June 16th, Movie 17

In the continuing binge of the June Swoon, I went back to Amazon Prime for a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson, Maggie Q, and Michael Keaton called The Protégé.

Samuel L. Jackson and Maggie Q play a pair of assassins for hire. Jackson found Maggie Q as a girl during an attempted hit and brought her along with him. He raised her in his world and she became a protégé of his. When she discovered his dead body, Maggie Q went on a revenge mission to kill those responsible for his death. Michael Keaton was unfortunately tied to those people and so became an unwanted enemy.

There were some decent parts of this movie. Some of the action was really well done and Maggie Q was awesome. Her character was bad ass and the film did a great job of showing that off.

They threw in a romantic tension between Maggie Q and Michael Keaton. That also worked although at times it felt rushed or forced. When they had moments to themselves, you could see the chemistry between them.

However, the third act came along, brought with it the most obvious “twist” ever in a movie, and took a film that was barely holding on the rails and sent it spiraling off the tracks. I can’t really go into it without spoiling it, but it is the immediate thought you have when something specific happened at the beginning of the film and it plays out exactly how you think.

I find Maggie Q to be a charismatic and interesting actor, but I do not think that she has found that role to send her into the next level. This one is not it. I love Michael Keaton, but some of the switches from Keaton to his stunt double were sadly obvious.

Overall, The Protégé was below average with a couple of aspects that were decent. There was a better. less painfully obvious, movie to be made with this cast.