graham Greene), finding a way to bypass the mine field that you have to go through in order to get into the reservation, and setting the stage for Gael’s eventual takeover of the reservation. If Key can complete this mission, Gael will allow her to go free (Key has an electronic tracker on her ankle that will allow Gael to, well, track her). Key agrees to Gael’s terms and sets out for Brand’s reservation, driving an old muscle car that she used years ago in “dirt jousting” competitions. Dirt jousting is a sort of sport where people are strapped to the hoods of cars while standing up, and the cars drive at one another with the people standing on the hoods wielding large poles/spears. It’s similar to medieval jousting but with cars.
As Key drives across the wasteland, she stops at a diner/rest stop to use the bathroom and get some food. While using the bathroom, she runs into/”meets” a little boy named Kellan (Mark Lane III), an event that briefly freaks her out because there haven’t been children anywhere for a long time. Kellan has been on the road with his parents Rebar and Tracy (Mark Keith Lane and Treci Lane), travelling all over the place in a van and bartering for the things that they need. Kellan’s parents have kept him a secret from just about everyone, having him crawl into a box that they then haul into wherever they go. Key doesn’t let anyone know about Kellan, and Kellan leaves the diner with his parents to continue on to wherever they’re going. Key then meets Chris (Christopher Redman), an old friend from back in the day. Key and Chris catch up with what’s been going on in their lives. Key then leaves the diner.
So then some stuff happens, Rebar and Tracy are killed in a massive van explosion (technical difficulties), and Chris is hired by Gael to follow Key and sort of make sure that she fulfills her obligations. If Chris can complete his job, Gael will give Chris the cure to whatever is killing Chris’ wife (we see Chris’ wife on life support).
So then some more stuff happens, Key dismantles her ankle monitor, she runs into Kellan out in the desert and decides to allow him to get into her car and protect him, and Chris starts tracking Key. And while all of that happens, we see Key have black and white flashback nightmares back to when she was a dirt jouster by trade and madly in love with her girlfriend/eventual wife True (Victory Jones).
As you would expect, all of the various plots and characters eventually come together for a final showdown over the aquifer on Brand’s reservation land. The question is, who will win, and what sort of future will the victors inhabit?
One of the things you’ll notice about The Protector is that, throughout a good portion of it, there’s a real sense of hopelessness among most of the characters. Because what the hell is everyone doing, really? Why aren’t they all working together to fix what’s wrong with the world and people and what’s left of society? Why is it so important for Gael to be a super violent warlord? What does Gael get out of ruling over the wreckage beyond a sense of unlimited power? Who is going to be impressed? And when you look at Key, she’s a mercenary that is just going through the motions. She’s not in prison anymore, she’s back in her element, driving the dirt jouster car and being a badass, but what’s the point of all of this? What will happen to her if she manages to befriend Brand and find the aquifer? What does she really have to look forward to?
And when it comes to Chris and his predicament, it’s one of the most depressing things you’ll likely see in a movie of any sort. Chris’ wife is dying, but if he manages to get the cure from Gael to “fix” his wife, what sort of future do they have? The scant hope of saving his wife is ultimately the only thing that Chris has to look forward to. How the hell did the world come to this?
The violence we see in The Protector is swift and brutal. Key has the necessary skills to fight off multiple attackers at once, and one would think with her reputation that armed thugs would steer clear of her. They don’t, though, and Key destroys them with expert hand-to-hand fighting techniques. Some people have guns, like Gael and his goons, but hand-to-hand fighting is what most people seem to do in this new world. As for the flashbacks to Key’s dirt jousting days, it’s amazing to think that anyone survived doing it. Standing on top of a car hood while travelling at high speed directly at another car and holding a spear is freaking insane. The object is to take out your opponent, yes, but there’s also the chance that no one survives a dirt jousting match. A car could crash and explode (both cars could so that at the same time). The driver could get a spear through the head while the person standing on the hood gets flung off. The car that “wins” could crash in victory. Why would anyone agree to do this? Because there’s nothing else to do? Is this the thing that gives some people a reason to live?
Good God, what the hell kind of world do these people live in?
The dirt jousting scenes seem to be a mix of real cars actually moving and some sort of CGI set up. This set up creates a surreal vibe, which makes sense since we see most of these scenes as dreams and nightmares that Key is having. The post-apocalyptic desert locations look appropriately apocalyptic, with endless emptiness and desolation as far as the eye can see. Even when someone comes upon a diner or hotel or some structure, it looks like it’s out in the middle of nowhere. Whatever is left over from before, it’s just like the people that are still living, just barely holding on. It’s interesting to look at when you’re actively watching the movie, but when you start thinking about it later on, Jesus Christ it’s sad and depressing. And that’s exactly what writer/director Raul Gasteazoro wants, at least until he lets in a little hope towards the end. There has to be some hope if the characters that survive are to have a future. The costuming is also top notch.
