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While The Protégé deftly works as a standalone movie, its ending leaves the door open for a major character to return in a potential sequel.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Protégé, in theaters now
The Protégé brings the titular hired gun across the world, forcing her into a series of gunfights, brutal brawls, and death-defying battles to stay ahead of all the people trying to kill her because of a connection to the past that she didn’t fully realize she had. Although it ends on a conclusive beat for the primary threats of the film, The Protégé wraps up on a note of ambiguity regarding its titular character — one that could allow for her to return in a sequel.
The Protégé largely focuses on Ana (Maggie Q), a deadly assassin who escapes a dark life in Vietnam thanks to the efforts of the professional hitman Moody (Samuel L. Jackson). Essentially taken in as his student for the majority of her life and becoming his titular protégé, Ana develops a precise set of lethal skills that serve her well as Moody’s assistant. Together, they earn a great deal of wealth over the years, with Moody growing old in luxury while Ana develops a calm and content public life as the owner and operator of a rare bookstore. She also maintains a healthy and happy bond with Moody, visiting him for his birthday and gifting him a rare guitar to add to his collection.
However, her life is thrown into disarray when a group of assassins attacks her and forces her on the run, only to learn that Moody has seemingly been murdered. Following the loose threads to discover the truth behind the attacks, Ana finds herself forced to travel across the globe and ultimately return to Vietnam. There, she faces off with the forces of a wealthy businessman, Vohl (Patrick Malahide).
Along the way, she forms a surprising bond with one of her pursuers — Rembrandt (Michael Keaton), a disarmingly charming man who grows to respect and admire Ana. The two eventually engage in a brutal battle that ends with the pair sleeping together, unsure if they can go through with their respective plans to kill one another in pursuit of their goals. Ana ends up getting some unexpected support from Moody himself, who is revealed to have faked his death earlier in The Protégé.
Working with Ana, they’re able to force Vohl to retreat from an apparent assassination attempt to a bunker on his compound, where he finds Moody waiting for him. During an ensuing gunfight, Rembrandt is able to wound Ana, but he is distracted long enough for Moody to activate a bomb, killing himself and Vohl. Returning to the building where Moody found her years ago, Ana sends Rembrandt to the location and waits for him, eventually facing off with him in a final draw and explaining that she can’t know peace until she knows he’s dead too.
Although the final moments of their confrontation aren’t shown, the scene confirms that the pair both fire upon one another, and only Ana is seen leaving the building in the final frames of The Protégé. This sets up Ana to move back into the shadows and pick up the pieces of her life, eventually making a return down the line if the filmmakers were so inclined. Maggie Q’s performance is one of the highlights of The Protégé; Ana is someone who seems to genuinely want a quiet life but has the skills and knowledge to know how difficult that can be to achieve. She makes for a compelling character and would be interesting to see her return.
While The Protégé works as a single piece, it does leave the door open for Ana to return in a future story, which could take her all over the world or see her take in a protégé of her own. Until then, her story works on its own in The Protégé, now in theaters.
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