Hu meng wei long

An action-packed DIE HARD rip-off that mixes in bits and pieces from UNDER SIEGE for good measure, RED WOLF is a thoroughly enjoyable action movie. I don't usually like Hong Kong films from the 1990s; all too often they're marred by over-done wirework and a general dated feel which works against them. Not so RED WOLF: it kicks ass from the outset and continues to do so throughout with a series of elaborately staged and completely engaging action sequences.

Okay, so it's not a perfect film: it's a little rough around the edges and cheesy in places, and some of the performances are purely laughable. The lame comic relief from the hero's female ally is unwanted, too. But the film has plenty of reasons to overlook these flaws, not least Kenny Ho's ass-kicking lead: this Jackie Chan protégé certainly holds his own in the action stakes, and comes across as a charismatic star, too.

And he needs all the skill he can muster, because up against him is uber-villain Collin Chou (FLASHPOINT), once again delivering a deep and inventive portrayal as lead villain. No superficial stuff here: Chou makes the role his own, even making you kind of like the guy on occasion, and course he's a greater fighter as well. Yuen Woo-ping's steady direction, a strong level of inventiveness throughout and those aforementioned great fight scenes combine to make RED WOLF a whole load of fun!

Great martial arts action makes this cheap, low-budget, and poorly acted Yuen Woo-Ping film fairly entertaining and likable. The story is one we have seen many times before in many variations - terrorists take over a cruise ship and kill randomly, crew betrayals and heroic actions by a former cop (with a bitter past to add some depth to the character) to save the day are nothing new. A larger budget and better supporting actors would have made this lots better, but even so the no-wires-anywhere fight scenes are great despite the film's grade-Z budget, dumb stereotyped characters, and over-the-top slaughter-everyone violence. Worth a one-time see anyway.

"Red Wolf" gets off to a rather shaky start, but once the action kicks in, it is nonstop. The fight scenes are among the best I've ever seen; they are on the level of the rooftop climax of Jackie Chan's "Who Am I?", except they're not limited to one sequence, but they occur every 5 minutes or so. There is also a lot of shooting, and A LOT of shattered glass. But it's not a mindless movie; the characters often have to use their smarts to escape from sticky situations. Kenny Ho is a great fighter, full of intensity and conviction, and he appears to be doing all of his own stunts. Elaine Lui (who plays the BAD girl, NOT the hero's sidekick as others have said) is absolutely dazzling, a goddess of evil. Judging this movie on its own terms, I give it ***1/2 out of 4 stars. Sure, it's an "Under Siege" rip-off, but that's no reason to miss it.

The red wolf is basically a remake of ''die hard'' ,starring Bruce Willis, but this time the action is set in a cruise ship and not in a building. There is a good amount of action but the action is separated in little sequences(1 or maybe 2 minutes each) and the climactic fight does not even last 5 minutes. But the action is good (what else do you expect from Yuen woo-ping?) and Christy chung is looking better than ever(she even has a catfight in this one!). This is a fairly entertaining movie to rent but don't buy this one, buy Yuen woo-ping's masterpiece ''Iron monkey'' instead. This movie deserves 7,4/10

Nope, this didn't cut it by a long shot. For some reason, we accept a lot of flaws in Hong Kong-movies that we otherwise wouldn't, but there's just so much in this movie that we actually laughed at it quite a few times. The story is boring, the jokes are lame and the action is sometimes clever but mostly just falls flat on illogical actions or bad props. The 5.1 surround sound was anything but surround - the only things I heard in the rear speakers were some weird sound effects (check the drumming sequence for example). So what was good? The video on the Hong Kong Legends UK DVD were fantastic, and the extras section just leave most DVDs way behind. But, deconstructing the cover slogan: "Tense" (ordinarily people shooting people can be intensive but when that's all they do, you tend to not react much after a short while) "and dynamic" (as in "all actors expand their one-dimensional characters by having their one facial expression throughout the movie") "with elements of black humour," (yes, slapstick is VERY dark) "Red Wolf is an unstoppable martial arts showcase" (except for the 80% of the movie where people talk or shoot guns) "in the best tradition of action-master, Yuen Woo-Ping." Well, I'll make sure to never watch one of his movies again.