Some people might complain about the way The Protector ends, not so much with what happens but how it happens. I won’t say what happens, but I will say that The Protector decides to go with a more subtle, low key ending as opposed to the big hooha explosive ending that you would likely see in a major Hollywood movie. It seems like it’s an ending that’s necessitated by the movie’s obviously modest budget, and it might be, but it works brilliantly. The movie’s ultimate message might not be as poignant or thought provoking if it had been surrounded by gigantic spectacle.
Marguerite Moreau does a great job as Key, a badass warrior woman that is forced to take a mission she really doesn’t want to do in order to obtain her freedom from a vicious warlord. Key is damaged and traumatized by the world that she lives in and the sort of fighting that she used to do before she was imprisoned. Key lost the love of her life while participating in that fighting. She also knows how to fight but would rather not to, mostly because she knows what the outcome will be (she will destroy you. She’d rather not). Key’s sort of protective/”motherly” instincts kick in when she ends up having to protect a child, something the world hasn’t seen in a long time. Moreau knows exactly how to play both Key’s badass warrior moments and her vulnerable moments, and it’s fascinating how she manages to make both sides of Key seem natural. I would have loved to see more sequences with Key and her lover True (Victory Jones) during her dirt jousting days, mostly so we could see Key in her “normal” environment before prison. I wonder if Moreau will get more opportunities in the low-budget action drama as a result of this performance. I’d like to see her get the chance.
Graham Greene does a fantastic job as Brand, the Native American that operates the last reservation and has access to the last known aquifer in the area. Brand isn’t in the movie all that much (mostly the last quarter or so), but what we get from him is top notch stuff. Brand is the ideological center of the movie and the way the movie delivers its message most clearly; we have to protect what’s left in order to save the world and survive. If we don’t try to protect the last bit of good, the world and humanity will be lost. Much like Key, Brand would rather not fight you, but he will destroy you if you come at him. The thing about Brand, though, is that he isn’t a brute force entity like Key. Brand will use his smarts and guile instead, and when he does that towards the end of the movie it’s a beautiful thing. Greene gives Brand the sort of integrity that only he could, and it makes you sad that more people didn’t follow him and his example in the midst of the apocalypse instead of Gael and his brutality. The apocalypse probably wouldn’t have been as bad. I also want to commend Greene for managing to sell the line, “We do what we have to do. I’m gonna take a dump and go to bed. Enjoy.”
Aryeh-Oh is evil as hell as Gael, the vicious warlord that wants Brand’s aquifer and hires badass prisoner Key to infiltrate Brand’s reservation and befriend him. Dangling freedom in front of a damaged woman so she can help you steal something that doesn’t belong to you is bad enough, but then it’s absolutely reprehensible to then hire a man to follow that woman around and tell that man I will give you the cure to your dying wife’s disease if you do what he wants. Why can’t Gael use his leadership skills to actually help people? Why can’t Gael ask Brand for help if Brand has the last known fresh water aquifer? Why does Gael need to run a prison in the midst of the apocalypse? It’s because Gael is evil. That’s it. The man gets off on being terrible. Aryeh-Oh seems to be having the time of his life as Gael. He doesn’t play the character over the top, but instead plays him quieter, which makes Gael that much more sinister. Despite the lack of over the top histrionics, you totally buy that people would follow Gael in the end of the world. It is sad, though, when you realize that so many people admire the worst of the worst simply because he is the worst.
April Lee is quite good as Sona, the Gael henchperson that ends up befriending Key towards the end of the movie. She doesn’t get to do all that much until she hooks up with Key, but when she finally does you can totally see them as a team. You also wish that their friendship had happened sooner so there would be more scenes of them together. Christopher Redman does a good job as Chris, the man forced to work for Gael in order to get the cure for his dying wife. Chris isn’t in the movie all that much, which is disappointing because his desperation could have been played up more if he had a larger presence in the movie. Chris’ predicament is a perfect example of what the world has become. Maybe if The Protector had been a TV series as opposed to a movie, Chris would have been the focus of one episode and we would have seen more from him? I also would have liked to see more about his previous friendship with Key, as it’s another aspect that could have been exploited to show how terrible the world has become. And Edgar Feliciano is interesting as Nayati, a character that ends up having more to do that you expect him to at the end of the movie. Feliciano is a good actor, but he looks a little too much like Aryeh-Oh’s Gael, which is confusing. Maybe Feliciano should have been given a Mohawk haircut to help better differentiate him from Aryeh-Oh? If that had happened, the movie would have had someone with a “classic” post-apocalyptic haircut, something The Protector doesn’t have.
