DVD
Protection

Starring: Stephen Baldwin, Katie Griffin & Peter Gallagher
Momentum Pictures
Rental
MP204DVD
Certificate: 15
Available now

 


New York mobster Sal Veronica has a choice: testify against his mobster family or go to jail...

You haven't slipped into a coma yet, have you?! There are no prizes for guessing what happens next in Protection. Valuing freedom before loyalty he chooses the former and moves his family to a new area under the wing of the police witness protection scheme. When he enters into a business partnership with a new friend Sal (now using the surname Vincent) uses the connections of a local crime boss to get things moving. But you should never shake hands with a snake, because you might grab the end that bites. The crime boss double-crosses the partners and attempts to take control of the business.

However, super smooth Sal is having none of it. He threatens the boss and shows he's made of sterner stuff. Forced to extremes the boss discovers our dark hero's background and arranges for some old acquaintances to show up with guns and bags of vengeance.

I tried very hard to like this movie, but it's nothing that hasn't been seen a hundred times before: bad guy turns good, but turns bad to do good... if you see what I mean!

A hackneyed plot isn't helped by bland characters who inspire not one iota of sympathy. It seems that Sal is every woman's dream (he beds the wife of a man who has him investigated, his partner's wife continually eyes him up, and even his partner's teenage daughter lusts after him. Stephen Baldwin plays the main character cool; so cool, in fact, that he practically falls asleep standing up. I know how he feels.

Ty Power