A good bodyguard is not narcissistic. Where's Sloan?
- We tried unsuccessfully to wake him up, sir.
- Without success... What does that mean?
- He's asleep.
© "Protected"
Olivier Grüner was once only an actor in action films for cinema. At a certain age, Grüner began filming them himself. It was enough to look at Sector 4 to see the poor quality of his so-called creativity, but no, I always want to torture myself further. Therefore, "Protected" was also subjected to the activation of the "play" button.
I should be grateful for eight hours of full, healthy sleep. Honest attempts to overcome the boring plot, framed in a boring shooting, ended with a pillow, blanket and almost capsized yogurt. Eight hours later, the final was reviewed. Not a single virtue has been identified. Not one, except for such a charming sleeping pill. Thank you so much, Olivier Grüner! You gave your audience a real rest. Rest from you.
So, a bodyguard (played by Gruner himself) is hired to work for the rich man to protect him and his son from enemies. The bodyguard is good in combat training, shoots well, fights well, behaves well in critical situations, loves his wife and his son, but the past haunts him - though not very long. At some point, our hero is destined to understand that everything is not what it seems, and the enemies are actually very close, and their faces have long been familiar to him.
Gruener doesn't cheat. The same simple shooting style (as if the cameraman’s hands are riddled with bullets), the same lack of acting (just hints at it, which seem terribly ridiculous), the same glimpses of narcissism (here I am – I am well trained, I will prepare anyone for combat, I am cool, I am experienced, I will be your best defender!). By the end, you wade through the “can’t” and “don’t want”, realizing that in front of you is nothing more than an amateur slag from a person who believes that militants should be dull. From a person who has no idea about the direction of the stage, about the composition of a good script, about entering the role, about the editing, about the cinematography plans – about everything that a movie should consist of. Before us is a complete amateur in the cinematic sense, but shoots like the best killer in the world, fights like the best tiger in the world, has a bunch of other qualities and always speaks of himself extremely modestly - only two or three dozen sentences.
The ending of the story generally smells of complete idiocy. Did you know that only two percent out of a hundred, according to experimental studies, can land an airplane without full training? And that's because of luck. I don’t want to throw spoilers, but I repeat: the finale is a miracle. The miracle of mocking the viewer. The miracle of believing that the end of a film shouldn't be controversial - always the same, always Hollywood. Come on, Mr. Gruner.
As a result, we have another extremely skilful action movie of third-rate quality.
2 out of 10