Red Wolf is a mid-90s actioner from director Yuen Woo Ping that steals the basic plot from Steven Seagal's Under Siege, adds various elements from Die Hard and throws in lot of bone-crunching martial arts and gun-play. Woo Ping, no slouch in the action choreography department, ensures that when the fists and feet fly, fight fans get exactly what they want.
Unfortunately, it takes a good half an hour of rather tedious plot development before things really take off and this dreary beginning spoils what might have been a very memorable movie; however, when the action finally begins, it doesn't let up until the closing credits roll.
Kenny Ho plays Alan, chief of security on a high class leisure cruiser that is taken over by terrorists. The bad guys are after some uranium that is on board and they will do whatever is necessary to get it. When Alan rumbles their plot, he fights back, aided by a beautiful cruise employee played by Christy Chung.
Of course, the wafer thin plot is nothing more than an excuse for loads of martial arts mayhem, and once the action kicks off, the blood and bullets fly thick and fast. The villains are a suitably vicious bunch of miscreants; innocent hostages are shot on a whim and the baddies take sadistic pleasure in the killing. The cabaret singer/terrorist, played by Elaine Lui, is particularly good, grinning maniacally as she kicks and blasts her way through the hapless passengers and crew.
There are some nice inventive fights using the various rooms of the ship, my favourite being the one that takes place in the sauna area Alan spills soapy water on the floor and straps rubber mats to his feet; as his foe slips and slides uncontrollably, Alan is able to stay upright and unleash a flurry of unstoppable punches and kicks.
Woo Ping spoils things slightly towards the end with a ridiculous finale involving a small girl with a bomb strapped to her, and he is unable to resist throwing in some OTT wire-work which spoils the realism of the final fight.
Red Wolf isn't a classic martial arts film by any stretch of the imagination, but proves to be passable entertainment despite its flaws.
