Project Wolf Hunting - A Very Gory Action Thriller Movie Combined with Some Sci-Fi Element

While I was looking for new movies on various platforms yesterday, I noticed this one that was scheduled to be released in Catchplay+ on that day. It has a premise that really intrigued me, so I decided to watch it once it was available. My wife who usually would accompany me watching South Korean movie was busy with a series she was hooked on. All right then, I will head directly to it.

Brief Story Line

In the past, there were criminals from South Korea who escaped and hid in the Philippines. When some of them were caught, the government decided to extradite them from Manila to Busan through the sea by using a large cargo ship. A group of police with years of experience led by Captain Lee Seok-woo (Park Ho-san - Unlocked, Prison Playbook TV series etc) and included a female detective named Lee Da-yeon (Jung So-min - Alchemy of Souls TV series, Daddy You, Daughter Me etc) were assigned to guard them. 

Among those criminals, there were few who were high profile and got red notice such as the ruthless killer Park Jong-doo (Seo In-guk - Pipeline, Cafe Minamdang TV series etc), the young looking murderer Lee Doo-Il (Jang Dong-yoon - The Tale of Nokdu TV series, Joseon Exorcist TV series etc), the loud mouth Choi Myung-ju (Jang Young-nam - Confidential Assignment, Crash Course in Romance TV series etc), her lover Ko Gun-bae (Go Chang-seok - The Miracle We Met TV series etc), the oldest guy Son Soo-chul (Son Jong-hak - Flower of Evil TV series etc) and few others.

Aside from the detectives and criminals, they also enlisted a doctor (Lee Sung-wook - Forecasting Love and Weather TV series etc) and his nurse (Hong Ji-yoon -What's Wrong With Secretary Kim TV series etc) in case of emergency. Meanwhile the coordinator of the transport in Busan was led by Oh Dae-woong (Sun Dong-Il - Accidental Detective, Curtain Call TV series etc). As you would have guessed, this trip would be far from peaceful and before long, all hell broke lose. It became worse when something dangerous that was already on board somehow escaped and wreak havoc. So what would happen to them all? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

So, like expected, this movie was full of action and even from the very beginning, we had been given a piece of the brutality. But nothing would have prepared me for what came next as after around 25 minutes or so, the violence started and it was very extreme that I think would probably disturb some audience. It was like the movie maker kept on trying to increase the sadistic nature as the film progressed.

The killings done by the people in the movie were so vicious and it seemed they were not satisfied with just stopping their opponents, but also giving the most cruel and cold blooded punishment possible. It might have given the desired effect to show just how inhuman some of the criminals were, though after a while, it felt a bit of overkill for me. And the amount of blood shown here was insane. I read that they used around 2.5 tons of (fake?) blood in this movie, which was really a lot. 

At first I thought this movie felt a bit like Nic Cage's Con Air (but at sea instead of in the air). However, with the other sci-fi element, it became horror-ish and it was also what made this movie more exciting. You could imagine the horrifying feeling of trapped in a confined space with dangerous murdering criminals and having to fight that "thing". There were a bit of surprising twists as well, which was quite nice, though definitely not the main highlight as it focused more on the brutal fights.

There were a lot of characters in the movie and the names I mentioned above were the ones shown in the opening credits. Plus another name of Jung Moon-sung (Divorce Attorney Shin TV series etc) as one of the crew member. One more important character was played by Choi Gwi-hwa (The Roundup etc). The actor who caught my attention here was Seo In-guk who was totally convincing as the most ruthless killer of them all. He even won the 2023 Baeksang award as Best New Actor. The rest were ok, but few did give me a surprise like Sun Dong-Il whom I was not accustomed in this kind of role, or Jung So-min in modern look since I had only seen her in period costume.

The thing I did not like here was the part where the detectives were so poor in decision making and self defense which was ridiculous especially as they were said to be having > 10 years experience. Although there was a remark from one of the character about this part, but it still did not make real sense. One part of the sci-fi which reminded me a bit of The Predator unfortunately was not fully explored and inconsistent with the subsequent scene. Might as well not using this at all. Btw, I also felt the ending not really to my liking as it felt neither conclusive nor satisfying specifically on the survivor.

Overall as an action sci-fi film I still enjoyed this one. I like the premise and the action in general which was intense and suspenseful. The brutality was fine up to certain level and the sci-fi factor was a plus, though it could have been better. The director Kim Hong-sun (Traffickers, The Con Artists etc) looked like he enjoyed terrifying audience with the gore violence scenes as much as possible. So if that is what you are looking for, then this would definitely satisfy you.

 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars