The Red Wolf (1995)

Watch City Hunter instead

A far less goofy but equally far inferior Die Hard on a Ship than that of Wong Jing's City Hunter, The Red Wolf, by Yuen Woo-Ping standards, is a very below-par effort. It essentially amounts to watching a rather boring, stripped-down version of Daddy Seagal's Under Siege; despite occasionally delivering flashes of exciting action, it's weighed down by a weak script, forgettable characters and inconsistent pacing, suffering from its own inability to create any form of engrossing narrative. Sadly, this concoction never really seems to gel, and the total lack of tension makes the scenario feel a lot less enticing. Yuen keeps things buttoned down for the first half hour but eventually unleashes the full force of the Hong Kong stunt community and the Die Hard trope generator, although it does all feel too little too late at that point. Once up to speed, the only reason the film ever slows down again is so people can torment Cecilia Ng Sin-Si. I don't know why Yuen picks her out for special treatment; she loses her dad straight away, her mother is then gunned down trying to protect her, and she spends the rest of the film being kidnapped, threatened, chased, strapped to a bomb and hung from a rope. Despite the contrary, this film is about action, not child abuse and in that regard, it's alright; there are some good bouts of combat that are decently inventive and make good use of the setting, but it's not all that memorable. Fresh-faced Kenny Ho brings little to the leading role; he doesn’t do anything specifically wrong, he just seems so incredibly bland, and it’s easy to see why he never really made it as a star. Christy Chung, on the other hand, is totally wasted as she has nothing to do other than scream a lot and get in the way during the action scenes. Outside of maybe the snazzy musical score, it's difficult to really recommend The Red Wolf; the lack of any real stand-out moments just leaves me constantly wanting something more. Watch City Hunter instead.

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