Johnny Tri Nguyen and Veronica Ngô are back together after starring in Vietnam’s highest grossing film of all time, The Rebel. They return with an exciting and gritty movie packed with guns, legitimate reloading, and tons of martial arts with crazy moves that will blow you away. Thanks to Indomoina Releasing, everybody in America has the chance to finally see Le Thanh Son’s Clash (Bay Rong), now on DVD.
“Trinh (Veronica Ngo) is a mercenary working for Hắc Long (Hoàng Phúc), an elusive criminal mastermind, who seeks a hard drive that controls the VINASAT.1, Vietnam’s first and only satellite. Hac has kidnapped Trinh’s daughter to get her to do his bidding and now she must give him what he wants so she can get her daughter back.
Trinh assembles a team of mercenaries and ex-convicts, including Quan (Johnny Tri Nguuyen), to recover the hard drive, but just as the mission is about to succeed, Trinh and her team are betrayed by one of their own and the hard drive falls into the wrong hands. Desperate to save her daughter, Trinh must hunt down the traitor before the hard drive is lost, but can she trust the remaining members of her crew?”
Clash is as much a character driven action drama as it is a martial arts spectacle. It is about a woman doing everything and anything to try and get her daughter back while a mercenary with a heart ends up falling for her. He tries to help her the way any man in his situation would, by kicking ass and taking names. And while the drama may not be the most emotional or heart wrenching, in the end Clash delivers on everything a movie starring Johnny Tri Nguyen promises, a lot of ‘almost’ realistic action.
Nguyen, who also produced and wrote the script, has put together a pretty good action flick that I think genre fans will enjoy. It’s fast paced, has some great set pieces, and a story that’s good enough to keep you invested in the characters and their outcome. While the acting in the film is mediocre at best, it’s the action choreography and stunts that make this movie shine and gives you another reason why you should be keeping an eye on Vietnamese action cinema.
While it is a fun film to watch, the movie tries a bit too hard when it comes to the relationship between Trinh and Quan. The reason there is a focus on the relationship element is because Johnny wanted to give the film an emotional touch but 
the problem is that it comes off a bit cheesy. It works in some places but most of the time it just seems to be trying too hard amidst all the action surrounding these specific scenes.
As for the special features, the DVD includes ‘A Conversation with Johnny & Veronica,’ which is a pretty in-depth interview which sheds light on their history and what is was like working on the project both as producers and as actors. There DVD also includes the ‘anatomy of a fight scene’ which showcases all the training that went into the fight sequences while also giving you an opportunity get to watch the practice footage and film footage side by side. There are interviews with many of the cast members in the ‘cast of characters’ featurette, which breaks down each role individually. Lastly, the DVD has a music video for the film with some Vietnamese rap as well as the original trailer for the film.
Overall, Clash is a wild ride full of awesome action, crazy fight scenes, and good stunt work. To top it all off, it is laid against some sweet action music, including Vietnamese hip hop! It may not be the best martial arts film out there but it’ll definitely put a smile on your face.
Rating: A rock ‘em sock ‘em gritty action flick that comes through on its promises (6.0/10)
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