578 MAGNUM -- TAKEN Rip-Off Attempt Barely a Movie

Review by Daniel Lima

With the U.S. releases of both Furies and Bad Blood last year, I wondered if the cinema of Vietnam has been overlooked as a hotbed for no-frills, old-school martial arts action. That may well be the case, but 578 Magnum shows that as high as the highs of that industry are, there are still incredible depths to be plundered. This belongs to a class of movies that could be described as a collection of images projected at a rate of twenty-four individual frames per second to give the impression of movement. Which is to say, it is barely even a movie.

The story is nominally about a father out to get revenge on the criminal organization that kidnapped his daughter. He’s a man with a particular set of… well, it’s Taken, just like Bad Blood last year. Curiously, by the time the laughably generic opening credits start rolling, she has already been kidnapped and returned, eliminating the sense of urgency that films of this ilk typically have by default. It’s a baffling decision, yet it’s one of the few even discernibly deliberate choices. ​

Breaking down 578 Magnum is difficult because there are precious few narrative films that have such a lack of coherence and continuity. What characters want at any moment — or are even attempting to do — is never entirely clear. Characters drop in and out of the story seemingly at random. Scenes are haphazardly cut together, making every transition feel jarring. Poor subtitles certainly don’t help clear things up. Every possible deficiency in storytelling pops up, to the point that it feels like the film was shot with nothing more than a general idea of what this kind of revenge tale consists of instead of an actual script.

That said, poor storytelling can be easily excused so long as there are commensurately great set pieces. Sadly, the fights here are almost as bad as those in Taken itself, plagued with the same scattershot editing as the rest of the film. It’s clear these performers are not all trained in stunts or choreography, with many of their movements looking sluggish and lacking any power, often clearly going wide of their target. There are a handful of inspired touches that show someone might have actually cared enough to think through the action design, such as a fight that goes under and inside a car here or a brawl where the hero gets blinded with colorful dyes there. Still, the moments where everything comes together are fleeting. 

The single most surprising fact about 578 Magnum is that it was, for some unfathomable reason, Vietnam’s submission to the 95th Academy Awards for Best International Film. For such a shoddily made, incomprehensible work to be put for serious awards consideration, the same year that Furies would have also been eligible, calls into question the judgment and soundness of mind of every single person involved in that decision. ​

578 Magnum is now on VOD.

Rating: 1/5​