The Clash (Johnny Nguyen)

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

Just got back from this at Fantasia...

The verdict: I'm affraid it stinks.

Johnny Nguyen and Veronnica Ngo reunites after a succesful run in The Rebel but this time it's a misfire.

Ngo plays a woman whose daughter is held captive by some bad guy named Black Dragon. To win her freedom she must complete one last mission for him. To do so, she assemble a team, including Nguyen, to help her achieving he goal. But thing don't go as smoothly as hoped.

So much is wrong in this. First the scenario is a collage of been there done that. Also there is this team that she assembles that don't make sense at all. Nobody seems to have a purpose. There's a dwarf that serves as a comic relief that doesn't seem to be good at anything except looking dumb. Everything between the fights looks and feels like filler, and there is lots of it. It's overdramatic,overlong and cheesy (people were laughing at some dramatic moments).

So then how about the fights? The sad thing is that instead of having filler between fights, there are fights between filler. There are maybe 4 fights total and they aren't that long. Because before the fights, you need to have the gunfights, so they run out of bullets and get to the fistcuffs. And the gunfights... Probably the worst I've seen in a long time. Those guys are some of the most incompetent shooters in the history of cinema. You've got people standing around uncovered shooting at each other at close range and missing the target. No kidding, in the end the bad guy and Nguyen are on the opposite sides of a car, uncovered and shooting at each other and they miss! The fights themselves are brutal and fast, with a dash of well done grappling. While theyre still are a few spin kicks and head scissors, I didn't find them as flashy as in The Rebel, although maybe more fast and hard hitting. But all in all, while they are great too look at, they don't make up for the rest of the movie.

With The Rebel, they had put Vietnam under the spotlight as a place to watch for martial arts movie, but I'm affraid this is a step back.

[KUNG FU BOB]

Aw shit!

[HAZ]

Too bad. I was planning to check it out tomorrow. I might still, just to see if I like it. I went to Kuroneko last night. That was pretty cool. If you're a fan of films like Onibaba & Kwaidan, it's a must.

[Athena]

Too bad. I was planning to check it out tomorrow. I might still, just to see if I like it. I went to Kuroneko last night. That was pretty cool. If you're a fan of films like Onibaba & Kwaidan, it's a must.

This is to bad (news) ,I had high hopes for this one after the Rebel ...

But I hope you still go HAZ as I like to get more reviews on this.

I will still get it when it comes out, since I have long since decided to try to add

Vietnamese Movies to my collection + I believe they (Vietnamese movie makers)

need (& deserve ) Western exposure...

So please let us know your opinion if you do see it ??

Xiexie beforehand Athena ..

[daisho2004]

Well as everyone on here knows, maybe one person might not like it but the rest will. But from the review it does sound pretty shitty! But I still cannot wait to see it anyway.

[blue_skies]

After The Rebel I was hoping that Johnny Nguyen would solidify his position as an up and coming martial-arts star and with any luck deliver lots of top martial-arts action on a regular basis. I'll still eventually checked this out but I hope his next film is more martial-arts action and less gunplay. Don't get me wrong I love gunplay but it has to reach the John Woo Standard. All too often these days gunfights are all too sloppily done and it just becomes boring.

By the way how do you pronounce Nguyen?

N-goo-en???

[Karlos]

Ah, that's a shame - was looking forward to this.

By the way how do you pronounce Nguyen?

I was once told it was pronounced Noy-yen.

[Charuto]

The pronunciation is pretty close to "win" in English.

[fiol]

it's a pity.. i really enjoyed The Rebel

[The Amazing Psycho Per]

Sorry to burst your bubble guys... Maybe with lower expectations coming in, you'll enjoy it more then I did. The fights are still good, but there is so much bad.

[One Armed Boxer]

CLASH (BAY RONG) (2011) Running time: 97 miins.

Stars: Johnny Tri-Nguyen, Veronica Ngo (Ngo Thanh Van), Hoang Phuc, Lam Minh Thang, Hieu Hien

Action Director: Johnny Tri-Nguyen

Dir.: Le Thanh Son

VN is Phoenix, a woman trained and employed by a former government operative known as the Black Dragon (HP) who holds her daughter captive and forces her to complete one final mission for him. She assembles a team to help her. One of them is Tiger (JTN), an undercover police officer after Black Dragon. Another is Snake (LMT), a rather aptly named and shady character.

Fight #1 --- Phoenix, Tiger, & Snake vs. an arms dealer and his gang

Distrust during a buy leads to a brief shoot-out which segues into hand-to-hand combat. Oh, my word! This is a fantastically hard-hitting fight! The choreography is complex and smoothly executed. The flow is fast, well shot and edited. VN performs a sweet takedown into an arm-bar but JTN impresses with a kick off one opponent into a flying scissor-leg takedown onto another. This just looks sooooo dangerous to perform.

