Hu meng wei long

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.

Don't expect too much - the action is good, but hongkie buffs have seen it all before. Also, the story is a UNDER SIEGE rip-off (rather than DIE HARD, as mentioned in another review above). If you want me to compare it with others of this kind - I personally prefer HIGH RISK (this! was the DIE HARD rip-off, fella). the webhamster sez 4/10.

Well, for a Hong Kong action movie of this type, "Red Wolf" was sort of a mixed viewing pleasure on my behalf. I enjoyed most of the movie, but the movie was severely crippled by a horrible dialogue and some really lame attempts to incorporate humor into the movie (talking about the scene with the pile of food on the plate and the scene where the two women were fighting and Lai was resorting to some comic book/childish fighting of sorts).

The story in "Red Wolf" takes place on a boat (yeah, with similarities in plot to a mix of "Speed 2" and "Under Siege"), where security guard Alan (played by Kenny Ho) is left to thwart the plans of some terrorists. However, he gets help from the waitress Lai (played by Christy Chung).

I will say that the plot wasn't all bad. Sure there were holes here and there, but in overall it was enjoyable enough. But the movie had really, really bad dialogue which was at times painful to witness. The fight scenes were actually well executed and choreographed. And there is also a good amount of gunfights in the movie, so there is a little bit of everything for everyone.

The movie was really carried by the performance of Collin Chou (playing the first officer).

Just don't expect too much from this movie, or you might just set yourself up for disappointment. "Red Wolf" doesn't bring anything new or innovating to the Hong Kong action genre. And at times you wonder if this movie is a tribute to certain Hollywood movies; a rip off of certain Hollywood movies, or if it is just a coincidence. I will leave that decision up to the individual viewers.

"Red Wolf" is not amongst the greatest of Hong Kong action movies, and I doubt it will be high on the 'to watch' list of most people, unless really a fan of any on the cast list or if a die-hard fan of Hong Kong cinema. I will say that there are far better action movies from the Hong Kong cinema vault available.

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!

"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.