The Red Wolf
12/28/00
Review
Format: VCD
Stars: Kenny Ho, Ngai Sing, Christy Cheung, Elaine Lui

An ex cop turned security guard named Dragon (Kenny Ho) helps out on a cruise ship which has been taken over by terrorists (led by Ngai Sing) trying to steal uranium.

I found this on accident at Ebay, but bought it elsewhere. It's directed by Yuen Wo Ping, and when I saw that I said to myself, "Oh no, a new movie directed by Wo Ping (made in 1995)." And I didn't really know much about this Kenny Ho guy (until I saw Red Zone, then I was impressed instantly by him), so I figured it would be a piece of trash and I might as well forget about it. Well, on a recent visit to Chinatown I found it in a 3/$20 deal, so I bought a few more movies to go along with the deal (13 more to be exact, though one was Knockabout for me and then The Champions for someone else). I watched it, and was blown away really. Kenny Ho is definitely an action star, I like him a lot. He reminds me of one of those American action stars who can do a lot more, like fight well. Though Red Wolf isn't filled with fights, the action never really ceases as it's a sort of Die Hard movie on a cruise ship, and I might say that it's one of Wo Ping's most stylish pieces, with excellent camera work and 3 incredible fights.

A little taste


Throughout the movie there are various shooting scenes which are all blended together like many American movies (only done correctly), with Ho doing his own stunts all over the place like jumping through glass, onto tables, climbing walls, etc. And occasionally he'll have a small kickboxing encounter with someone on board. In one spot, he's in the control room (somewhere) and he has some small exchanges with 2 people, and jumps through lots of glass windows, but I was looking closely and it looked as though a double was doing that. And whoever that was jumps from a window some 12 feet up onto a glass sculpture and breaks it. Looks painful. So maybe Ho doesn't do everything in this movie, but I've seen him jump from 10 feet up onto a car, so I don't doubt his abilities. I assume there was a good reason he didn't do this stuff, if he actually didn't do it that is. He also has a little more kickboxing in the ballroom with some goons.



Ho fights a white dude on the deck of the ship, and usually I'm hard on foreigners being in fights, this guy seems to know what he's doing, even though most of the time he's getting hit. Ho is in total control, and Wo Ping's choreography reminds me of that in In the Line of Duty 4 between Donnie and Salvitti, with fast punches and blocks with the camera close in on their torsoes, and when kicks are involved the camera is out with their full bodies in view. Ho is fast, and is able to chain kicks with the same leg really well, punch fast, and look good doing it all too. The white guy ain't bad either. The whole thing is about a minute long.



Ho then fights a superkicker who is about the same height. Wo Ping knew what sound to put into this fight because whenever the guy kicks, it's intimidating. He does a jumping double bike kick on Ho twice, and when I saw it, I thought that they just replayed the footage because they looked almost exactly the same, but no, the guy has his arms up a little higher the first time (or maybe the second, who cares), so he does two bike kicks, to perfection. His chain kicks are perfect too, and Ho seems to manage well against him but does mostly blocking. Very well filmed too, with some low camera angles facing upward and vice versa. 1:18 long.



Ho fights a black guy in the bathroom with the floor wet, so he wears those little things you put on the floor of the shower to keep yourself from slipping while he beats up the other guy. And Christy Cheung fights Elaine Lui which is mostly humor until Lui attacks her with an axe and then she catches on fire. Too bad she didn't get more time in this with someone more worthy.



The finale is long. Ngai Sing isn't too happy that his girl (Lui) is gone and goes after Ho and Cheung who are together. Cheung seems to hold him down most of the time. Ngai Sing's presence is powerful, mainly because of his height, face, and build. It all starts out with a regular shootout that goes to the deck and then into the power room, where the shooting stops and Ho charges the place up with a live wire and phases Ngai Sing for a little while, who does his own stuff here, before he runs off with the little girl. The two of them fight in the ballroom, which isn't well lit so I was getting a bit frustrated when I couldn't see some of the moves properly, but that didn't happen often. Ngai Sing is impressive, doing good kicks as expected. Wo Ping put Ho on wires for maybe 2 of his moves, but I'm not sure why. But everything else is pretty well done, despite the fact that the fight is constantly interrupted by the camera moving to Christy Cheung trying to rescue the girl. No matter. Wo Ping also did lots of slomo shots, with good camera work all around. The whole thing was 3:26 in length, though not all of it was straight kickboxing. Occasionally the two would face off. Good finale though, I was impressed. Ngai Sing also does ALL of his own stunts, and this I'm sure of. Even a huge fall where he does a front flip over a railing and lands on his back on a wooden deck below.



I wish, though, that they had done more straight kickboxing in the finale. That would have been nicer. But then again, the finale in Tiger Cage 2 could have been longer too, so I guess I'm not totally satisfied with anything, ever. But this one is a good modern HK actioner, with excellent choreography by the Yuens (wasn't just Wo Ping) and good work by Ngai Sing, Kenny Ho, and everyone else who took part in the fights.

5/5

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