Director: Yue Song
Notable Cast: Yue Song, Michael Chan, Collin Chou, Xing Yu,
Li YuFei
Also known as: The Bodyguard, Super Bodyguard
It took a while and a couple of full watches, but Iron Protector finally clicks for me.
The reason it takes a little bit is that, due to the hype machine when it was
initially released in China and the various trailers released for the film that
had me hooked, expectations for the film are in line with it being an old
school Hong Kong action flick with stunts galore and an overly serious approach
to its plotting and narrative. This is not entirely the case with Iron Protector. For all of the hoopla made over Yue Song
being ‘the next Bruce Lee,’ Iron
Protector makes a better case for Yue Song at being the next Stephen Chow –
just with more stunts and action. As it turns out, this film is a full-blown
action comedy at times and our star, who also serves as the director, is
admirably good at pulling off the slapstick and often overzealous comedic
routines with the seriousness of an 80s Hong Kong action star. The result is
much better (and much different) than expected.