With its beautifully choreographed action, a story spanning centuries, and a surprisingly
soulful examination of what it means to be human, The Old Guard is captivating audiences.
That's in large part to a brilliant lead performance by the great Charlize Theron.
She portrays Andromache of Scythia - or Andy for short - an immortal warrior who has seen
it all, done it all, and frankly, is a little sick of it all.
Andy and her fellow immortal mercenaries have been fighting for the future of mankind for
hundreds of years.
But throughout the course of the story, we learn that even an "immortal" can be killed.
Sometimes they even suffer a fate worse than death, such as the one that befell Andy's
one-time significant other, Quynh.
"Over 500 years in a box at the bottom of the ocean would make anyone insane."
"That's the reason why we dread capture."
We only see Quynh briefly, but we're betting that you may have found her face to be a bit
familiar.
The actress who plays her, Van Veronica Ngo has amassed a very respectable body of work in
recent years.
Here's why Quynh from The Old Guard looks so familiar.
American audiences may just be starting to become truly aware of Ngo's talents, but she's
been a major star in Vietnam for the better part of two decades.
She got her start as a model and pop singer, and in that latter field, she had plenty of
success.
Between 2002 and 2008, she released six albums, which yielded a slew of hit singles.
That success became her springboard to Vietnamese cinema.
After making her first appearance outside of her native country with the MTV Asia series
Rouge in 2004, she starred in a number of features, including 2007's The Rebel, which
became Vietnam's highest-grossing picture at the time.
Over the next several years, Ngo starred in multiple feature films, and in 2019 she broke
Vietnamese box office records again with Furie, a hard-hitting, martial arts-driven gangster
flick.
The film sees Ngo step into the role of Hai, a debt collector in a quiet country village
whose life is upended when her daughter is kidnapped by organ traffickers.
Does Hai go after her kid?
She sure does.
And does she draw on combat skills she learned in her younger days to take out anyone and
everyone who stands in her way?
Oh, you better believe it.
Furie is like Taken, but with more action.
It's a one-woman rampage through the seediest parts of a city to take back what she loves
the most, and it proved once again why Van Veronica Ngo is an action star to take seriously.
For all her success in her home country, Ngo's first major role outside of Vietnamese productions
didn't come until 2016 - but it ensured that her stateside profile would be significantly
raised.
Ang Lee's 2000 masterpiece Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had a seismic impact on the
collective awareness of Asian cinema in North America.
Not only did the film help to introduce Western audiences to the great Chow Yun-fat and make
a star out of Michelle Yeoh, it cemented Ang Lee's reputation as a major filmmaking talent,
paving the way for an extremely successful run in Hollywood over the next dozen years.
It's one of only a handful of foreign language films to have been nominated for an Academy
Award for Best Picture.
Its 2016 sequel Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny was a welcome follow-up entry
for fans of the original - and for fans of stylish martial arts flicks in general.
The sequel saw Michelle Yeoh return to her original role, with the addition of Ip Man
star Donnie Yen as Silent Wolf.
Even with all that on-screen talent, Ngo's hard-hitting performance as the deadly warrior
Mantis was cited by some critics as one of the movie's very best parts.
"My brother died for the Iron Way.
It was worthless.
You should have found a better cause, as I did."
2017 saw Ngo make her most high-profile American appearance yet.
In the opening moments of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, she portrayed Paige Tico, the sister
of Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico.
Though she wasn't on-screen for long, she was a featured player in the memorable sequence
where the Resistance forces, led by Poe Dameron, take down a First Order Dreadnought in defiance
of General Leia's orders.
Paige is a Resistance gunner, and it's her heroic act of self-sacrifice that saves the
operation from becoming a complete disaster.
Her death serves as a driving force for her sister Rose for the rest of the film.
That same year, Ngo appeared alongside megastar Will Smith in the urban fantasy action flick
Bright as an enforcer in the employ of the flick's main villain.
Most recently, she appeared as the real-life Vietnamese radio personality Hanoi Hannah
in Spike Lee's Vietnam War drama Da 5 Bloods., whose broadcasts were designed to weaken the
morale of U.S. troops.
"Your soul sister and soul brothers are enraged in over 122 cities.
They kill them while you fight against us."
It's safe to say that her career isn't even close to slowing down.
Between her lengthy career and string of box office hits, there's really only one thing
she can say to American audiences who are just now taking notice of her and her incredible
work:
"It's nice to finally meet you."
Thanks for watching.
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