Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale, Goldeneye) is a man whose proficiency in action-centric motion pictures is well documented. His latest, The Protégé stars La Femme Nikita’s Maggie Q, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson in a pretty standard action flick that kept my attention and heart in the goings-on of these characters. At its heart is the relationship between Jackson’s Moody and Maggie Q’s Anna.
In Da Nang, Vietnam in the early 90s, Moody rescued a teenage Anna and raised her as his own. Now, he is an international assassin and one of the best, so one can guess what line of work Anne is working in, along with her surrogate father meets mentor? She’s been trained in the family business and is quite adept at it. Moody has been like a father figure for her, so when he is assassinated, it sends over on a global mission of revenge and justice and for her, it does not end until everyone involved has paid their price.
Along the way she meets Michael Keaton’s Rembrandt, a mysterious figure who seems to be working for the people who want her and everyone she knows dead. But he’s “curious” about her and their cat and mouse make up the crux of the film itself from screenwriter Richard Wenk. She’s on a mission of revenge, but Rembrandt always seems to be around to remind her that that doesn’t mend wounds. Yet, he is the one pursuing her because his employer wants her eliminated.
There’s an attraction between the characters that is actually quite believable, yet only if you can get past the vast age difference between Maggie Q and Keaton. It doesn’t quite work for this writer. Hollywood has done slightly better in this department, but do you mean to tell me that there wasn’t an actor of Maggie Q’s age range that could have played Rembrandt? Keaton is a legend. He is an actor of serious mettle and yes, he melts into this character like he did the mentor to a killer in American Assassin opposite Dylan O’Brien (Love & Monsters). He comes after Q like a man on a mission, but their attraction complicates things on a multitude of levels. Age is just the tip of the iceberg. It seems like a senseless addition to the narrative to have these assassins drawn to each other in a sexual way.
The strength of the story in The Protégé is that between Moody and Anne. They have built quite a life together over the years. Even though the action begins when Moody finds Anne in Vietnam and she is quite young, there is an instant paternal connection that picks up immediately after three decades and their banter speaks to two souls who have been inseparable for thirty years. They are experts in their field, which is anything from assassinations of really bad people to making wrongs right. They have built quite a life together, but what occurs in The Protégé takes it to a whole different level of high stakes and life and death.
Maggie Q has found a role that fits her like a glove. She is Anna, through and through. Her martial arts and action sequences are top-notch and are not only thrilling but believable that she would succeed where others have failed in defeating souls larger, stronger… but not smarter than her. Campbell keenly understands how to best use the actress and provides her the forum to deliver her best and most resonant performance in her career. There’s something about her doing her thing and kicking butt like nobody’s business that I could watch all day. The subplot about her not wanting to return to Vietnam and then having the story take us there is played by the actress with the exact pitch and tone and handled with a panache that is purely hers.
Keaton is fantastic, minus the romantic entanglement whose age difference that is a little squirmy. But, it is hard to argue with their seismic chemistry that might just make you forget about all that. He has made a career of roles like this and his performance here is equally as strong, believable and will also keep you guessing. Is he playing Anna, or is it the other way around? Or… do they want the same thing?!
Jackson seems to be playing the same character that he has perfected over the years, most recently seen in The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. He has perfected that soul and here his Moody is not simply a killer who takes out bad people, but he is a father figure who has raised a child who is not his and there is a love and admiration there that is beyond profound.
Campbell is no question an A-list director who has taken a B-level movie with a premise we have seen dozens of times before and brought fresh life to it in a manner that we might just get more. This is the best vehicle for Maggie Q that she has gotten and let’s hope that there is more in the tank for this character.
Grade: B