The lyrics to the Lou Reed song Vicious kept
reverberating in my brain while watching this Vietnamese film. You're so
vicious. Right out of the box as a drunk man rapes a young girl. And the
girl Bi (Đồng Ánh Quỳnh) then kills him. There isn't much doubt that
Southeast Asian films have taken the lead in hard hitting face smacking life
endangering action films. They are brutal and terrifying. The action comes
at you like a psycho on the loose. The actors take punishment with their
bodies that films made in the West simply would not allow - for humanitarian
reasons but also for safety/insurance reasons. This one is like a crack nightmare
swathed in greens and reds and nighttime jitters, the sets in an urban hellhole
with grimy dilapidated buildings, narrow alleys, busy streets and grimy lives.
It is a struggle every day to just survive. The things you have to do. Drug
dealing, female trafficking, prostitution and killing. A cesspool of our
worst instincts and desires.
After killing the man and setting fire to
the houseboat she lived on, she moves to Saigon. A Saigon out of Dante's
Circles of Hell. She pilfers and pickpockets to stay alive and is a near
feral child. When five men attempt to rape her, she is saved by Lin (Veronica
Ngo) who takes her in. Not so much out of kindness because there is no kindness
here - but to train her to be a killer with two other girls Hong and Thanh).
A family of sorts. Lin says she is training them to free women, break up
the drug dealers. Good work.
This is a prequel to the 2019 film, Furie.
In that Ngo is an ex-gangster who has left the business but is brought back
in when her child is kidnapped. This one seems to be after her gangster period
but before Furie though it is murky. It isn't really a neat fit. But not
seeing the first film doesn't really matter. This can easily be a standalone.
The training of the girls takes a few years and Bi, who narrates the film,
grows up and is a natural. Finally, Lin says it is time. You are all ready.
Buckle your seatbelts.
There are three action set pieces, all pulverizing
and bloody. Mainly done with knives and fists. Two of them are long and wonderfully
chaotic with dead bodies littering the streets, alleys and hallways. Ngo,
who also directs, takes a back seat for much of the action leaving it to
her disciples to do the dirty work, but she shows up at the end and is ruthless.
Totally. Ngo has done well, producing a few films in Vietnam and acting in
a few Hollywood films, The Old Guard films and The Princess.
