578 Magnum

A solid martial arts ride from Vietnam and a strong step forward for Vietnamese cinema. Vietnam is one of the underdogs in Asia for me (Korea and Indonesia definitely reign supreme, then comes Japan, Hong Kong with Thailand, Tai Wan and only then would I include Vietnam), so I certainly didn't have high expectations, but the highly positive reviews abroad got my attention and it's really decent. The plot is classically straightforward, but it's also about love, family and its protectiveness, which will evoke emotions in most viewers, and that's a plus – it's a bit of a variation on the Korean film The Man from Nowhere. The protagonist is a trucker who has his beloved daughter kidnapped by a psychopath and will have to fight his way through a large criminal organization to catch him. So we have a determined father, who is a martial arts whiz, so he goes up against 50 himself and makes clever use of the national Vietnamese fighting technique, Vovinam. There are plenty of action scenes and I liked the interesting alternation of locations. The fight between the containers against a large outnumbered group where he gets help from a handy woman was very cool, and the fight against the female biker gang with different weapons was also great. The finale has its charm too, we finally get some 1v1 fights against henchmen, and they are choreographed well. The great technical aspect is also good. The film looks really nice, the main character is likeable, it's well paced, so a fan of martial art films should have no reason to be disappointed. The only thing I'm a bit disappointed about is the lack of gore and no limb breaking, so not many characters die as a result, but I can live with that. A nice surprise. 7.5/10. (04.01.2023)