The little-known Canadian director Peter Stebbings is positioned as a parody of superhero movies. Of course, the comedy component here is very good. But, in my opinion, it is still a social drama, hidden under the guise of absurdity and frivolity. Batman, like his archenemy Joker, is a kind of psychopath. Arthur Popington is not of this world. From the point of view of a “normal” society, he is simply insane. But he is a man with a pure soul, a brave heart and firm moral principles. The painting of Stebbings, first of all, bribes with its realism. There is no fakery and Hollywood falsehood. Are there not many Arthur Popingtons in the real world? A big plus of the picture I consider the excellent work of the composer. The music is perfectly selected, creating the necessary atmosphere. I liked the director’s message to the audience. I liked the main character. A kind of Don Quixote in real life, in the role of his lover here is a prostitute Kat. She's one of the few people who saw a real person in Arthur. The actors of “Protection” very organically entered the roles of their heroes. Good acting by Elias Coteas. Michael Kelly was pleased. A favorable impression was made by the beautiful Kat Dennings. Woody Harrelson once again demonstrated the versatility of his talent. He is as talented as he is charismatic. The finale of the picture is quite natural, but this only, in this case, gives it value.
7 out of 10
It's not a movie, it's a real piece of shit. He does not even try to ridicule superhero stereotypes, but on the contrary, shames them. The main character is so disgusting that it is not even just a hero to call the language. It is especially annoying that he does not learn from mistakes at all and always steps on the same rake, robbing ordinary and weak bandits, who always beat him at least together, at least one at a time. They're not super-villains with superpowers to bring him down and beat him so easily. Such a main character is impossible to empathize with. When you watch it, you're waiting for that crazy guy to finally get killed near the end of the movie. That's all I care about.
I'm not talking about the fact that the police here are stupid and almost do nothing. Isn’t the film trying to show the real world where there are no superheroes and only the police catch criminals? Why is it that in every superhero movie, all the cops are always so stupid? Especially in the film, I counted ten moments when the film should have ended much earlier, from the moment when Defendneg steals his confiscated baton from the police station, to the moment when the main villain shoots him in the chest, but not in the head. There are moments where he's shot in the chest instead of in the head in the movie. One of them in the middle of the movie. If the bandits were smarter, they would have thought of shooting him in the head. Consider this one could immediately play the final credits and for one there would be a useful morality that one cannot be such a sick fool as Defendneg.
2 out of 10
Sadly, a lot of people don’t see this movie as highly as I think it deserves. This is evident from the average rating of the film, and some real friends to whom I recommended this movie, considered it stupid. But how can the simplicity of morality make it stupid? Perhaps it is a matter of some predictability of the plot, because it is important for many viewers that the movie surprises, and the rest is secondary for them. But the plot of the film is slim and not stupid. Many people love the story of the fool Forrest Gump, so what's worse than Arthur Popington? Personally, the second one is more interesting as a character. Woody Harrelson is a better actor than Tom Hanks. Returning to the characters, you don’t have to have any talents to play an important role in life – you just have to have a goal and go to it. Well, if, at the same time, a decent person, then his story is interesting to know.
I love this dramatic film about good and evil. Although the characters in it are not as cool as in modern blockbusters, they may be ordinary people, but this gives the action a true value. The questions raised in the film are clear to everyone and easy to answer, but less relevant, because they do not become.
I recommend this great film to those who are interested in a story about eternal values, a story about deep but understandable things.
9 out of 10
It so happened that the film was watched almost ten years after the release, but at the moment it even looks more relevant, or what? No, not because of the collapse of superheroics on the screen – namely, it stands out favorably against its background, driving through both genre stamps and the culture of adult infantilism.
Everything is gorgeous here - and the staging, and the pace of the story, and a much deeper understanding of the problem, which appeared in the movie "Kick-Ass", but there was still more parody, not tragicomedy. Because here the main character, Arthur Popington, is not a teenage nerd, but a middle-aged man with a clear problem for everyone around him. And he himself seems to understand it quite well – he is naive, kind, seems to have slight deviations in development, although it may be that he was brought up by a survivor of the mind old man. Very indicative and the fact that almost everyone around one way or another imbued with sympathy for this fool – his intentions are right and good, just strange methods.
