Main cast: Craig Russell (Sion), Andrea Hall (Detective Patch), Charles Dale (Detective Stanton), Ross O’Hennessy (Nik), Steve Meo (Kevin), Kai Owen (Dwayne), Kezia Burrows (Katrina), Richard Mylan (Joe Llewelyn), Richard Elis (Big Tim), Gareth John Bale (Gary), and Jamie Kenna (Fitz)
Director: Tony Burke

Protein is about Sion, a former army guy with PTSD, who hitchhikes his way from town to town for odd jobs just to make by.

Oh, and he’s also a cannibal, thanks to having picked up a taste for human flesh after being stuck for a while with only the bodies of his dead platoon mates for food while he was on duty. 

Having come to London, he is hired by Katrina to work at his gym. When a local goon roughs up Katrina, Sion quietly visits him and kills him, of course packing nice parts of the man for his fridge.

This murder, however, sparks a bitter turf war among the gangs on the street, as each act of retaliation accelerates the street war. Two detectives are called onto the scene. 

All this while, Sion just plays the hot mysterious guy of very few words, uncaring of the drama he has caused. Will he get apprehended or will he get to enjoy his meal in peace? 

Now, first things first: this is not a cannibal movie. Folks expecting gory scenes of Sion eating human flesh would likely be disappointed, as the movie focuses more on the criminals shouting and yelling at one another, with occasional scenes of violence to break the monotony. This movie has been marketed as a horror film, but honestly, it lacks many elements that fans of horror would expect.

Also, Sion is actually a non-entity in this movie. He rarely speaks, and hence he doesn’t evolve much beyond the silent killer type. The fact that he doesn’t actively take part in the plot, only doing things to kick start or worsen the situations without any direct involvement, also makes him even more of a nondescript guy that is more plot device than character. 

Mind you, he is easy to look at, but then again, the male cast members all radiate that hot chav aesthetic that make this movie one of the unlikely hottest eye candy flicks around, provided one doesn’t mind the occasional dismemberment and blood sprays on the screen, that is. Craig Russell may be hot, but Ross O’Hennessy is pure daddy chav energy. 

As for the crime aspects, it’s actually pretty average. The movie doesn’t seem to know whether it wants to be a comedy or thriller, so it often lurches from one extreme to another in a tentative manner that seems to signal its own conflicted intentions. There isn’t anything here that hasn’t been done faithfully in other movies with street war stuff. Things get more predictable when so many of the goons are dumb or incompetent, as it’s hard to root for anyone when it’s obvious that most of them will just kill each other while Sion will just take out the stragglers. 

Still, there is an unexpected poignant development in the relationship between the two detectives. They start out as a rather stereotypical modern audience-coded “smart black detective and dumb chauvinistic white male detective” pairing, but the movie allows these two to show the audience that they are far more than what meets the eye, even developing a very human friendship as a result. This is definitely a nice aspect in an otherwise rather average film.

All in all, Protein may have an unusual premise, but things don’t come together here as it should. Sion is a lightweight presence, and the movie doesn’t seem to know whether it’s going for gags or gore. File this one under “missed opportunity”.