Whatever was keeping me from buying this when I first saw it, I hope it never rears its ugly head again.

"The Rebel" from start to finish is a kinetic film with great drama, good period costumes and props, great locations, good acting, and best of all, kick ass martial arts. Johhny Tri Nguyen does a great job as both the protagonist who has a change of heart and the action director. He is also given a writing and production credit. As a leading man he has a great physicality and is handsome and athletic. As a trained martial artist his moves are powerful and best of all beleivable.

Dustin Tri Nguyen is surprisingly sadistic in his role as the near impervious antagonist. It's great to see him working again and "The Rebel" is an offering head and shoulders above "Finishing The Game". I didn't get the impresion that Dustin was a martial artist from the film, but his powerhouse moves and crushing haymakers were enough to make me believe his victims were in danger. That is a credit to Johnny's action direction.

What's more is Johnny made Asian pop star Veronica Ngo a formidable opponent. She was more than a match for the foot soldiers on screen and was far from eye candy in her role. She crashed, banged, fought and kicked ass as well as her male co-stars.

French-occupied Viet Nam was a perfect backdrop to the film. On reading the synopsis on the back this seemed like a liability to the atmosphere of the film, but after repeat viewings it is certainly an asset.

A great addition to your martial arts collection if I do say so myself.