2003’s Dragon Loaded was the film that established Hong Kong singer-actor Ronald Cheng as a bankable comic leading man. He went onto star in the 2005 hit sequel, Dragon Reloaded. Now the star is going to team up with the films’ director Vincent Kok (Keep Calm and Be a Superstar, Gorgeous) again to reload the franchise, which will see Cheng also taking on a co-directing role.
The directing duo is hoping to bring back original cast members Sam Lee (Made in Hong Kong), Cheung Tat-ming (Forbidden City Cop) and Stephy Tang (The Empty Hands) for the latest Dragon Loaded film.
Filming will commence in 2019 with a tentative release date of Chinese New Year 2020. Until then, we leave you with the Trailer for Cheng’s 2015 hit, Full Strike:
Director: Lee Jong-Suk Writer: Choi Sung-Hyun Cast: Son Ye-Jin, Hyun-Bin, Kim Sang-Ho, Jang Young-Nam, Jang Gwang, Lee Moon-Sik Running Time: 114 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In the Korean film industry, Son Ye-jin is known as the Queen of Melodrama, and Hyun Bin the Rom-Com King. However the movie that’s brought them both together is (perhaps mercifully) neither a melodrama nor a romantic comedy, with The Negotiation instead being a thriller that owes a nod or two to the 1998 Hollywood flick The Negotiator. However, that was 20 years ago, and in today’s fast paced world of social media and fake news, it’s understandable that first time director Lee Jong-seok thought the premise was ripe for a revisit.
In fairness, despite their prominent reputations, it’s fair to say that both Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bin’s nicknames were largely based on their output from the beginning of the Korean Wave, predominantly during the early to mid-00’s.Hyun in particular has been branching out of rom-com territory in recent years, with a stellar turn in the 2016 action comedy Confidential Assignment, playing a North Korean agent.While his subsequent roles in The Swindlers and Rampant are indicative that perhaps he should find a new agent, he can’t be faulted for making the effort to branch out into different genres. Likewise for Ye-jin, and while she’s ensured her crown is protected with recent roles in the unexpected hit Be with You (also from 2018) and The Last Princess, her turns in the likes of The Truth Beneath (one of the best Korean movies of the last 10 years) and Pirates have shown another side to her talents.
For many fans, both of Korean cinema and the K-drama scene, the opportunity to see them onscreen together was a welcome one.So we have the first of The Negotiation’s long list of problems, in that much like Jang Dong-gun and Kim Min-hee suffered the same fate in No Tears for the Dead, their actual screentime together amounts to a few minutes at most.That’s not to say Jong-seok doesn’t start proceedings off promisingly.The opening scene introduces us to Ye-jin’s ace negotiator, who’s been called to a hostage situation in the middle of a blind date, which has a couple of Filipino crooks holding a man and woman at knife point in their home.Cue stilted English dialogue delivery (in a throwaway line, it’s mentioned that Ye-jin’s character transferred from the US), generic music that builds to a climax every few seconds, and a trigger happy SWAT team, whose actions result in both hostages being killed.
Skip to just over a week later, and despite her efforts to resign over the traumatic event, Ye-jin finds her downtime short lived thanks to an enthusiastic visit by her colleague (played by Kim Sang-ho, who now takes all the roles Oh Dal-soo used to be offered, before he got embroiled in the #metoo scandal) who informs her she’s been summoned by the commissioner.Whisked off to an undisclosed location, she’s soon thrust into a room filled with flashy monitors, and people in suits busying themselves pacing back and forth.With barely so much as an explanation, an incoming video call has her ushered in front of one such monitor, where she finds herself facing Hyun, playing an orphan cum lollipop sucking UK citizen cum arms dealer (yes you read that right), who’s taken a journalist and Ha’s superior hostage in Bangkok, Thailand.So begins the point when The Negotiation begins to play out exactly as it says on the tin.
I’m sure the plentiful scenes that The Negotiation fills itself to the brim with, involving Ye-jin talking to Hyun on a monitor, could have had some tension wrung out of them in the hands of a more experienced director.However Jong-seok, an assistant director on Ode to My Father (and co-director on Prachya Pinkaew’s Thai co-production The Kick), films everything with all the excitement of watching paint dry.The constantly crescendoing soundtrack, usually accompanied by insignificant characters tensely staring at monitors, is laughable rather than nail biting, and the chemistry between Ye-jin and Hyun is non-existent.We’re supposed to believe they build a rapport together, and there’s even a suggested undercurrent of sexual tension, but it’s all filmed in such a bland and pedestrian manner that it’s impossible to be invested in.