Fight #2 --- Phoenix & Tiger vs. 3 French bodyguards

Her team raids the French guards' apartment to steal a laptop. This begins with a wholly unrealistic shoot-out. But once that's over it segues into hand-to-hand. (You'll recognize some of these guys as some of the French soldiers from The Rebel.) Just a brutal fight! Phoenix and Tiger flow naturally alternating opponents. JTN throws in his patented aerial axe kick. It ends with a floor flight showcasing skills in jiu-jitsu.

Fight #3 --- Phoenix & Tiger vs. 5 thugs and the traitor, Snake

This takes place in a wooded area. Phoenix fights Snake and executes a number of beautiful kicks: a flying side kick, a jump-spinning back kick, and a flying scissor-leg takedown. Tiger fights the 5 thugs who wield knives and machetes. There's another aerial axe kick thrown in but JTN truly impresses with a flying triple kick to 3 opponents ---- no wires needed! (Thank you very much!) There's also a sweet double-spinning back kick.

Fight #4 --- End fight

Phoenix vs. Snake --- VN has good hands using lots of straight and reverse punches. She demonstrates a nice interlocking choke-hold with her hands and feet. It ends with a flying scissor-leg takedown, her body swinging about as she throws him down. It's just beautiful!

Tiger vs. Black Dragon --- JTN uses lots of quick, short reverse elbows and punches. There's some more ground fighting with the use of jiu-jitsu techniques, too. HP uses mainly muay thai style fighting with some knee strikes. JTN has some great kicks here and performs a beautiful tornado kick.

In the Special Features there is an "Anatomy Of A Fight Scene". This shows the preparation (2 months) that went into the choreography. HP and LMT have no official MA training and neither does VN (though this is her 2nd action film) but they acquit themselves quite well, even taking some shots to their faces in training. JTN explains that he wanted to use more modern techniques in this film from a variety of styles.

Many have noted that they weren't as pleased with this film as they were with The Rebel. I can understand that......I guess. Personally, I love it! The fights are so well done, especially with the multiple opponents. It's just mind-boggling to me.

VN is just beautiful (even considering she whacked off her gorgeous waist length hair ). The girl can sell a fight! I hope she never stops doing these types of films. There were very few instances where I thought she really didn't display good technique or proper power. And I can watch her do that flying scissor-leg all day long. She is so fluid and fearless in its execution to have had no formal training.

I really like JTN. He's not afraid to challenge himself and try new things. And he steps back and puts VN in the forefront of the story and action. He's got a great eye for choreography and fight flow, angles and editing. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Okay, so the plot was nothing new and the acting wasn't the best. But this, by no means, is the worst either. Yes, I think The Rebel is a better movie, too, but that should in no way denigrate this effort. Action and choreography wise, this film is by far better than the current period piece, wire-fu epic clones rolling out of the studios the last few years. GET THIS AND GET THIS NOW!!!!

I just got through watching this and wanted to second everything that ShaOW!linDude said in the review he posted over in his mini reviews thread, I actually really enjoyed it. I picked it up last week having just watched 'The Raid', and found myself itching to see another recent modern day martial arts movie, and I suddenly remembered I'd always meant to get around to picking this up. Definitely no regrets.

Yes it was made on a much smaller budger that 'The Rebel' (Nguyen even states it in the very insightful interview included in the special features, mentioning that even though 'The Rebel' was a big success, it didn't make so much money because the cost of making it was so high, so the budget for this was set intentionally lower to make it more profitable), but ultimately it doesn't need such a big budget partly due to being set in modern times.

Although there isn't an over abundance of fights, as some people mentioned a total of 4, I didn't find it a problem because Nguyen & Veronica Ngo have a good chemistry together and carry the film well enough between the throwdowns. The fact that Ngo has a scene wearing possibly the sexiest dress committed to film in recent memory doesn't harm matters either.

The fights themselves are fantastic, and like 'The Raid' are a rare example of the camera work also assisting in adding impact to them. Particular mention has to go to the move that ShaOW!linDude also points out from the first fight, when Nguyen flying kicks one opponent then, while still in the air, transforms into a scissor kick takedown on another. It's rare to watch a martial arts movie these days and think "I've never seen that before!", but that move did it for me.

The bout against the three French fighters is outstanding as well, and Nguyen has managed to put MMA onscreen in a way that makes it as exciting, if not more than, Donnie Yen had also done previous with 'SPL / Kill Zone' and 'Flashpoint' (& hey doesn't the total amount of fights for those two movies put together come to about 4!?). If you're a person who gets turned off by the mention of MMA and grappling being in a movie, 'Clash' might just be the one to change your mind.

Yes it's not perfect, the story is loosely cobbled together at best, and the cheapo techno music score that plagues some scenes is a little grating. But hey, Hong Kong movies from the 80's weren't known for their Shakespearian plots and outstanding musical scores, if anything the opposite, so all this is forgivable. If people are debating weather or not to see this, I'd say don't hesitate, it's a worthy watch for sure.