Protector (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Adrian GrünbergRelease Date(s)
2025 (June 2, 2026)Studio(s)
Aanaxion Studio/828 Productions/Magenta Light Studios (Alliance Home Entertainment)- Film/Program Grade: C-
- Video Grade: A-
- Audio Grade: A
- Extras Grade: F
Review
Milla Jovovich stars as an elite military soldier who spent her daughter’s formative years away doing elite military soldier things, but when her husband dies from cancer, she comes home to take up the job of raising her. Of course, you wouldn’t have a movie setting up Milla’s elite military soldier backstory if you weren’t going to showcase those elite military soldier abilities; so, we are gifted with a female led Taken. Taken works mostly because of a pissed-off Liam Neeson and, honestly, a sad Milla Jovovich isn’t a good replacement. Making things worse, the film jumps forward in time a few times making it feel like you missed something (although these jumps are somewhat explained at the end with a coda that sets this up for a future film series but even with an explanation, these jumps don’t help you stay involved in the story). Oh, and it’s also filled with a whole lot of “yeaaaaaah, right” moments that, even for an action film, feel unearned. It ends up being a mildly watchable film (strictly for the Milla of it), but one that isn’t very good by any metric. I also want to personally dock it points for what I assume is a heavy use of AI (especially during the opening sequence), but I don’t see any real evidence fortifying my gut feeling so I’ll leave that feeling in the back of my, eh, gut—but I have my eye on you Magenta Light Studios.
Presented in 1080p with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the image is very digital looking (i.e., not naturally filmic) but fine. There are solid, but murky blacks throughout, good flesh tones and it’s an overall crisp, detailed presentation. Sound is an active, action film sounding DTS-HD Master Audio in 5.1 with English subs. It isn’t the most playful track I’ve heard, but it gets the job done. There are no extras.
Milla deserves better, and maybe this idea would have worked if her character was more in line with the sass she brought to the later Resident Evil films. She can be a fun performer, but in this, she’s a stick in the mud. For fans of this “give me back my daughter” genre, this is another entry and maybe you’ll want to watch it. For everyone else, you can skip it without any reservation.
- Todd Doogan