Instead, we’re left with the hook of finding out why Hyun has took it upon himself to take Ye-jin’s superior and a Bangkok based Korean journalist as hostages.You get a distinct feeling while watching The Negotiation that both Hyun and Ye-jin are doing their best with what they’ve been given to work with, however no matter how committed they are to their performances, the setup is primed for the audience to lose interest as quickly as possible.Hyun’s scenes consist of him either (a) pulling up a chair to sit on and face the camera, (b) fiddling around with his gun in what I assume is supposed to make us feel tense, or (c) both at the same time.Meanwhile, Ye-jin is simply left to sit there in the monitor filled base she’s been placed in, watching Hyun on the screen and interacting with him as best she can.
In fairness, I’m sure the behind the scenes footage of The Negotiation will reveal stuff like how they got a real negotiator to oversee the script and filming, or something along those lines.I don’t doubt the authenticity of the exchanges that take place (at least initially – the more it goes on the more preposterous it becomes), however such realism doesn’t necessarily translate into an engaging cinematic language, and combined with the uninspired direction, The Negotiation quickly becomes a chore to get through.As the stakes rise so does the lack of plausibility, with revelations such as Hyun having more hostages than we initially thought, feeling more like desperate scripting rather than smart plotting.
The plot, on paper at least, does make for a decent premise.After locating the whereabouts of Hyun, the Korean Special Forces launch an operation to rescue the hostages and take him out, which they’ll need 14 hours to do.Ye-jin’s task, if she can’t negotiate an agreement herself, is to keep him talking for the 14 hours needed for the rescue unit to arrive.Onscreen however, the scenes with the Special Forces unit come across as forced and out of place, with the loud mouthed military style barking begging the question of if they thought they were in a different movie all together.
As expected, the number of tense looking officials surrounding Ye-jin’s interactions ensure that The Negotiation’s big reveal is also its biggest non-surprise.Korea has been running with the theme of how figures of authority can’t be trusted for a while now, so for the truth to involve several of those in power being involved in a cover-up comes with all the impact of being slapped by a wet leaf.The further the plot gets into the revelations of what’s really going on, the further it appears to confuse itself with how the audience should be feeling towards Hyun’s hostage taker.Despite the fact that he commits cold blooded murder and doesn’t think twice about pointing a loaded gun to the head of a small child, there are times when it feels like Jong-seok wants us to sympathise with Hyun, for what often feels like no other reason than, well, it’s Hyun Bin!
The direction also becomes increasingly indecisive as it progresses, throwing in random lines that hint at significance but ultimately mean nothing (the line about Ye-jin working in the US being a classic example), and implying potentially interesting skillsets, that are touched upon for a few seconds then never seen again.An example of this comes when Ye-jin brings in her two colleagues to assist with the negotiation, and while one of them is watching events unfold onscreen, he throws out a random comment that Hyun is feeling apprehensive.Presumably he’s a body language expert, but the comment is given no further explanation or logic beyond the few seconds it takes to speak, resulting in a severe case of furrowed brow.
More so than anything onscreen, the biggest crime in The Negotiation’s is the one it commits against itself, which is to be overwhelmingly bland and uninteresting. It kind of feels like one of those straight to video Hollywood thrillers, the type that feature A-list stars from yesteryear clocking in for a pay cheque.The material is beneath both the talents of Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bin, and their commitment to their roles only makes the pedestrian nature of everything else stand out 10 times more.With a dull plot, flat comedy, and paper thin characters, the only real plus is that Jong-seok’s debut needn’t do much to negotiate its way out of my memory.
Today’s Deal on Fire is the Blu-ray set for Criterion Collection’s Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman film collection. This deluxe set features a string of 25 Zatoichi films, made between 1962 and 1973, in one complete package. That’s about $4 a movie.
In addition, you also get a 1978 documentary about Shintaro Katsu, an interview with Asian-film critic Tony Rayns, trailers for all films, new English subtitle translations, plus a book featuring an essays, short stories and 25 new illustrations, not to mention DVD versions of all the films.
Action filmmaker Daniel Zirilli has a pack of films that are currently brewing, including Invincible with Marko Zaror (Savage Dog) and Johnny Strong (Sinners and Saints).
