Maggie Q's Action Thriller From A James Bond Director Is A Fun Weekend Watch On Prime Video

There's no shortage of action entertainment out there. Heck, 2026 has already delivered some great action movies, and, more generally, the best action movies of the 21st Century are arguably some of the finest examples of the genre ever made. And while 2021's "The Protégé" might not belong in the latter category, but it's a fun time that's well worth a watch over on Prime Video if you're looking for some solid action thrills. It helps, of course, that it's directed by the man responsible for the greatest James Bond movie ever: "Casino Royale."

Martin Campbell's Bond bonafides extend beyond Daniel Craig's debut as England's greatest spy. Prior to 2006's "Casino Royale," Campbell oversaw 1995's "GoldenEye," easily the best 007 installment of the 1990s and the film that endeared a whole new generation to the Bond saga (bolstered, of course, by its all-time classic video game adaptation). 1998's "The Mask of Zorro" aside, Campbell admittedly hasn't managed to match his Bond success outside of that storied franchise. But he has made some decent films, such as 2017's "The Foreigner" and the Bill Paxton-led survival thriller "Vertical Limit."

With 2021's "The Protégé," he delivered yet another solid action effort that saw Maggie Q play a deadly assassin who goes on a revenge mission after her mentor is killed. The film came from Lionsgate, the studio behind the "John Wick" movies, and it emulates that property something fierce. A lone, preternaturally gifted assassin goes on a quest for vengeance? That's pretty much the "John Wick" premise, though, thankfully, no dogs die in "The Protégé." That said, the film proves that killing  Samuel L. Jackson is just as likely to result in a torrent of vengeful violence.

After "GoldenEye," Martin Campbell had a jarring introduction to the James Bond fandom. Perhaps that explains why he only returned to the saga more than a decade later. The rest of the time he was seemingly working his way towards making the kind of action movies you wouldn't be surprised to see pop up in your Netflix queue before fading into obscurity. Indeed, he contributed to the Old Man Liam Neeson canon with 2022's "Memory" and, more recently, directed Daisy Ridley in the high-rise hostage actioner "Cleaner." Prior to that, Campbell directed another woman-led action thriller when he re-teamed with his "Casino Royale" star Eva Green for "Dirty Angels." But that was far from his first time overseeing a story in which a badass heroine hands out endless beatdowns.

2021's "The Protégé" follows Maggie Q's Anna, who, as a child, was rescued by Samuel L. Jackson's surprisingly congenial yet ruthless assassin Moody Dutton. Flash forward to modern day London, and the pair now work as hired killers, taking out shady individuals and their goons across the globe. Unfortunately, their lucrative little operation is shattered when Moody is killed and Maggie barely escapes her own attempted assassination. Don't worry, that's hardly a spoiler. From the very outset, you can tell this is the kind of movie where Jackson isn't going to last long. That's sort of for the best, however, as the rest of the film allows Maggie Q to do her thing unimpeded, and she proves more than adept at leading the action as Anna sets out on a globe-hopping mission to avenge her fallen mentor.

"The Protégé" made $8.2 million at the box office, and its budget hasn't been made public. Either way, that means hardly anybody saw the movie when it hit theaters. Nevertheless, it reached Netflix soon after and managed to chart, ensuring more viewers were exposed to the Maggie Q-led actioner. Now, the film is available on Prime Video and is more than worth a watch for those with a predilection for well-made action that hovers somewhere between B-movie and more prestigious genre fare.

The film's 64% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes isn't all that impressive, but it's a heck of a lot better than so many other movies of this sort. Maggie Q herself is certainly at home in "The Protégé," having led her own action series with The CW's "Nikita" between 2010 and 2013 and played Tori Wu in the sci-fi action outing "Divergent" and its two sequels. But Q isn't the only good thing about the movie.

Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post found the film to be "polished and watchable" with a "satisfying third-act twist that nicely upends much of what has come before it." Variety's Peter Debruge had similar feelings, acknowledging that while "there's precious little in 'The Protégé' that audiences haven't seen before," the film still "recombines those familiar elements in such entertaining ways." Other critics were less complimentary, though. That includes Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times, who wrote, "We've seen it all before, often done with more style, a better brand of dark humor, and smarter plots." But "The Protégé isn't trying to reinvent this formula, it's just trying to do it well enough to keep you entertained — and that it does.