|
|
The Rebel
|
|
The biggest box office hit in Vietnamese film history, The Rebel has been making waves all around the world for its' powerful portrayal of the struggle between the Vietnamese and the French during the 1920's. With Johnny Nguyen, who was featured in the cult hit Tom Yung Goong (aka The Protector), being the star and also directing the action, this has been one of the most widely bootlegged films around the net since its' premiere in 2006. Now, with a new release from Dragon Dynasty, fans can finally check out a good (and legitimate) copy of the movie.
The titular rebel of the story is Cuong (Johnny Nguyen), a man who has been working to help the French occupiers squash the growing rebellion, but has a change of heart after he witnesses a prisoner named Thuy (Thanh Van Ngo) being tortured by his sadistic commander, Sy, who is played by Dustin Nguyen. Yes, that Dustin Nguyen from every gen-xer's favorite undercover cop show, 21 Jump Street. Cuong and Thuy attempt to escape to meet up with Thuy's father, who is the head of the rebellion. But, of course, Sy won't let them get away easily, especially since he is being dogged by his superiors to bring down the rebellion at all costs.
Story-wise, The Rebel is certainly different from your usual "revenge for your teacher" or "cops and robbers" martial arts movie, and this helps to make things more interesting. As this reviewer hasn't seen too many Vietnamese movies, I can't totally vouch for the acting, but it comes off as good for the most part, especially Dustin Nguyen, who seems to relish playing a nasty villain. The only real problem that I have with the story is the portrayal of the French.
Sure, this is a Vietnamese movie about the French occupation, but the French people are portrayed as such one-dimensional brutal buffoons, it takes away from the story. There is a slight cursory attempt to humanize the French during a conversation between Cuong and Thuy, but it comes off as lip service to try and make people think that the movie isn't racist against French people -- which for the record, I don't think it is in any way, and probably any viewers that have any common sense won't, either.
Despite any problems I had with the story, the action sequences were good enough to forgive those shortcomings -- at least to an extent. If you've seen the aforementioned Tom Yung Goong, then you know what to expect here. Namely, leaping knee bashes to the face, jumping elbows to the forehead, and spin kicks. Lots of spin kicks. Seriously, there's enough spin kicks featured here for two or three movies. Johnny's Nguyen's action direction is good, but he needs to incorporate more variety. But overall, the brawls here are exciting and make The Rebel worth checking out if you want to see a different take on the marital arts film. RATING: 7.5
DVD Information Dragon Dynasty's 2-disc set sports a very solid picture and sound transfer, and a good number of extras, including interviews, featurettes, a photo gallery, a deleted scene, and commentary from some of the film's stars and Asian cinema expert Bey Logan. If you want to check The Rebel out, this release is definitely the way to go. For more details, or to buy the DVD, please visit the official Dragon Dynasty site. |