And of course, the actors are a very good cast, and Woody Harrelson fit perfectly into the role. But the film can be a tedious thrust - but no, watching it is interesting.
"Protection G" - a rather interesting project, in some way echoes the "Kick-Ass", but still being an original and original product. In the center of the story is a certain Arthur Popington, brilliantly played by Woody Harrelsen. Arthur is a very introverted person, unfit for a full life in society and suffering from a whole bunch of mental disorders, but this does not prevent him from doing justice at night in the streets in the form of Defendneg. Arthur has the necessary equipment, and a strong moral code, and a heroic suit, and the goal is to get to a certain Captain of Industry - a major drug dealer, whom our hero blames for the death of his mother.
But Defending G is not about superheroes. This is a personal drama with an admixture of comedy, which again raises the question of the existence of such heroes in our world, and makes it as realistic as possible compared to other similar projects. This is a story about a lonely man who is trying to change the world for the better by his own efforts, and it is very symbolic that this man is not quite healthy mentally and not quite... complete, but he is exactly the beacon of hope that people need.
I can’t call this film an absolute masterpiece. Frankly speaking, in addition to the very idea and the actual Woody Harrelsen "Protection G" is nothing special and catchy. There are practically no really interesting dialogues in it, there are no colorful characters, except for the Defendneg himself, a dull gray color scheme prevails in the picture, and a very leisurely narrative completely deprives the film of dynamics. But still I recommend watching The Defender, the film really deserves it.
P.S. It is not clear why everyone calls this picture a “kinocomics” because there is no comic original source from the “Defender”.
6 out of 10
There is a category of films that do not represent anything outstanding, but there is some zest in them. The highlight of the Defender is, of course, the game of Woody Harrelson, largely thanks to which the director managed to shoot a touching film in such a complex genre as a comedy drama. The rest of the actors are nowhere near his level. And the icing on the cake is an incomparable musical accompaniment of the film, which catches to the depths of the soul and remains in memory.
The plot is Disney-like banal. The good are very good, the bad are very bad. There is something pity-cute in the awkward forty-year-old man who with his genuine honesty and sincere naivety changes the fate of people around. Like Forrest Gump. And this guy wears a crime-fighting suit. Like "Kick-Ass." People need the Symbol. Like "The Dark Knight." And what happened to Arthur Popington in the end is a natural outcome. Like life. Unfortunately. But to paraphrase Randle McMurphy, "at least he tried."
The movie is positive and funny, despite the murders shown in the film, which are committed here as if fake, and the dramatic finale ... well, we will all meet on the moon someday.
9 out of 10
I will not retell the plot of the film, reviews are usually read by those who have already seen the film. And if you haven’t watched, then I sincerely recommend a two-voice translation with profanity! At least a single view of the film deserves.
Peter Stebbings' film is one of the first in the "superhero realism" section. This is one of his few values. Woody Harrelson is good, a couple of cool quotes are remembered from the film. Smile a couple of times. There is a social comment and I like it.
And the word of three letters was -ton-
The tone in the film is completely swinging. (or absent at all) The dark themes of prostitution, drugs and pedophilia should be perceived by the viewer interspersed with the most caricatured bandits against the background of which the Gavs brothers from Duck Stories will seem chilling criminals. In the film, there is always cartoon banter music. And then bam! And the moment where the bandit talks about the fact that on the way to America, a part of women from Eastern Europe are constantly dying, transported as cargo in containers. And at the same time, we are ruined by any belief in the illusion of the film, when Defendneg eavesdrops on bandits almost standing behind them. A romantic story with no logical or emotional explanation. Why did the prostitute go after the main character and start living with him? Is he the only one who has cared and cared for her in her entire life? Or did she just accidentally stumble across the script and read where she was going next? . . . . . joke. The family of the chief of holy people, ready to settle in a psychopath, because he once saved their son. Why didn't they even doubt it? Did the director of the hack make the minor characters more human? I didn't believe in this family, as much as I did in the film. In the end, we have a very, very manipulative ending. So "very" that even I felt it. Why is that amazing? Yes, because I did not feel the attraction and empathy with the characters throughout the timekeeping. And then in the last three minutes, like a machine, a line of emotional scenes.