Now, The Asian Connection filmmaker is recruiting martial arts film favorite Gary Daniels (Cold Harvest, City Hunter) for an upcoming actioner titled Bad Reputation.
“Gary and I worked together 10 years ago. I wanted to make a film with him in the lead, and finally have the go. It takes time, but I believe Gary is an under appreciated James Bond!,” says Zirilli (via FB).
We’ll keep you updated on this project as we learn more. Until then, enjoy this classic Trailer to Daniels’ Bloodmoon:
With Netflix’ upcoming Wu Assassins and John Wick 3(not to mention Roger Avary’s Lucky Dayand The Driver), Mark Dacascos (Showdown in Manila, Ultimate Justice) is enjoying a much deserved career resurgence – and now – the martial arts star is getting the ultimate comeback by reuniting with director Christophe Gans for the Live-action adaptation of the swashbuckling comic book Corto Maltese.
Gans directed Dacascos in two movies that – along with Drive – are considered the most-acclaimed of Dacascos career: Crying Freeman and Brotherhood of the Wolf. In the film, the martial arts star will co-star alongside Tom Hughes (Victoria), Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil), James Thierrée (Chocolat) and possibly Michelle Yeoh (Reign of Assassins), who is in-talks to join.
In the film, Corto Maltese has been hired by a Chinese revolutionary group to hijack the armored train of the Russian Emperor Czar Nicolas II that is transporting his gold from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok with multiple schemes to capture this priceless treasure (via Variety).
Keep it here for more updates regarding Corto Maltese.
Dutch kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven is set to star in, and co-produce The Black Lotus with Tom de Mol and Marcel de Block, the duo responsible for producing The Hitman’s Bodyguard.
According to THR, The Black Lotus — inspired by action classics such as Man on Fire and Taken — will see Verhoeven play an ex-military operative on a revenge mission to save the woman he loves.
Verhoeven recently had a supporting role in the recent Kickboxer: Retaliation, which starred Alain Moussi, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mike Tyson.
Producers are currently seeking a director and writer for a 2019 shoot.
Is this China’s answer to Steven Spielberg’s upcoming Ready Player One? Doubtful. Directed by Han Yan (The House That Never Dies), this forthcoming cyber-punk actioner is titled Dream Breaker, and judging from its trailer, one can expect a visual, Blade Runner-ish treat.
According to THR, Dream Breaker stars actress Chen Duling (Namiya) as a young woman who must fight her way through a mysterious, holographic game world designed by her late father to avenge his death. Rising star Song Weilong (Catman) plays the love interest, while the provocative Japanese filmmaker, actor and artist Sion Sono (Tag, Why Don’t You Play in Hell?) executive produces.
Dream Breaker hits domestically on November 9th. Check out the film’s Newest Trailer below:
Despite their doors being shuttered over a decade ago, Tower Records is a place that continues to loom large in many consumers’ nostalgic hearts. Don’t believe me? Just watch 2015’s All Things Must Pass, which –– while not a great documentary –– is admirably devoted to preserving the memory of the once great entertainment franchise. For media fans all over the globe, Tower served as a one-stop shop for vinyl and CDs, magazines, and other wares. Back in the pre-Blu-ray era, my local Tower was also the premiere destination for Asian films on DVD, and I spent countless weekends hoping to find the next mind-melting kung fu or action movie.
In fact, I owe Tower Records for introducing me to perhaps our greatest purveyor of extreme Japanese cinema: the one and only Takashi Miike. In those early Internet days, it was honestly difficult to find information on any Japanese movie that wasn’t called Battle Royale. So imagine my surprise when I wandered through the Foreign Film section at Tower Records and a knowledgeable employee (who I mysterious never saw again) began chatting me up about this director named Miike, whose work was just now finding its way to American shores. I was intrigued by the cover art and descriptions for a bevy of movies that couldn’t have appeared more disparate: the chilling bait-and-switch of Audition, the manga-come-to-life that is Fudoh: The New Generation, and the zombie-comedy-musical Happiness of the Katakuris. Any of those films would have been an ideal starting point for a budding Miike fan, but for some reason my interest was drawn elsewhere.
“Fudoh – The New Generation” Japanese Theatrical Poster
Maybe it was my love of Asian gangster movies; maybe it was the evocative title; or maybe it was the Tower employee assuring me that the film contained the first ever parody of The Matrix’s bullet time. Either way, my introduction to Takashi Miike came with my purchase of City of Lost Souls that afternoon. It’s a Miike effort that is discussed rarely, if ever, these days, but in its own way it worked as a stellar entryway into Miike’s mad, mad world, and in any event, by the time the credits rolled I knew I needed to see more.
