good part of the movie Defender Richard Hughes It’s like a combination of pieces from many similar films put together by a character.. After all, the story of a ruthless and skilled killer, but with some moral qualms, has been told enough times to be familiar. It would even be so if director Richard Hughes didn’t have so little imagination to create for his character something more than an ordinary setting.
What is truly regrettable about the film is undoubtedly its inability to take the most famous moments of such plots and challenge them. Within the first ten minutes, Peter Iliffe’s script turns into a series of elegant but empty images. The camera keeps a close eye on Kuda (Antonio Banderas), an assassin with impeccable skills. His gloomy figure, somewhat reminiscent of the one played by Bob Odenkirk in Nobody, is the epitome of the killer trade. The plot takes great care to show that Cuda does his job with relentless composure and that he has been the perfect method to get it done so far.
Of course, despite this harshness, Kuda is not a completely evil person. In fact, with a more ingenious script, Banderas’ duality of character would have been the culmination of The Protector. Indeed, it is so, since its sense of cruelty is as refined as that of a predator.
At the same time, there is a human vein in his way of understanding murder, and almost fair. The combination of both makes Cuda the point where most of the premise rests. When does a person who acts only by his own rules decide to go the other way?
Two images of a ruthless killer in El Protector
No doubt the answer could have been more stimulating if the premise had been more focused on showcasing Cuda in all of its various hues. But the story rushes forward to be told clumsily and with little skill.which you need to contextualize the rest of the action.
The character turns out to be the sum of his weaknesses, not his mysteries. First, he gets out of prison almost as a sign of loyalty to the all-powerful Estelle (Kate Bosworth), the head of the Miami union. On the other hand, this man who can kill without asking questions suddenly tries to be a good father. At the very least, get close to her teenage daughter to get forgiveness.
But it’s not. The film moves at a chaotic pace, approaching Kuda’s meeting with Billy (Zolie Griggs), a pathetically fragile street girl. So much so that it awakens hitherto unknown paternal instinct or, at best, the friendly side of the criminal. Like Jason Statham in Safely since 2012, Banderas’ killer, for unknown reasons, becomes Billy’s protector. Which immediately becomes the main focus of the plot.
That’s when the script makes its worst mistake: turning an ordinary formula into its most versatile version. Aside from Banderas’ undeniable charisma, his character isn’t supported by anything other than the ability to perform action movie clichés. A man who seeks redemption through the uncompromising defense of an innocent man. Hughes fails to give his film a sense of believability. A much less clear exploration of why it should be plausible—or at least consistent—that a criminal known for his ferocity needs forgiveness. Belated excuse?
The good, the bad and all the pains of guilt
Kuda himself doesn’t seem to fully understand his need to protect Billy. A plot failure that shows the worst flaws of a story that lacks rhythm and tone. The script could make better use of this moral confusion if it wasn’t so interested in proving that Kuda is a good person. Regardless of the real evidence or his violent past.
The forced nature of the premise causes the film to be reduced to the second part, in which it becomes a mixture of poorly choreographed action scenes. Banderas supports the film with a convincing performance, but even his sobriety seems out of place in a fragmented setting devoid of real solidity.
For his last sequences, Defender it becomes so banal and predictable that its final scene is almost tiring. A story that at times shows what could have been a solid story, but eventually ebbs away on its own until it becomes a narrative confusion. Possibly your biggest problem.
Source: Hiper Textual
