Worth Mentioning - A New Phase of Human Evolution

We watch several movies a week. Every Friday, we'll talk a little about some of the movies we watched that we felt were Worth Mentioning. 

Cody watches a South Korean bloodbath.

The following review originally appeared on ArrowintheHead.com

PROJECT WOLF HUNTING (2022)

Writer/director Kim Hong-seon’s movie Project Wolf Hunting doesn’t have a great title – and the filmmakers were clearly aware of that, because when a character in the movie sees a folder with “Project Wolf Hunting” on it, their response is, “How tacky.” Apparently the literal translation of the South Korean production’s title in its home country would be Project Wolf Hunt or simply Wolf Hunt, both of which at least sound better than the English title the movie was given. That “ing” at the end does make a difference. But as cheesy as Project Wolf Hunting sounds, it’s a title we’re probably going to hear referenced quite often going forward, because the movie itself is pretty awesome.

Project Wolf Hunting is basically what you would get if you dropped Con Air, Predator, and Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan into a cinematic MixMaster. The set-up is that South Korea has signed an extradition deal with the Philippines, so now forty-seven Korean criminals who fled to the Philippines to avoid prosecution are being sent back home. The initial idea is to transport them on an airplane. Con Air all over again. But when that proves to be too dangerous, the authorities go with Plan B: putting the criminals on a cargo ship that will take them on a two day journey from Manila to Busan. Twenty police officers are on board to guard the prisoners… but they’re not able to stop them from taking control of the ship once it’s on the high seas.

The movie is already a bloodbath once the criminals take control of the ship and start attacking the police officers, especially with murderer / rapist Jong Du (Seo In-Guk) leading the charge. But criminals, police officers, and cargo aren’t the only things on board this ship. It’s also being used to transport a genetic experiment. Something that was once a man but is now called Alpha. An indiscriminate killing machine created during World War II, equipped with infrared vision, the strength of five men, and some wolf traits. And once Alpha (Gwi-hwa Choi) wakes up – right before we reach the second half of the 122 minute movie’s running time – Project Wolf Hunting gets really fun. Mercilessly beating and slashing his way through criminals and cops alike, Alpha racks up a one-on-one body count Jason Voorhees could only dream of achieving in one of his movies, while splattering more gore across the screen than ratings boards ever would have let us see in the heyday of the Friday the 13th franchise.

The director has said that 2.5 tons of blood were used during this production, and a good portion of that made it into the finished film. While there are some moments of CGI enhancement, the majority of the bloodshed in Project Wolf Hunting is accomplished through practical effects. Fake blood gushes all over the set and the cast, and it’s a glorious sight to behold.

The bountiful violence is the main draw for Project Wolf Hunting. Most of the movie’s minutes are dedicated to it. If you go into this movie expecting to see much character work, you’re going to be disappointed. For the most part, it’s not even clear who’s supposed to be the main protagonist in the film. There are just some people who are more virtuous than others, so they become the “good guys”. Lee Do-Il (Jang Dong-yoon) isn’t as cold-blooded as Jong Du during the breakout, so he’s a good guy. Lee Da Yeon (Jung So-Min) is a cop who survives the first wave of violence, so she’s a good guy. We learn a lot more about Lee Do-Il later, but the movie takes its time giving out information because that gets in the way of violence. As if there wasn’t enough bloodshed on the ship, we even get a flashback to Alpha’s creation in the 1940s to add even more blood and kills to the film.

Since I was watching Project Wolf Hunting specifically to see a couple hours of over-the-top violence, I was very pleased with the movie and didn’t mind the lacking characterization. It was a good viewing experience. The movie could have been a bit shorter than 122 minutes; since there turns out to be a whole lot going on in the plot, with more outside characters being involved than you might expect, it could have moved through the set-up more quickly. Get to the violence so we can get to the meat of the story. But as it is, it’s still a lot of fun. And it leaves the door wide open for a sequel, but it’s difficult to imagine that the follow-up it opens the door for could be nearly as entertaining as this first movie is. We’ll probably see it soon, because Project Wolf Hunting is likely to be popular enough to get a sequel greenlit quickly.