When I first read about the new South Korean action film Project Wolf Hunting, the description called it “Con Air on a boat.” So… Con Boat. And that is 100% accurate for about a third of the film. Eventually though, the film gets taken over, quite literally, by something much more sinister, and the results are very bloody on screen, but also quite messy off it.
From director Kim Hong-sun, Project Wolf Hunting kicks off by introducing some of the most ruthless fugitives wanted in South Korea. They’ve been apprehended in the Philippines and are being transferred back due to a new treaty. Dozens and dozens of police officers put the criminals on a massive cargo boat while listing their long rap sheets, which feature some truly awful crimes like rape and murder, all the way down the line. This all happens in a very propulsive, 1990s action movie manner, right down to the Michael Bay sunsets.
Of course, the film would be rather boring if things just went according to plan. So we learn that several of the supposed police officers are actually moles and they soon begin to wreak havoc. Once the action starts, it doesn’t stop, with all manner of bloody gun and knife violence that reaches such an absurd level of gore, at times the blood actually sounds like a shower. Except it’s blood dripping, not water. Truly, you may never see a bloodier movie, and things are just getting started.
The criminals think they have it all figured out except, well, they don’t. What I’m going to say next about Project Wolf Hunting isn’t exactly a spoiler because it’s actually the true plot of the movie—but we’re going to drop this in just in case.
Very quickly we learn the true purpose of this trip is not the criminals, it’s a being referred to as Alpha, a thought-to-be-dead super soldier who, when unleashed, decimates everything and everyone on the ship like he’s Jason Voorhees. He lifts people up by their necks, smashes their heads with his foot, punches holes in their chest, all that good horror movie stuff.
And while seeing Alpha rain fire down on the ship is undeniably fun (and, once again, quite bloody), it’s also where Project Wolf Hunting loses its bite. The film spends a good amount of time developing several of the criminals, teasing their plan, all this interesting stuff, only to wipe it almost completely out of the movie. It basically becomes a whole other story, and that story gets increasingly convoluted to explain Alpha’s origins and why people are after him.
There’s undeniable fun in seeing the level of carnage on screen in Project Wolf Hunting, but the movie’s actual story is much less interesting than the one it pretends to be. So by the end, the experience is enjoyable, but ultimately disappointing.
Project Wolf Hunting recently played Fantastic Fest 2022 and opens in limited release October 7.
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