Mark Lane III is a revelation as Kellan, the little kid that represents a hopeful future. Kellan is one of the few kids left in the world, maybe even the last one, which is actually more positive than it sounds. Up until we meet Kellan, we are told that there are no more kids period left in the world, as women have become barren. And then Kellan is revealed, and suddenly the world isn’t as wholly harsh as it was just a few minutes ago. The Protector is Lane III’s big screen debut and he’s a natural. It will be interesting to see where his career takes him (according to his IMDB page, Lane III has also appeared in an episode of the wonderful ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary, so he has range early on). I also want to mention that Lane III’s real life parents Mark Keith Lane and Treci Lane appear as Kellan’s parents, and they do a great job, too.
And Victory Jones is cool as hell as True, Key’s wife/lover and the reason for Key’s major trauma when we meet her. We only get to see True in the movie’s dirt jousting flashback dream sequences, but it’s obvious that True and Key make for a great team, they love one another deeply, and the movie could have used more of them as a rocking post-apocalyptic couple. Maybe that will happen if we ever get a The Protector sort of prequel? I’d love to see that happen.
The Protector is a movie with a message, a message that is timelier than maybe we are willing to admit. The movie suggests that if we don’t reverse course and try to save what’s left, we are doomed. Will we listen? Will we internalize that message and act? The Protectorhopes we do. If you’re a fan of the post-apocalyptic genre, The Protector is something that you will want to see. It’s very much worth it.
See The Protector. See it, see it, see it. The Protector is currently available on all major Digital and Cable Video On Demand platforms.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: More than 20.
Explosions: Several, both big and less big.
Nudity?: None.
Doobage: Guy looking through binoculars. Exploding person. Water distribution. A prison in the desert. Dirt jousting. Attempted mugging. Axe attack. Pickaxe attack. Machete to the face. A big meeting. An ankle monitor. A checkpoint. A phone booth scanner thing. A kid in a bathtub. Talk of “The Rot.” People drinking contaminated water. Bartering. A very sick wife. Exploding van. Attempted sleeping. Fork stealing. Booze drinking. A sad bar story. Another attempted mugging. Fork jammed into the neck. A sudden bullet to the head. Attempted henchperson recruiting. A piggyback ride. Multiple black and white flashback dreams. Yet another attempted mugging. Serious throat slashing. Gigantic wind turbines. Motorcycle hooey. Minefield hooey. Trip wires. A confrontation. Gut stabbing. Off screen dead body burying. More black and white flashback dreams. A violent episode. Back stabbing. Wound fixing. Tomato eating. A hidden box of explosives. Shotgun attack. An invasion. A dirt bike swarming. A giant wrench. Exploding car. A final message.
Kim Richards? Attempted.
Gratuitous: “You are not what you’ve become. You can change.” A mine field. Using people to walk through a mine field to find where the explosives are. A Graham Greene voiceover. “Rule 2 is don’t talk to strangers.” A badass muscle car with weird doors. A TV broadcast giving out plot points. Exploding van. A pinky promise. “We’re all broken.” An adult telling a kid that life is not always nice. A proximity sensor. A sad song on the radio. A special map. Counting to one thousand. An environmental message. A glass of water. A back tattoo that resembles a kid’s drawing. Graham Greene being a badass. “We make the rules.”
Best lines: “The Earth is sick. Ravaged by water wars, famine, and drought. The west is, once again, wild.” “I heard you used to be the best. I didn’t used to be anything.” “The fate of the land rests in the hands of one woman. I wouldn’t call her a hero. But she stood up for what she believed in and she helped protect what’s left. And that’s something.” “So, tell me about the spring.” “You should be hiding better.” “When is the last time you saw a kid?” “What’s wrong with that man?” “I love crayons!” “Katy? Katy? Katherine?” “What do you think? We’ll find water, one way or another.” “Oh, Jesus!” “I. Miss. My. Mom.” “Are you going to leave me?” “Real sad story. Yeah, the world is full of them.” “You’re all gonna die. One of these days. Every one of you is going to die.” “When is the last time you had a shower that wasn’t gray water?” “To the man that found the water.” “Go get that kid.” “It’s not your fault. That Gael sells you. It’s not your fault.” “What’s a lake?” “This is my Dad’s jerky!” “Turn that shit off!” “Look cookie, I don’t trust anyone.” “Protect what’s left? How the hell do you propose we do that?” “Do better. What the hell does that mean?” “We do what we have to do. I’m gonna take a dump and go to bed. Enjoy.” “Is that the Rot?” “Sorry that I stabbed you. I’m not. Keep protecting him.” “That tomato looked good.” “This is our land.” “It’s just water!” “Hey, I’ll light the fire around here. Jackals.” “For the future.”
