Official Synopsis:
The biggest box office hit in Vietnamese history and one of the year's most talked-about films, The Rebel is a sweeping martial arts epic set in 1920's, French-occupied Vietnam. Johnny Nguyen (The Protector) stars as an elite double agent tasked with taking down his own country's freedom fighters. But when he meets a beautiful rebel (pop star Thanh Van Ngo), he rethinks his loyalty to the oppressive French regime and fights back against his sadistic captain (Dustin Nguyen, 21 Jump Street). Featuring an acrobatic fighting style little seen in the U.S. and an absolutely gripping story, The Rebel is "an entertaining mix of martial arts and historical drama" (Richard Kuipers, Variety).
  
Our Take:
The Rebel is easily one of the best films I’ve seen from Dragon Dynasty’s release list – and that ain’t no easy feat. As a “sweeping martial arts epic set in 1920's French-occupied Vietnam,” The Rebel manages to find a perfect blend of Millers Crossing-style gangsters and deceit, along with a touch of The Matrix thrown in for some high flying martial arts action.

It’s easy to see why The Rebel was such a huge hit for the Vietnamese populace. The production design is epic and the cinematography is seriously something to marvel at. You mix that in with the tale of a war torn double agent who begins to fall for the “enemy” and you’ve got a story that’s pretty universal and easily connectable.

As usual, Dragon Dynasty releases this DVD as an overall packed 2-Disc special edition:

* Commentary - By Stars Johnny Tri Nguyen, Veronica Ngo, and Dustin Tri Nguyen, as well as Asian cinema expert Bey Logan.

* Empty Hand, Noble Heart (32 minutes) – An exclusive interview with Johnny Tri Nguyen.

* Cry For Freedom (33 minutes) - An exclusive interview with Veronica Ngo.

* The Dark Destroyer (35 minutes) - An exclusive interview with Dustin Tri Nguyen.

* One Man Army (3 minutes) - A Martial Arts demonstration with Johnny Tri Nguyen.

* Iron Jacket (1 minute) - A deleted scene.

* The Rebel (37 minutes) - An original making-of.

* Behind The Scenes Gallery (24 minutes) - Trained To Kill, On the Waterfront and Jailbreak.

If you’ve still managed to come this far and not check out some of Dragon Dynasty’s great releases, I have to tell you that The Rebel is the absolute perfect place to get hooked. This is the type of movie, where had it been promoted and given a release in the US, it could have rocketed to the number one spot in our box office as well.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Overall Picture:
Movie: A
DVD: A

- Landen Chase Pelish
Staff Writer