The Rebel

[Drunk Monk]

It wasn't over the top awesome, but it's the first Vietnamese kung fu flick of merit for me - good action, solid pacing, nice textures of old Vietnam. The fight scenes were crisp, in the tradition of the Protector to be sure, although with more head butts and scissor takedowns, a signature move of Vietnamese kung fu or so I'm told. I was very impressed with Dustin Nguyen's performance. I confess I've always written Dustin off as that lucky-bastard-who-got-to-play-opposite-Pamela-Anderson-in-VIP, but his work in The Rebel showed some great range (he was good in Finishing the Game too but that was such a farce). Johnny Nguyen carried the led well with absurd aerial kicks in slo mo, albeit a bit stiff as the hero. Thanh Van Ngo (Veronica Ngo) stole the show, but who here isn't a sucker for a kung fu fighting hottie?

Now I'm really looking forward to Monk on Fire, since it reunites the cast.

[The Queen]

I confess I've always written Dustin off as that lucky-bastard-who-got-to-play-opposite-Pamela-Anderson-in-VIP,

Funny, I always remember him as that cute kid on 21 Jump Street.

[Drunk Monk]

She got me to covert to vegetarianism, you know. Never mind my Buddhism.

Seriously, VIP was a great show.

And if you're into Dustin, the Rebel shows you a whole new side of him - now he's an old, grizzled villain.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

VIP was one of my "guilty pleasures" for some time.