Clash
Directed by: Le Thanh SonStarring: Johnny Nguyen, Veronica Ngo Synopsis: Trinh (Ngo) – codename Phoenix – a beautiful young woman forced to become a mercenary thief by a powerful gangland boss and criminal mastermind known as Black Dragon (Hoang Phuc), who has ‘rescued’ her from a former life of homelessness and prostitution. Black Dragon’s leverage in the deal is Trinh’s daughter, whom he intends to hold ransom until Trinh completes a number of ‘missions’ on his behalf. Trinh’s latest assignment is to steal a laptop containing a hard drive that holds the codes used to control a Vietnamese satellite defence system – a priceless commodity on the black market. While putting together the A-Team style group of specialists she needs to assist her, she meets Quan (Nguyen), aka Tiger, who proves to be an invaluable asset to the team, not least because he has his own private interests in the codes and in Black Dragon himself. When the heist goes awry and results in a violent bloodbath thanks to a double-crossing member of Trinh’s gang, she and Quan form an allegiance based not only on trust but also on a growing attraction to each other and set out to finish the job at hand. But trust can be a fragile thing, especially when the motives of those involved begin to collide. Review:It doesn't take long, watching Clash, to realise that it has lifted 90% of it's plot straight from the John Frankenheimer movie, Ronin, starring Robert De Niro and Jean Reno. That familiarity doesn't matter though, because Clash delivers something that Ronin couldn't - bone crunching martial arts action of the highest degree. Johnny Nguyen is a world-renowned martial arts star and stunt double, who has worked on loads of Hollywood movies over the years. However it is in Thailand and Vietnam that he has struck gold in front of the camera, starring in the excellent The Rebel and A Force of Five , two films which put his excellent kicking skills to great use. In Clash, Johnny plays a mash-up of De Niro and Reno's characters from Ronin, ingratiating himself into the team and with Phoenix - not expecting however for an attraction to grow between them. 
Veronica Ngo also made a big impact in The Rebel and shared a similar relationship to Johnny Nguyen in that film. Here though, she runs the show, even outshining her co-star with a combination of drop-dead beauty and hard hitting action. As mentioned above, the plot mirrors the same points as Ronin, except here we learn what's in the case and everyone's motives are a lot clearer from the start. In place of the classic cloak-and-dagger spy stuff though we have excellently staged shoot-outs and fight scenes. 
For a Thai action movie,
Clash
is pretty devoid of melodrama, which tends to slow this sort of film down. Whilst it does manage to convey quite a bit of pathos - especially where Trinh's plight is concerned - it doesn't overplay it.The action elements are superb, with both Nguyen and Ngo letting their fists and feet fly. There's no wire-fu, nor any of the really OTT dangerous stunts you associate with Thai movies (eg, director Prachya Pinkaew). Instead we have some believable action which nevertheless kicks butt. 
Verdict:I've spilled enough beans about the plot by referencing Ronin - it's up to you to discover the nuances and differences. Just be rest assured that putting this film into your player guarantees 90 minutes of pure unadulterated action. 8 out of 10 (MikeOutWest) New! CommentsHave your say about this! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
