Project Wolf Hunting

No other country can hold a candle to South Korea at present when it comes to the production of violent thrillers, and despite its bargain basement title, Project Wolf Hunting will have you on the edge of your seat. Like Con Air but on a cargo ship, with the addition of a genetically engineered monster and a body count to rival The Raid, it’s an all-action spectacular with some smart ideas which sustains itself surprisingly well over a full two hours.

The prisoners, who are a mixed bunch but include some notoriously violent individuals, are being transported on the cargo ship ‘to minimise danger to the public,’ or so we are told. The journey takes three days during which they are kept shackled, with one toilet break each per day – which means that, aside from anything else, it’s soon going to smell pretty bad in there. Male and female prisoners are kept in separate areas. A small team of police officers is also present, along with a doctor and a nurse who turns up dressed as if for a day on the beach, apparently oblivious to the threat that’s always present for women in such situations, before going on to tell the doctor (apropos of nothing) that she likes tough guys and he’s not man enough for her.

Whilst having medically trained people present seems like a good idea, the doctor in this case has another purpose – he’s there to administer anaesthetic to a sinister figure being transported unconscious in another part of the vessel, about whom he is curtly instructed not to ask any questions. This man is accompanied by a couple of dodgy-looking military scientist types and assorted equipment labelled ‘Aeon Genetics corporation’ - “the one that sells pills that supposedly make you look ten years younger,” comments one of the cops. The man, later referred to as ‘Alpha’, doesn’t look like it’s done him too much good, but with his face caked in blood and his eyes stapled shut, he was never going to look his best. What he does have, as it turns out, is Predator-style infrared vision and “the genetic traits of a wolf. He has five times the strength of an ordinary man.” At one point an actual wolf is displayed in flashback as if to confirm this, because this film knows no shame, and is all the better for it.

It’s not much of a spoiler to say that the prisoners escape. Their fiftysomething boss, Go Geon-bae (Ko Chang-seok) is smart, level-headed and well organised, but his second in command, Park Jong-du (rising star Seo In-guk), is the one who handles most of the action and grabs audience attention with his flashy tattoos and psychotic viciousness, urging on comrades who are clearly terrified of him. Only the cool Lee Do-il (Dong Yoon-jang) dares to stand up to him, and he seems to get away with it mostly because Jong-du can’t figure him out. “You look so young and sweet but I know you’re a stone-cold killer.”

The characters on the other side are less well developed, but Jung So-min stands out as police officer Lee Da-yeon, who not only resists intimidation but has the wit to keep on looking for solutions, which makes this more than just a series of sequences of people running away from one another or the monster. The death of a major character halfway through establishes that no-one is safe, and alliances shift as everybody comes under unexpected pressures. With plenty of more disposable characters, and 2.5 tons of blood used over the course of the shoot, the violence never lets up, but the really impressive thing is how effectively director Kim Hongsun manages the pacing whilst developing the mystery elements in the background.

Far too many films treat combat as kill or be killed, which is not the way it works in real life and not the smart way to approach a more powerful foe, so it’s pleasing to see one which recognises the value of maiming. Whilst it might seem like a mere detail, this is an indicator of a distinctly smarter than average approach to the whole thing. Alongside the main action, we get flashbacks explaining where Alpha originated, plus cut-aways to a base from which the voyage is being monitored. Corruption and corporate misbehaviour present alternative forms of nastiness, and although the backstory bears a strong resemblance to certain other recent Korean hits, it’s still satisfyingly woven into the whole.

Ridiculous and over the top though it may be, Project Wolf Hunting really delivers on thrills, and if you have the stomach for it, it’s a hell of a ride.