Milla Jovovich's New R-Rated Thriller Continues Disappointing 7-Year Rotten Tomatoes Streak

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Milla Jovovich's Nikki looking angrily at someone standing next to a truck in Protector

Published Mar 6, 2026, 4:00 PM EST

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Milla Jovovich's latest movie, Protector, continues a very unfortunate trend on Rotten Tomatoes.

Over the past seven years, Jovovich has starred in several movies that share one disappointing similarity: they all received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics.

Unfortunately, Protector, which is now in theaters, continues that seven-year streak with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 20%. Critics are calling the R-rated thriller ridiculous, uninspired, confusing, and a disaster. One review even outright told moviegoers to skip this film. One of the only aspects of Protector that's being praised is Jovovich's performance.

Milla Jovovich's Nikki looking angry and holding a gun in Protector

Aside from the low Rotten Tomatoes score, Protector also has the unfortunate distinction of being released the same weekend as major films like Hoppers and The Bride!, and a week after Scream 7.

Rambo: Last Blood's Adrian Grünberg directed Protector from a script by Bong-Seob Mun. Interestingly, Rambo: Last Blood received a similarly low score of 26% and won a Razzie for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel.

Protector centers around Jovovich's character, a former soldier named Nikki, who bypasses law enforcement and takes it upon herself to save her kidnapped daughter. Her co-stars are Matthew Modine, D.B. Sweeney, Don Harvey, Arica Himmel, Michael Stahl-David, and Isabel Myers.

The last time Jovovich starred in a movie that received a fresh rating (60% or higher) on Rotten Tomatoes was 2019's Paradise Hills, which earned a score of 68%. Since then, her films have received Rotten scores ranging from 14% to 44%: Worldbreaker (43%), In the Lost Lands (24%), Breathe (14%), Monster Hunter (44%), and The Rookies (21%).

Milla Jovovich's 7-Year Rotten Streak

Rotten Tomatoes Score

Worldbreaker	43%
In the Lost Lands	24%
Breathe	14%
Monster Hunter	44%
The Rookies	21%
Protector	20%

Before Paradise Hills, the actor had a streak of over a dozen Rotten films, including two that earned 0% (Future World and Faces in the Crowd). Jovovich's highest-rated movie is Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused at 94%. That film was released in 1993. In second is Spike Lee's He Got Game from 1998, with a score of 82%.

After getting her start as a model, Jovovich's breakout role came via The Fifth Element, in which she starred alongside Bruce Willis. Since then, she has starred in several well-known films like Chaplin, Zoolander and Zoolander 2, the Resident Evil franchise (including Resident Evil, Apocalypse, Extinction, Afterlife, Retribution and The Final Chapter), and the 2019 reboot Hellboy.

Some of these movies have earned her various award nominations, including Best Fight at the MTV Movie & TV Awards for The Fifth Element and Best Actress at the Saturn Awards for Resident Evil.

She's also been nominated at the Razzies, which honors the worst films of the year, for The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Resident Evil: Retribution, and In the Lost Lands.

On the small screen, Jovovich has guest-starred on Married...with Children, King of the Hill, and Robot Chicken, and appeared in episodes of Project Runway and Lip Sync Battle. She's even appeared in a few music videos, including with Lenny Kravitz for his song "If You Can't Say No."

Protector is now playing in theaters.