A cargo ship transporting probably the most harmful South Korean prisoners offers the setting for Kim Hung-sun’s gloriously absurd actioner “Project Wolf Hunting.” Equal components “Con-Air” and “Predator,” this hybrid sci-fi/thriller could make no narrative sense in anyway, but it surely however offers borderline obscene quantities of violence and blood that, relying in your tolerance, will both be campily satisfying or unending. Personally, I fell into the previous class, as Kim phases a sequence of over-the-top motion scenes on the claustrophobic confines of the ship. While the movie could run out of concepts about midway by its overly-long two-hour runtime, it’s nonetheless a fairly enjoyable and deranged experience.
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The movie begins as 47 violent criminals, together with serial killer Park Jang-du (Seo In-guk), are positioned aboard a ship going from the Philippines to Busan, South Korea. They are being transported by detectives, together with beginner Lee Da Yeong (Jung So-Ming), tasked with babysitting them. Just as rapidly because the boat leaves the harbor, they’re attacked by Park’s associates, who take over the ship and free all of the prisoners.
So far, we’re given a fairly commonplace B-move set-up, pitting overmatched cops with an awesome quantity of the most-violent criminals conceivable. Yet, under the ship, additionally they transport a zombie-like super-soldier, Alpha (Gwi-ha Choi). Just because the factions are being shaped, Alpha wakes up. With his introduction, “Project Wolf Hunting” takes a hard-left flip. No longer involved with fleshing out any of the characters, the movie rapidly transforms right into a chase film.
Why would they home a number of criminals on the identical boat as Alpha? No concept, however that call proves to be a catalyst for a kind of mayhem hardly ever seen in American movies. Whatever hierarchy and motivations that the prisoners create are rapidly jettisoned as Alpha begins stomping round, his eyes stapled shut; he as an alternative makes use of his heat-seeking imaginative and prescient to dispatch the criminals and police with precision.
If the movie begins as a routine of cops versus criminals, that concept rapidly flies off the rails. The movie’s center act is exact and propulsive, shifting from set-piece to set-piece as we examine in with the varied aspect characters as they unwittingly cross paths with Alpha. These kills are among the most violent, as literal gallons of blood spew throughout the ship.
But, by the point we get to the sequel-baiting ending, “Project Wolf Hunting” has lengthy overstayed its welcome. There are solely so many occasions one can watch somebody get crushed with their very own indifferent limb earlier than it turns into routine. Further, an pointless late-act flashback to Alpha’s origins, and his connection to others on the ship, could assist present exposition concerning the movie’s title, but it surely’s additionally wholly pointless for a film that’s actually about an uncontrollable super-soldier happening a killing spree.
Whenever Kim slows down the movie to dive into the motivations or backstory of this expansive group of characters, you may really feel the momentum deflate instantly. Somewhere inside these two hours is a lean-90-minute motion movie that’s solely concerned about violence and gore. “Project Wolf Hunting” could sometimes get slowed down in its personal mythology-building, however as soon as the kills begin piling up, it’s straightforward to get misplaced within the mayhem. [C+]
“Project Wolf Hunting” is open now in restricted launch through Well Go USA.