Considering the impact “Furie” and “Furies” had worldwide, it was expected that more martials arts films from Vietnam would also surface at some point. Low-budget “Foggy Mountain” is one of those movies.
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In order to raise money for his wife's eye treatment, professional martial artist Phi competes in an underground tournament, run by the crime lord Ba Rau. However, after his win in his last match causes the organizer to lose a lot of money, he decides to retaliate against Phi's wife, after his goons leave the man unconscious. Phi swears revenge and begins searching for Ba Rau all over Vietnam, with his search eventually leading him to the remote Mist Village in the forests, where he is involved in human trafficking. Furthermore, he has hired the most powerful local fighter, Vong Akork, to be his main henchman, along with his other goons who are terrorizing the area. Expectedly, the showdown is inevitable.
“Foggy Mountain” is a film with many issues, starting with the writing of the secondary characters in particular, the pacing and the many cliches involved in the story. These, however, are not exactly a surprise for a martial arts film, whose quality is essentially measured by the action scenes. Before we get to the part, though, it is also worth mentioning the main villain here, Ba Rau, whom Phan Anh and Ken Dinh have painted in the darkest colors, as a killer of women and children, who stops at nothing to make profit, in one of the most despicable characters we have seen lately in a film. Kim Long Thach plays the character with gusto, in almost cartoonish fashion, in one of the best aspects of the film.
Although the movie starts with intense action, there is a middle section that not much happens, apart from introducing the setting of the village and the impact Ba Rau has in it. However, upon the appearance of Phi in the area, the action picks up again, and that is when the film finds its high point. The combination of bows and knives with hand-to-hand combat is impressive on occasion, particularly when Simon Kook, who plays Vong Akork is involved, with the fact that he looks even more sinister than Ba Rau, definitely working in his favor. Of course, the star of the movie is Peter Pham as Phi, with his laconic, angry, and occasionally sad demeanor working well in the action scenes, with the two sequences with the aforementioned, and the one with professional kickboxer Truong Dinh Hoang being the highlights of the movie. In that regard, the combination of Mu Thai, and what seems to be Wing Chun, along with a number of other martial arts and the use of weapons, is intrinsically done, with Pham's choreography being impressive on occasion.
The other thing that the film has going on is Phan Ngoc's cinematography, which finds its apogee in the many scenes in the woods, and particularly the fights and the chasing, with the setting being framed as a truly suffocating one. The editing results in a pace that is expectedly fast, despite being choppy on occasion.
“Foggy Mountain” has its issues, but considering that it is a low-budget effort, the result is not disappointing at all, and fans of messy martial arts movies will definitely find a lot to like here.
