Rating: ***
Alternate Title: Thanh Sói
Review Date: 2/20/24
Written, Directed, And Produced By: Veronica Ngo
Cast: Dong Anh Quynh, Toc Tien, Rima Thanh Vy, Song Luan,
Veronica Ngo
"Fate still holds me down and drowns me in despair."
After being raped as a child and killing her attacker, Bi (Dong Anh Quynh) runs away to live in the streets of the big city. She is rescued by the seemingly benevolent Aunt Lin (Veronica Ngo) and given food, shelter, and clothing along with two other girls named Thanh (Toc Tien) and Hong (Rima Thanh Vy). In exchange, the girls are trained to become ruthless killers so that they can clean up the streets and take down a nasty crime boss who deals in drugs and human trafficking. But the girls find out too late that they're just pawns in a much larger and deadlier game.
The film is supposedly a prequel to Veronica Ngo's "Furie" (2018), but it's a prequel in name only, as the only connection is made in the last 30 seconds when one of the characters changes her name to that of the villain in "Furie." Even so, I didn't make the connection until I read several other reviews, and from a character standpoint, it doesn't make any sense unless her mind snapped and evil just fully consumed her at the end. Regardless, the film works just fine as a standalone adventure and no knowledge of "Furie" is required to enjoy or understand it. In fact, the tie-in just makes it needlessly confusing.
Unfortunately, the film is a bit of a mess and difficult to enjoy. Like "Furie," the garish color palette creates a nightmarish world of oversaturated red, green, and blue, and the CGI effects range from awkwardly tacky to downright awful. Digital blood is heavily used, which adds even more bright red to the already overly colorful lighting. I actually think the fight scenes would have worked better without those distracting splashes of color that just magically disappear into thin air. There's also an extended CGI motorcycle chase in the middle of the film that is simply painful to watch. Reportedly, Veronica Ngo delayed the release of the film because she wasn't happy with the visual effects, which makes me wonder how much worse the original version was. Yikes.
However, the acting is very good and the three leads perform some excellent stunt work. A lot of the choreography is captured in long continuous takes, but the dynamic and highly inventive camera work makes it difficult to follow what's going on. The camera literally moves all over the place, with no obvious cuts or cutaways. The girls are rough, tough, and psychologically broken, but likable and endearing in their own ways, which makes it hard when you realize they're doomed. It's interesting to see Veronica Ngo play against type in her own film, downplaying her natural beauty and sex appeal to adopt a frumpy and subdued middle-aged housewife appearance. As it turns out, this look is perfectly fitting for an evil crime boss, and she explodes with devastating intensity at the end of the film. While she claimed she was retiring after making "Furie," she can still pull off some impressive moves. It's also interesting to see how her choreography is much more measured, disciplined, and refined than her co-stars, as though she were a teacher sparring with less experienced students.
Overall, being a fan of female action films, I liked the characters, the story, the tone, and what writer/actor/director/producer Veronica Ngo set out to accomplish. That said, I think the film aimed a little too high and came up a little short, particularly in the visual effects department. Perhaps if it had been scaled back and had a more grounded and limited scope, it would play better. It's hard to say, but in hindsight, the more I think about it, the more I appreciate it.