On the surface, City of Lost Souls is your standard lovers-on-the-run tale, not so different from the Tarantino-penned True Romance, as the Brazilian-Japanese protagonist Mario and his Chinese girlfriend Kei (played by iconic Nineties Hong Kong actress Michelle Reis) find themselves in the crosshairs of Chinese Triads and Yakuza crime bosses while stranded in a country that would love to see them deported. In Takashi Miike’s hands, however, City of Lost Souls becomes a live-action cartoon, crackling with the kind of manic energy and punk rock attitude that defined the opening ten minutes of his 1999 breakthrough Dead or Alive. Early in the film, we watch as Mario and Kei leap out of a helicopter and land on their feet as unharmed as the Road Runner. Later, the lovers lie asleep in bed as a spider crawls across Kei’s shoulder, only for it seamlessly merge with her skin as a tattoo. I haven’t even mentioned the cockfight where the chickens imitate Keanu Reeves’ gravity-defying kung fu. If it isn’t already clear, we have departed reality and entered Miike land. And it is a terrifying and wonderful place to be.
There’s a touch of social commentary here, as Mario’s heritage speaks to the fact that Brazil is home to the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan, and many of those Japanese have faced discrimination when migrating back to their homeland. That said, City of Lost Souls is not a film concerned with realism –– realism would only get in the way of the fun Miike has in store, like two crime bosses engaging in a deadly game of ping-pong. This is a film defined by Miike’s go-for-broke lunacy, making it an exemplary work of this period of his career, when he was just beginning to carve out a niche for himself away from the Direct-to-Video market.
“The City of Lost Souls” International Theatrical Poster
By selecting both Time & Tide and City of Lost Souls as influential films in my life, it’s obvious to me that my teenage self was most impressed by visual inventiveness and kinetic action. Saying a movie resembles a music video carries something of a stigma these days, but there was a time when filmmakers as diverse as Wong Kar-wai and Takashi Miike were adopting the fluid camera work, surreal lighting, and rapid-fire editing regularly found on MTV in the Nineties, and using it to innovate global cinema. There’s a certain roughness around the edges to City of Lost Souls, and one senses that Miike’s heart may not have been in it the way it was for his more esteemed works, but its devil may care stance and irreverent humor earn it a place in the Miike canon. It’s also one of the few Japanese action movies I can think of that reflects the ethnic diversity of modern Tokyo.
My sense is that City of Lost Souls is not a film that immediately springs to mind when considering the work of Takashi Miike. I myself am actually due for a rewatch –– it’s been years. But there are sequences and moments peppered throughout the movie that have stayed with me in the decade since, and, much like Time & Tide, it was a film that transformed me from casual viewer to full-fledged connoisseur. Little did I know when I plucked City of Lost Souls from the shelves at Tower Records, but I was taking another early step into the world of collecting (and obsessing) over Asian action cinema. Directors like Takashi Miike have ensured it’s been as wild as a helicopter ride with Mario and Kei.
An upcoming documentary, titled Femme Fatales: Seen & Unheard, is in-the-works from actress, martial artist, producer and director, Maria Tran (Truy Sát, Tiger Cops). The full press release follows…
For the past decade of her life, Fairfield-based filmmaker Maria Tran has devoted her life in making Hong Kong cinema homage action films in her backyard. She and her female led film production company Phoenix Eye will soon be embarking internationally across South East Asia investigating the role of Asian action cinema and the role of women for her self-funded independent documentary titled Femme Fatales: Seen & Unheard.
Traveling from Hong Kong to Vietnam and then finally the Philippines, they will be interviewing and interacting with former and current female action stars, emerging actors, martial artists, film directors, producers and academics who will share their insights and experiences.
“If there’s one thing I would like to add to Australian cinemas, is female-led stories in the martial arts action genre. This project will allow me to connect with some of the world’s most talented, showcase their plight and allow the film industry to see the often-unspoken contributions of women in this male-dominated genre,” says Maria.
Mike Leeder, who has worked with action megastars such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Jean Claude Van Damme and is known as an expert in Asian action cinema is on board this project as associate producer.
