Movie Review: Protector

Getting to see Milla Jovovich lead an action movie where the budget is so low that they can't afford to put all of the action scenes on screen is the fulfilling of a prophecy. This is the star of six Resident Evil movies and Ultraviolet we're talking about here, the second she turned 50 she was going to get summoned to the same circuit that has kept Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo and Josh Duhamel steadily employed in recent years. This fulfilling of her destiny as a headliner for cheap-ish production with 82 producers from 17 countries isn't an occasion to mourn. Far from it in fact as Jovovich is the ideal star for a movie like Protector. She takes great glee in playing an ex-Special Forces operator who stabs, shoots and bites her through a New Mexico-based human trafficking ring in search of her abducted 16-year-old daughter (Isabel Myers). Jovovich plays this resourceful killing machine with such fierce determination and seething rage that you firmly believe that she will be able to obliterate any person that stands in the way of her rescuing her daughter. Frankly, it's been a minute since she's been this good in a role, and it was cool to see her recapture the action star glory she possessed during the 2000's/2010's. 

When you go beyond Jovovich's performance, Protector is a more of a mixed bag. The action sequences that the production could afford to shoot hit pretty hard but feature a ton of bizarre editing choices that undercut the proficiency of the choreography, the script is nonsensical even by genre standards and there's a last-minute twist ending here that is so absurd that it's actually kind of brilliant. In other words, it's a real deal VOD-adjacent action movie that miraculously found its way to theaters in 2026 thanks to indie distributor Magenta Light Studios. While the amount of shoddiness and idiocy on display will limit the appeal of Protector, there's a fair amount of fun to be had for any sick fuck out there that cracks a smile watching a former blockbuster action star crush her obligatory demotion to the minor leagues.

Grade: C+