# The Protector (2005) Review: Tony Jaa Breaks Everything > The Protector (Tom Yum Goong) sends Tony Jaa to Australia after a stolen elephant; the story is flimsy, but its fight scenes remain some of the best ever filmed. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/tom-yum-goong-2005-review/ Published: 2026-07-23 Last updated: 2026-09-24 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Rating: 3.5/5 ## Verdict Yes, for martial arts fans. The plot is thin and the tone lurches, but Tony Jaa's fights, including a famous single-take brawl, justify the whole film. ## Is The Protector worth watching? **Yes, if you come for the fighting. The Protector is a clumsy story wrapped around some of the most punishing, inventive martial arts sequences of the 2000s.** Tony Jaa's second starring vehicle with director Prachya Pinkaew trades the rough village charm of Ong-Bak for a bigger stage and a more brutal style. The drama between the fights is threadbare and the comedy often misfires, but when Jaa moves, the film becomes essential viewing for anyone who cares about how screen combat is staged. ## What is The Protector about? Kham (Tony Jaa) is a young man raised in rural Thailand in a tradition that binds his family to the elephants they care for. When his elephant is stolen and smuggled abroad, he follows the trail to Sydney, where he has no language, no contacts and no plan beyond getting the animal back. His only ally is a Thai-born Australian police detective, played by Petchtai Wongkamlao, and his enemy is a criminal network run by a ruthless woman (Jin Xing) who keeps a pair of formidable bodyguards close. Released in Thailand as Tom Yum Goong, [The Protector](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/tom-yum-goong-2005/) is a Thai production directed by Prachya Pinkaew, mostly in Thai with English-language stretches, and runs 105 minutes in the version listed here. Viewers should be aware that the film has circulated in different cuts internationally, so running times and even music can vary depending on where you find it. ## The staircase shot and the art of the long take The film's reputation rests largely on one sequence. Kham fights his way up a spiralling restaurant staircase, floor by floor, through wave after wave of henchmen, and the camera follows him in a single unbroken take of roughly four minutes. It is not flawless; you can spot the odd pulled blow and a stuntman waiting his turn. That is part of its power. The imperfections prove it is real, and the sheer endurance on screen gives the scene a physical honesty that cut-heavy action rarely matches. Elsewhere Jaa's style has hardened since Ong-Bak. His Muay Thai here leans on joint locks and limb breaks, and one extended fight in which he dismantles a room full of opponents is as much a catalogue of fractures as a choreographed routine. It is thrilling and, at times, genuinely wince-inducing. The film also stages bouts against a varied roster of fighters, including Nathan Jones as a towering brute, Lateef Crowder and Jonathan Patrick Foo, and Pinkaew smartly lets each opponent bring a different rhythm so the set pieces do not blur into one another. ## A story that exists to get Jaa into rooms Everything between the fights is scaffolding. The elephant gives Kham a motive that is simple and oddly touching, and the film's best non-action moments are the ones that treat his bond with the animal as sincere. But the Sydney crime plot is muddled, the villains are broad, and the police subplot involving Wongkamlao's detective is mostly there to supply exposition and slapstick. Wongkamlao is a genuine comic talent, yet his humour sits uneasily beside a film that elsewhere revels in bone-snapping cruelty. Jin Xing's villain has presence but little to play, and Bongkoj Khongmalai's role feels cut down to a sketch. Jaa himself is a physical performer first; when the script asks him to carry dialogue scenes, the film slows to a crawl. ## Brutality with a Buddhist backdrop What gives The Protector a little more texture than a standard revenge picture is its sense of place and belief. Temples, monks and Kham's devotion to his family's traditions frame his journey, and the contrast between that rural spirituality and the neon criminal underworld of Sydney is broad but effective. The film is not subtle about it, and it never develops the idea very far, but it gives Kham's rage a moral weight that keeps him sympathetic even at his most violent. ## Who should watch The Protector? This is a film for action fans, stunt enthusiasts and anyone curious about the golden run of Thai martial arts cinema in the mid-2000s. Viewers who need strong characters or a coherent thriller plot will find it frustrating. The violence is heavy and frequently bone-crunching, with some blood and a lot of cruelty, so it is not one for younger viewers. If it hooks you, try these next: - [Ong-Bak](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/ong-bak-2003-review/), Jaa and Pinkaew's breakthrough, which is looser and more playful but equally jaw-dropping in its stunts. - [The Killer](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/the-killer-1989/), John Woo's Hong Kong classic, for gunplay choreographed with the same devotion to the set piece. - More titles from the [action shelf](https://celluloidscore.com/genres/action/), where the best fight films sit alongside the genre's crime thrillers. ## The verdict The Protector is a weak movie and a great piece of action filmmaking at the same time. Its script barely holds together, but Tony Jaa's ferocity and that remarkable staircase take earn it a permanent place on any martial arts shortlist. **Rating: 3.5/5** ## Related title - [The Protector (2005)](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/tom-yum-goong-2005/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)