THE REBEL

Director: Truc 'Charlie' Nguyen
Stars: Johnny Tri Nguyen, Thanh Van Ngo, Dustin Tri Nguyen, Stephane Gauger
Year: 2006
Rating: R

(in Vietnamese & French with English subtitles)

While this was my first time seeing Johnny Nguyen in a film, it won't be my last; The Rebel is a great movie, filled with an intriguing story, great action scenes that showcase Nguyen's own style of fighting (called Lien Feng Kwon), and a very dramatic storyline set in French-occupied Vietnam of the early 1920's.

Johnny Nguyen plays Cuong, a local cop or government agent who's been trained by the French to help them with not only the takeover of Vietnam - but to also aid them in the overthrowing of any resistance groups that are trying to stop the French in their conquest. Cuong's strongest "partner in crime" is a ruthless, seemingly superhuman and without conscience bad - VERY bad - dude named Sy (Dustin Nguyen of "21 Jump Street" fame, in his first role as a villain) ... and when both men aid in stopping the assassination of the French secretary, Cuong's conscience finally begins to gnaw at him after he's forced to shoot and kill a barely-legal would be assassin.

But first off, there are bigger problems to deal with - Sy and his cronies have captured the mastermind behind the assassination attempt (Thanh Van Ngo), a young woman whose father is the leader of the Vietnamese rebels. Determined to learn the whereabouts of her father, Sy tortures the female resistance leader, finally throwing her into a prison when she isn't forthcoming with the information ... and, that night, Cuong helps the girl to escape - the two of them now fugitives from the law as Cuong helps the young lady to get out of the city and back to her father ... as Sy and his men begin the hunt to bring them both down, as well as to find and kill the girl's father.

As said, the martial arts fights in this film are exciting and full of raw energy - in particular, the all-out brawl at the end. Johnny Nguyen turns in a great performance as the conflicted Cuong - whom you're never quite sure is either a good guy or bad guy - and Dustin Nguyen is nothing short of brilliant as the nasty Sy. Thanh Van Ngo shows off both her acting chops AND her skills as a fighter, holding her own easily with the guys in her fight scenes (particularly so as she was not trained in martial arts prior to this film). The steamy, oppressed and stark darkness of 1922 Vietnam city life is also perfectly displayed in the film - as is its beautiful countryside and forests (shot in Vietnam, the locales and cinematography add real atmosphere to the tale).

If you're a martial arts fan, this film is practically a must-see ... but it also has a dramatic, strong narrative storyline that's hard to resist. Johnny Nguyen also produced and co-wrote the film, and on the commentary it's mentioned that this film was actually his brainchild - something he worked on for years to bring to the screen - but that's evident in the TLC taken in the making of this film, and one can only hope Johnny Nguyen has many more like it to come. ***1/2 - Reel Cool-Reel Awesome