Although he had already starred in quite notable action films until 2013, such as ‘The Mechanic’, ‘Safe’, ‘Transporter’ or the ‘The Mercenaries’ saga, ‘The Protector‘ (‘Homefront‘) was a before and after for Jason Statham. With Gary Fleder in the direction, the film had an above-average cast in the action genre, with actors and actresses of the stature of Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth, Clancy Brown, Frank Grillo and James Franco in the role as an antagonist, also boasting a script by none other than Sylvester Stallone. However, the legendary actor’s initial idea was for the protagonist to be himself… and the film a fourth installment of ‘Rambo’.
Why did Stallone turn ‘Rambo IV’ into ‘The Protector’?
After ‘Rambo II’ and ‘Rambo III’, set in Vietnam and Afghanistan respectively, Stallone wanted to take the war veteran back to the United States, a desire reinforced after reading the novel that gives its name to the film, ‘Homefront’, by Chuck Logan. In this way, Stallone wrote a script in which John Rambo, back in North America, settled in a quiet town where he had to protect his daughter. and the rest of the inhabitants of a group of criminals that roamed freely. However, the fact that Rambo had a daughter seemed inconsistent with the solitary nature of the character, so he decided to backtrack and turn it into a movie. standaloneacting not only as a screenwriter, but also as a producer.
Enlarge
Justin Lubin
As we said, Jason Statham ended up starring in ‘The Protector’, playing former narcotics cop Phil Broker, and emerging as a wise choice to become the protagonist of Stallone’s script. Statham convinced with his already known talents for martial arts, making this one of the unavoidable classics of his career. Meanwhile, ironically, Stallone would think about taking John Rambo back to Southeast Asia, specifically Burmaunleashing a practically breathless and extraordinarily visceral and violent action film.
“A widowed former DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) agent retires to a small town to start a new life with his ten-year-old daughter,” says the official synopsis of ‘The Protector’. “The only problem is that he has chosen the wrong town.” It can currently be seen in the Prime Video and Apple TV catalog.
Follow the MeriStation Twitter channel. Your video game and entertainment website, to find out all the news, updates and latest news about the world of video games, movies, series, manga and anime. Previews, analysis, interviews, trailers, gameplays, podcasts and much more. Subscribe!