The only thing at all close to the tone of this film is the work of Luke Besson, where there is also naivety and illogicality along with cartoon villains and stupid moments. And you know what? I'm not a fan of Besson with:
But objectively, it's not a bad movie. Maybe he'll hook someone. The film is not shot on the back, like most action slag. You can see that the creators invested themselves in the film and wanted to make it exactly the way it came out. That might be worth appreciating.
The Joker shot Bruce Wayne’s parents and he became Batman.
The Green Goblin killed May's aunt Peter Parker, and the latter became Spider-Man.
What would these metamorphoses look like in the real world, outside the DC or Marvel universe?
This is what the “Protection” will tell us.
The trailer draws a comedic parody of superhero movies, and “Kick-Ass” immediately comes to mind, in reality, released a year later. But the whole film is a dramatic story of an inadequate character with alternative attitudes.
Seriously considering himself a superhero, he regularly dresses up in a black suit and goes in search of Captain Industry to avenge his mother.
Unlike the prototype from the comics, the hero of Woody Harlson, no one bit, did not irradiate, he was not born on Krypton, and confronts him not the mythical Doctor Evil, but an ordinary corrupt cop performed by Elias Koteas.
Despite the failure at the box office in 2009, the film is interesting for its flagship position in the genre of heroic parody. For an hour and a half, we see the misalliance of the character in black leggings and the surrounding reality, suggesting that Vasya’s neighbor would look just as ridiculous if he wore a mask and tights.
The viewer will not be indifferent to the game of Harlson, skillfully conveying the image of Don Quixote in search of mills. His character turned out to be touchingly convincing and even capable of giving a metaphysical pendel, motivating him to get up from the sofa.
Defender carries the message that the desire to change the world for the better equates to eccentricity and proves that the concept of “universe” does not always imply a distant starry sky. A positive influence on a single person and an instruction on the “true way” of realizing his talents is the very change in the whole world.
If you managed to light at least one human soul, then life was not lived in vain.
7 out of 10
You don’t have to be a superhero unless you’re a superhero.
The film touched primarily the main character. He suffers from mental disorders, but this does not prevent him from doing justice. He dares to do it himself, he is a hero in himself, but due to the lack of his mental abilities it results in a distorted vision of himself and the world where he is a superhero and where the villain Captain Industry. And it is likely that the same Rodovan and was the one because of whom his mother died, maybe because of him she got hooked on drugs, then in his fiction there is really more truth. Woody Harrelson perfectly embodied this hero. He wanted to help, you know, you sympathize with him, and the actor seems to be a boy in his heart.
There is an unspoken phrase in the film: “What kind of society we are that relies on...” And indeed, that we are for a society in which the mentally retarded is not the only one who fights for justice, but really achieves it!
Not to say that the film that a normal person with crime on their own will not fight, although it makes sense. It follows that only the most deserving are the abnormal. The hero attracts to his side by the fact that only he is ready to do honor, save the child, show understanding and help to that girl-prostitute. An ordinary person would hardly do that. The film is inspiring, at least with the realization that anyone can be a hero. The main thing is to be either fearless or crazy. The main character had both.
It's just another proof that Canadian cinema often disappoints me. To begin with, I don’t like superhero movies at all. But this is not even a film adaptation of some comics, but a strange banter over a mentally unhealthy person. The main character considers himself a protector (that’s exactly what he believes) who is able to save the world from evil. Every night he puts on his tights, tapes the letter D on his chest and goes on the path of fighting evil. His methods are no less strange than his own. Then throws jars with wasps, then throws some balls, then beats villains with a baton from a toy store, then shoots from a slingshot. He believes that there is a dangerous Captain Industry who killed his mother. With the help of a street prostitute, he tries to attack his track and neutralize him.
