By Martin Campbell will always hold a special place in my heart. The director made two of the best Bond films ever: Goldeneye and Casino Royale. I mean, with a track record like that how could you not be excited about his next film, The Protege, which just landed its first trailer today.
Well, he also directed Green Lantern, The Foreigner, and a host of other pretty terrible action movies. Just why he’s so hit and miss is a mystery but judging from the trailer for The Protege this could be good… or at least fun. It definitely looks a bit budget but the cast is fantastic and anything that posits that Michael Keaton could possibly go toe-to-toe with Maggie Q is kind of interesting.
The plot is a pretty straightforward revenge thriller. Moody (Samuel L. Jackson) is a legendary assassin who rescues Maggie Q’s character, Anna, and trains her to be the world’s best contract killer. But, as you can see in the trailer, Jackson doesn’t make it through the movie and she’s going to kill everyone involved, including Keaton. It isn’t as good an excuse to go on a killing rampage as the murder of a puppy your dead wife sent you, but it will do. There’s also a bit of cat and mouse stuff going on between Maggie Q and Keaton, which could add a level of fun to proceedings beyond all the shooting and killing. Robert Patrick also shows up but it’s not too clear why.
Most likely The Protege will simply land with a thud like many of Campbell’s latest efforts but there’s a chance we could see some strong action from it. The film releases in theaters on August 20.
