Project Wolf Hunting - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Project Wolf Hunting



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Ah yes. I’ve said it a million times, but I’ll say it again. The South Korean film market is absolutely killing it for the Asian movie scene. They’ve consistently put out film after film in a myriad of genres that is slowly starting to rival solid Hollywood movies. Train to Busan will forever be one of my favorites, and seeing several of the film’s stars involved in Project Wolf Hunting only made me even MORE eager to watch it after seeing the synopsis and trailer. Is it going to rival Train to Busan in quality you might ask? Well, after finally getting a chance to watch it this week, I’m going to say “it was sooooooooooo close”.

The story can almost be called Ship to Busan as it carries a very similar tone and remedial plot to the before mentioned movie. The movie starts out with a bunch of international criminals being loaded on a boat and shipped off to Busan to be incarcerated there. However, there is not just criminals on board. A doctor and his nurse go onboard (with a slightly surreptitious plan), the cops are there to guard the deadly criminals, and there seems to be a mysterious entity hidden in the underbelly of the ship that foreshadows what is to come.

The first 50 minutes are a brutally hyper violent hijacking flick, with the criminals breaking out of their confinement lead by the tattooed Jong-doo (Seo In-Guk) who takes his chance at freedom by pulling of a hijacking. However, the cops are not all taken out, and the remaining forces wage war against the violent gangster. But as I said, there is someone (or someTHING) else on board, and amidst the ensuing violence gets unleashed. Right at the before mentioned 50 minute mark the film takes a complete 90 degree turn and goes full on From Dusk till Dawn on us and changes into a giant zombie/super soldier horror flick an undead genetic super soldier literally killing anything and everyone on board the ship. Of course we get to learn about how this monster (played by Train to Busan’s Gwi-hwa Choi) came to be and the mustache twirling villains behind the experiments, but at the end of the day it’s really a simple survival flick with the remaining cops and villains trying to make it out alive (including a mysterious criminal named Lee Do-il who seems to know more than he’s letting on).

Honestly, I had a blast with Project Wolf Hunting from the minute it started. The movie is a kinetic whirlwind of energy and violence, as it delves into extreme hyper violence and sadism throughout. The movie basically doesn’t slow down from the second the criminals escape to the sequel teasing end, and I had a complete blast checking my brain at the door. As you could have guessed, Project Wolf Hunting is not super deep, but it does cover the bases of plot development well enough to put a meaning to the monster’s rage. But underneath that veneer is pure souped up violence and exploitation similar to what we would have seen out of Japanese exploitation films of the 90s such as Ichi the Killer.

The violence borders on the absurd (ok, I lied, it goes full bore into the absurd realm) with brains, guts and red food color dyed blood EVERYWHERE. Said blood literally drips from every rafter and cranny that the film has available, and the sheer cartoonish absurdity of it all had me in stitches for the whole time. My only real complaint stems from the ending. Sadly Project Wolf Hunting suffers from a fate that is typical of many modern movies, and something that even Korean movies aren’t exactly shying away from these days. That is the tendency to have the ending set up a sequel instead of wrapping things up nice and neat. The last half of the final act feels like it ends just a bit too soon, not letting us know ENOUGH about the shadowy genetics corporation running the show, and instead teasing the audience with the good old “we’ll let you know the rest in the NEXT film….if that happens). It sort of turns a solid 4/5 rated film into a 3.5/5 rated film in an instant simply due to the fact that this really didn’t NEED a sequel (unlike The Witch: Subversion).




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Like usual with these Asian films, I can’t find any real information on the cameras used, the resolution of said cameras, nor the resolution of the digital intermediate used for the master either. My best guess is a typical digitally shot flick at 2K resolution, but I can’t verify that. Either way, the film looks great on Blu-ray. The typical green/gray color grading (with some wheat/amber highlights from lighting) is the overall visual look, with great skin tones and sharp clarity for people and the ship backdrop alike. I do notice a few wonky black scenes due to the heavy green grading, but overall blacks are pretty deep an inky (and of course do suffer from some banding. Most obviously exterior shots looking at the ship). Very nice looking encode otherwise.









Audio:

Project Wolf Hunting sports the typical 5.1 DTS-HD MA tracks in both English and the original Korean, with my natural bent leaning towards the Korean track due to being the original. That being said, this is an excellent mix with amazing bass response and some really impressive use of the surrounds in the claustrophobic bowels of the ship. Dialog is crystal clear and locked up front, but as I said, the bass is going to be the major “shock and awe” bit of the film. The LFE is simply punishing, with deep throaty bass that literally reverberates throughout the entire mix. The Alpha’s pounding footsteps thump with sheer brutal force, and the score and gunfire literally shakes the entire room. Great great mix.












Extras:

• Behind the Scenes
• Making the Alpha
• Trailer

Final Score: ​

Project Wolf Hunting is actually a rather good movie. Almost bordering on really really good for most of the run time (grrrr on that ending). It’s stupidly hyper violent to the point that it’s cartoonish and comical (part of the appeal), and has a really nice Blu-ray release with at least SOME extras and really great video/audio. Definitely worth checking out for genre fans who aren’t exactly squeamish. Fun watch, silly premise, but certainly entertaining.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Seo In-Guk, Dong-Yoon Jang, Dong-il Sung, Jung So-Min
Directed by: Hong-sun Kim
Written by: Hong-sun Kin
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 AVC
Audio: Korean: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English, Korean DD 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Well Go USA.
Rated: NR
Runtime: 122 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: February 14th, 2023

Recommendation: Fun Gory Watch