Jet Li - The Defender DVD

The Defender sees Hong Kong martial arts master Jet Li playing a bodyguard from the Beijing secret police, sent to Hong Kong to protect a beautiful young witness to a mob killing, played by Christy Chung. Li turns her home into a high-security prison, complete with video cameras surveying every room, even her bedroom. Furious, Chung resists his efforts to protect her--until the threat to her life is made abundantly clear in a spectacular shopping mall shootout. As is natural under such circumstances, romance begins to bloom, much to the dismay of Chung’s lawyer boyfriend,... who hired Li in the first place. Made in the last few years before Hong Kong was returned to the rule of mainland China, The Defender makes many (possibly anxious) jokes about the differences between the austere Communist bodyguard and the lackadaisical HK police. Li’s character is so stone-faced that his usual boyish charm is repressed, and the movie emphasises gunplay over acrobatic kung fu action, but there are still kicks galore and the usual Hong Kong combination of spectacular violence and outrageous sentimentality--all captured in stylish, glossy cinematography. And how often do you get to see Venetian blinds used as an offensive weapon?--Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com [show more]

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