“Australia used to have its own brand of genre cinema, action, horror, martial arts and more! Action is international, it doesn’t need you to understand the language, the culture or the politics, it’s the cinema of the underdog! We all need a hero or a heroine!,” adds Mike.
We’ll keep you updated on Femme Fatales as more updates are available. For now, don’t miss the production Trailer below:
Warner has enlisted Andy Muschietti to direct an English language, Live-action adaptation of the popular manga series, Attack on Titan. Muschietti is best known for 2013’s Mama and the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s It.
Written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama, Attack on Titan is set in a world overrun by giant, man-eating creatures known as Titans (via Collider).
Director: Kim Sung-Hoon Writer: Won Shin-yun Cast: Hyun-Bin, Jang Dong-Gun, Jo Woo-Jin, Kim Eui-Sung, Jeong Man-Sik, Lee Sun-Bin Running Time: 129 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Less than 3 years ago Korea spawned one of its most unlikely breakout hits, with the zombie action thriller Train to Busan. While personally I didn’t find the concept of zombies on a train to be executed as entertainingly as it could have been, there’s no doubt that many did, and there’s already been a US remake announced as being in development. Surprisingly, on local soil zombie mania didn’t take hold the way many expected it to, and it wasn’t until the beginning of 2018 that rumbles of another Korean zombie flick began to appear on the net. When I first heard there was going to be a production featuring zombies in a Joseon era setting, I’d hoped that it meant Ryoo Seung-wan’s long gesticulating period zombie movie Yacha had finally secured funding.
Alas my hopes were unfounded, however I figured a Joeson era zombie movie is still a mighty cool concept, regardless of who’s in the director’s chair. It’s one of those ideas that’s more difficult to get wrong than it is to get right – I mean, zombies running around in ancient Korea, why did Seung-wan have such a hard time getting his idea off the ground 10 years ago!? In any case, in 2018 the idea has come to fruition in the form of Rampant, helmed by director Kim Seong-hoon and scripted by Won Shin-yun (director and writer of Memoir of a Murderer). It’s been 2 years since Seong-hoon’s sophomore feature, the entertaining action comedy Confidential Assignment, and Rampant reunites him with leading man Hyun Bin, who’s kept himself busy in-between with starring roles in The Swindlers and The Negotiation.
Sure enough, Rampant hits the ground running with an assured opening. After some arms dealing with the Dutch on a merchant fleet sees one of the Korean ensemble get bitten by a rabid Dutchman (sounds like the name of a pub), the bitten victim soon finds himself back on home soil with an unquenchable appetite for meat. When his wife returns to their abode to find him feasting on their child (note: this sounds much more graphic than it is, which is to say, not at all), it kicks off the beginning of a zombie outbreak in the small port town. Naturally, this should be the part when all hell breaks loose, but as it turns out Rampant has other ideas. Instead, the plot quickly changes its focus to provide the audience with a dose of palace intrigue, as we’re introduced to a paranoid emperor convinced members of the palace are planning an uprising against him.
Paranoid emperors, so sure of the conspiracies being plotted against them, are to palace intrigue what vengeful students seeking to avenge their master’s death are to kung fu movies. We’ve seen it 1000 times before, so it better be done well. The emperor in question is played by Kim Eui-sung (the selfish businessman from Train to Busan), and there is indeed a plot being hatched against him, but it’s by his trusted Minister of War, played by Jang Dong-gun (Seven Years of Night), rather than those he suspects. When the pure hearted son of the emperor (played by Kim Tae-woo in a special appearance) commits suicide in front of his father, in order to spare the lives of his wrongly accused colleagues, it prompts his brother (Hyun Bin) to return to Joseon from Qing to find out exactly what’s going on.
If you’re wondering why a whole paragraph of zombie movie plot description has gone by with no mention of any zombies, then you’re not alone. Seong-hoon’s movie is a strange one, and more than once it feel like the zombies are a distraction rather than the main attraction. The tone veers wildly all over the place, from the horror of the initial scenes, to the heavy handed seriousness within the palace, to the comedic hijinks of Hyun Bin. Indeed, Hyun’s character of the crown prince is more interested in checking out if Korean women are as beautiful as the Chinese, rather than indulging in any royal duties. Together with his bumbling sidekick, played by Jung Man-sik (Asura: City of Madness), it’s Hyun who stumbles across the zombie outbreak, upon arriving at the same port town where it started, only to find it deserted.
