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ÃðºX­¸´­ (1971)
The Protectors


Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 08/02/2006
Summary: Only 70 minutes running time

Wow, the time flies by and you can see why when it only lasts 70 minutes.
A simple plot of double crossing and Lo Lieh being the one to stop all the bad guys. The old style swordplay does not age well but at least you can focus on the deceit and back stabbing that occurs. The ending though was a little bit of a disapointment but its worth having a look

Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 07/10/2006
Summary: 7/10 - short but sweet

The Eagle Security bureau is the best in the business, thanks to its two top swordsmen. But one of the swordsmen can't help noticing he's not getting rich, and is persuaded to join a scheme to steal one of the bureau's shipments.

The Protectors is a nice little swordplay film - and when I say little I mean it: the IVL dvd runs just 62 minutes! I'm not sure if it was ever meant to be longer (apart from the usual PAL->NTSC speedup and frame cuts that the Celestial/IVL discs have), but it works quite nicely in this form - a simple, straightforward tale of dastardly deeds and derring-do, shorn of any fluff... or depth, as some people call it.

Lo Lieh is stoically charming as always, and the gang of villains are suitably colourful - including Dean Shek, who turns out to be quite non-annoying when he isn't trying to be funny.

There's some good action in the film, courtesy of Lau Kar-Wing and Chan Chuen (one of the better action choreography pairings) and it's a good-looking production. It's a good effort and entertaining, but in this form at least there's just not enough to it for it to be called "great". Definitely worth a watch though :-)

Reviewer Score: 7