The Protégé (2021)

Plot of The Protégé: Moody Dutton, a skilled hit man, finds a girl in a cupboard in a room full of dead people in Vietnam, adopts her and trains her to be his assistant. At Moody’s 70th birthday he asks her to track a man in Vietnam, Lucas Hayes, setting off a round of killings which apparently include Moody. Anna, the woman, who runs a bookstore in London is visited by a mysterious man, Rembrandt, giving her what might be a warning. However, in a bid to avenge Moody, Anna goes to Vietnam where she finds that Lucas Hayes is a non-verbal hospital internee, and that his father Edward, supposedly killed by Moody, is still alive and pulling strings all over the place. We also find that Rembrandt is working for Edward Lucas, who demands that he sort out the Anna problem. At a massive charity event, Anna stalks Edward, and Rembrandt stalks Anna. How can it all end?

Content: There is an implication that Rembrandt and Anna have had sex, and near the beginning a couple of nude girls are briefly seen. We see Anna as an assassin kill a gang lord by stabbing him in the neck, and despite lack of weapons, disable his body guards. She gets the help of a motor cycle gang in Vietnam. She and Rembrandt cross swords, almost literally, several times and at a time when she has been imprisoned and has escaped by killing her guards, he seems amused. It is not too much of a spoiler to say that Moody has faked his death and comes to the rescue, but can he save Anna?

A View: This outing was moderately well liked by the critics, but almost certainly has not covered its costs. If anything the whole plot is a bit complex and I found myself wondering why people did what they did at times, so it is necessary to go along with it. Maggie Q looks the part and does pretty well, in everybody’s view. Hence, maybe a watch for nothing while doing your knitting.

Fun Fact: It is 40 years since Michael Keaton went in for hand to hand combat, in Batman.