Clash Hits Theatres Today

Back in September, AsiaLIFE delved into the burgeoning Vietnamese movie industry in a cover story by contributing editor Thomas Maresca (vol. 18). Tom spoke to a number of directors and film stars, including Johnny Tri Nguyen, the co-star of The Rebel, one of the most successful films to come out of Vietnam, and Clash, which hits theatres today.

Highly anticipated, Clash also stars Ngo Thanh Van (who Tom interviewed in October’s Q&A, vol. 19). Among other stunts, the film features the first car chase ever filmed in Vietnam. Check out all the gratuitous, exploding goodness in the trailer below.

Wow … that’s a lot of kicking.

There’s not much English information on the actual plot of Clash out there, so we asked former junior art director Linh Van to translate for us. The road-to-redemption story follows two anti-heroes: Trinh (Ngo Thanh Van) and Quan (Johnny Tri Nguyen). Trinh is on her final mission for her criminal overlord: to steal a hard drive that controls Vietnam’s VINASAT.1 satellite. When she’s betrayed by the gang that she’s assembled to complete the job, Quan remains her only ally. Despite their attraction, Trinh becomes suspicious of Quan’s motives.

Check out the AsiaLIFE archives for September’s cover story on the cinema of Vietnam and October’s Q&A with Ngo Thanh Van.