I'm not interested in the story at all. Woody Harrelson sometimes likes to play eccentric characters, so nothing surprised or surprised. The hero himself left me indifferent. Although the idea of the screenwriters to reveal the image of the defender through his psychological trauma, received in childhood from a lack of maternal love and care. They decided to play on his childhood naivety caused by mental retardation. This should please the audience that such a big child gets into an organized criminal environment and gives a rustle to criminals there, when even the police can not do anything, and does not really want to do something. Well, it was funny only once when he first threw his wasp cans and balls. And then I didn't think it was funny at all. More like a stupid farce.
In other words, the line with the prostitute-girlfriend is also kind of faded and half-raw. The image of the heroine was not properly disclosed at all, so it is unclear where such a change in her character and behavior came from, how she got into this field of activity, whether the story with her father had anything to do with this. In general, the plot is very poorly worked out, in my opinion. And even the ending should be kind of sentimental, but not hooked in any way. The moral of the eccentric parable is also very primitive. You don’t need a superhero costume or a huge IQ to do good things. Just wanting to make the world a better place. Alas, throughout the film, I had a completely different desire – that it would end sooner. Very boring and nothing funny in people with disabilities I do not see.
3 out of 10
In my opinion, this film was clearly underestimated by both viewers and critics. Peter Stebbings managed to create a non-standard fascinating film about a superhero and at the same time showed the viewer a modern social drama, touching on many pressing serious problems. It seems that it is almost impossible to combine these two things, but the director managed it and turned out very original. What's the movie about? Let's take it one by one.
This is a film about a thirty-year-old man named Arthur Popington, who by day lives an ordinary life of a construction worker, and at night he puts on a black suit with the letter D pasted and goes to cleanse the city of lawlessness. Yes, he is not quite like everyone else and although most people do not understand him, and look at him as a mentally ill, this does not bother our hero and certainly does not stop him. It is strange and a little sad that mostly only people like Arthur are trying to change the world.
If you break the law, you are a bandit, if you break the law with a badge, you are a bandit with a badge. I don't hit cops. Bandits are different. (c)
He is sure that he will find and deal with the most dangerous criminal in the city - Captain Industry and no one will be able to stop him on this path, because he is nothing but Defender! He has a pretty cool uniform, a truck and a gun, but not guns of course. (c) He also has a girlfriend informant, who at first avoids the hero and loving relatives, whom he tries to avoid, thereby protecting them from danger.
I immediately want to say that the work is very heartfelt and sincere. Maybe not as sentimental and naively simple as Forrest Gump, but there is something similar about her. The film is stunningly selected music, fully reflects everything that is happening, which is only a brilliantly written “heroic theme”. The picture is very full of funny, but at the same time sad and touching moments, everything is served without any pathos and obsession, which makes it close to a real tragicomedy. I think the creators themselves did not suspect how multifaceted and special they will get the work, maybe that is why it is not quite warmly received.
Of course, this very unusual film is interesting posh play Woody Harrelson. After this role, I became interested in the filmography of the actor. A defenseman without conscience can be called a benefit. Naturally, other actors are also present and play important roles, but they all remain in the background away from the character of Harrelson. Perhaps, he never looked for an easy way, so almost always his characters attract attention and remain in the memory for a long time. Maybe this role did not bring him a lot of money or awards, but he once again proved that he can cope with absolutely any role.
A lot of people compare it to Kick-Ass. It is worth saying that the films have more different than common. Yes, in both cases, guys dress up as superheroes, but they have different motives and behaviors. Everyone here is good in their own way, Kick-Ass is naturally brighter and more dynamic, and ZachineG is more believable and real. And perhaps it is thanks to the soulfulness and realism that Arthur Popington is closer to me and ahead of everyone else.
In the end, I want to say that such heartfelt and simple films about a superhero like Defendor simply do not exist. Peter Stebbings managed to create a truly extraordinary film about a crime fighter, and Woody Harrelson impeccably brought the hero to life. The picture may not be perfect, but it definitely has a lot of positive aspects, it is a pity that then it was not appreciated, but cinema has repeatedly proved that time always puts everything in its place.
The most ordinary resident of the city Arthur Popington every night changes into black tights and fights crime. He does not possess any superpowers or outstanding physical abilities. He is also not encumbered with intelligence, and so his raids often end in failure. However, the brave Defender does not despair and continues to carry out his responsible mission, becoming a real symbol of the fight against evil in this difficult world.
This tape interested me for many reasons. Not the last of them is Woody Harrelson. This actor is really talented, and any role he succeeds. However, to say that they succeed, it is equal to say nothing, because many of his characters do not resemble each other and each of them has its own “highlight”. He is equally well suited to the role of an eccentric bandit, and a cold-blooded psychopathic killer, and a calm, confident and successful person – the list goes on for quite a long time. However, this time he got the image of a simple (and for some reason I think that he has some mental problems due to a difficult childhood) and a naive person who has his own principles, which he still follows, despite the fact that they do him more harm than good.
Looking at the poster of the film, I thought that this tape will be similar to “Kick-Ass”, which, incidentally, came out a little later. But still, behind the guise of the comedy about a superhero-loser, we have a rather poignant social drama that clearly shows that even one person can change the world. To consider this film as a comedy, perhaps, is not worth it at all - everything is not so optimistic here. Everything here is much more serious and - I am not afraid of this word - darker.
In general, the script is good - an explanation is given why the main character decided to fight evil with such methods. The plot can not be called intricate, it is measured, and even in places a little boring, which can be considered as a potential minus of the film. However, if we consider it as a whole, it is, as I mentioned, good.
I can’t recommend it because not everyone likes it.
The rating is above average for a good cast and in particular for Woody Harrelson.
7 out of 10
As a child, Arthur Popington (Max Drisin) died of a drug-related illness. Arthur himself was not brilliant and himself was a slowed-down boy who liked to read comics about all sorts of superheroes. As an adult, he decided to eradicate crime, wearing a black suit and calling himself Defender Gom.
The film was directed by Canadian actor Peter Stebbings, who starred in mostly episodic roles in various films and TV series. “Protection G” is somewhat reminiscent of the painting “Kick-Ass”, there and there a person dressed in a suit and fought with bad uncles. But if "Kick-Ass" is a snarky action movie with a great comedy component, then "Defender" is such a crime drama. And unlike the same "Kick-Ass", the picture at the box office went quite unnoticed and failed miserably, earning a pitiful $ 44 thousand.
The picture looks very uneven, it feels that Stebbings is not very strong in directing. Positioning the film as a drama, the director can not decide what he is actually shooting. If the main line of Arthur looks without any claims, then the line of the prostitute Kat, his friend Paul and all this motivation of the bandits looks tense, as if for a tick. Cat, who went through a difficult life that led her to prostitution and drugs, changed too easily, becoming on the right path of life. For some reason, the bandits here are drawn, as if from comics in the form of stupid stoners, which the police can not catch. Even the final seems to have ended correctly, but the director seems to intend to remove it to survive the tears from us.
There are no complaints about actor Woody Harrelson. Only because of him is worth seeing this, not too smooth picture. His Arthur is a complicated character. Born from a drug addict who inherited mental retardation, he spent his whole life ridiculing children and then adults. The only person he loved was his mother. Having found himself in the comics, it was as if he had found the purpose of his life. Harrelson impeccably played the role of an adult with the mind of a child. His belief in his balls, flying wasps and that weapons are for cowards, causes sincere sympathy for the hero.
Bottom line: As always, a great Woody Harrelson in an uneven and dull production directed by Peter Stebbings. For a one-time viewing.