What follows the discovery leads into the first zombie attack, in which we learn the undead of Rampant also share some vampire like characteristics. While their appearance may be distinctly zombie like, they also suffer from being exposed to sunlight, meaning they can only come out at night. Admittedly watching Hyun slash through zombie hordes with his oversized sword is a lot of fun (and a zombie death involving him thrusting said sword while one is biting down on its blade is a standout), however the first scene also serves to highlight everything that’s wrong with Rampant’s zombie concept.
First up – they’re just not that scary. A zombie should have you living in mortal fear that one bite could turn you into an undead cannibal like them. However the zombies here seem more likely to run into the edge of a sword than have any real chance of mauling someone. Their blatant lack of intelligence is another factor, and never get their numbers up to a level where you legitimately feel a sense of danger. In a depressing trend, all of the complaints I had against Train to Busan are likewise applicable here – there’s no imaginative zombie deaths (with the exception of the one mentioned in the previous paragraph), and nothing that could truly be described as horrific ever actually happens. Much like in Train to Busan, here being overwhelmed by a group of rabid zombies has never looked so bloodless.
Speaking of blood, it’s another issue, as almost all of the blood on display is for the most part CGI, and 2005 looking CGI at that. The hacking and slashing has very little impact, when the blood you’re witnessing has so clearly been added in post-production. Any level of realism is further damaged by the fact that, despite Hyun wading through several waves of undead attackers, his white costume has barely a stain on it in comparison to how many he’s killed. If you’re afraid of making a zombie movie too bloody, then maybe it’s time to rethink if you should be making one at all. Rampant needed to take a page out of Japan’s I Am a Hero, but instead it seems to have looked towards the latest palace set K-drama for its inspiration, with the inclusion of the zombies too often feeling like a novelty rather than a threat.
Even within its own bland set of rules, Rampant strays from its own logic. By the time the inevitable happens, which sees Hyun (who’s now accepted his destiny and rekindled his love for Korea) versus Dong-gun (who’s now become a super-zombie human hybrid), most of the audience will be too busy questioning what’s going on rather than paying attention to the lacklustre sword clanging. Indeed it’s never clearly addressed exactly why Dong-gun manages to avoid fully turning into a zombie, and instead opts for looking like he has a hangover from hell paired with anger management issues. However even less convincing is Hyun’s apparent turn-around from the responsibility shunning, skirt chasing Qing dweller, to Joseon loving king of the people, full of compassion and bravery.
It’s fair to say that Rampant has a bizarre undercurrent of not so subtle patriotism running through it, one which feels more like it belongs in a Park Geun-hye era production than something out of 2018. The final scenes make it clear that a love for one’s country is far more important than any zombie outbreak, a tone which stretches to supporting characters death scenes as well. There are a number of minor character deaths which are inappropriately given swathes of melodramatic screen time, despite us not really knowing much about them, or really caring that they’re dead. It’s a zombie movie, characters are supposed to bite the dust, stirring music and emotional final speeches aren’t required every time.
I said at the beginning that a Joseon set zombie movie would be almost impossible to get wrong, so if anything, Rampant proves that nothing is impossible. What should have been an entertaining zombie romp, combining hanboks and horror, has somehow come out as a dull and lifeless (no pun intended) exercise in monotony. When you have hordes of the undead that don’t feel like a threat, you have a movie that’s destined to fail, and that’s the biggest problem here. Just like the zombies are missing a pulse, although it pains me to say it, so is Seong-hoon’s latest.
Renny Harlin, noted Hollywood film director known for his 90’s blockbusters Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger, is preparing to helm Operation Wild, which we believe is a totally different film than Operation Somalia (Harlin’s other ‘operation’ film that’s also in-the-works).
The upcoming thriller will be Harlin’s fourth (or fifth, if Somalia is still happening) Chinese film, following Jackie Chan’s Skiptrace and the upcoming Bodies at Rest and Legend of the Ancient Sword.
According to AFS, Operation Wild involves two elite combat warriors from China and India who lead covert forces to shut down a global, wildlife poaching, criminal organization.
That’s all we know folks – but keep it here for more updates.
On March 5, 2019, Well Go USA will release the Blu-ray/DVD for Burning (read our review), from director Lee Chang-Dong (Green Fish, Oasis, Secret Sunshine). This 2018 Cannes winner stars Steven Yuen (The Walking Dead) and Yoo Ah-In (Veteran) and Jun Jong-Seo (via THR).
Jong-soo, a part-time worker, bumps into Hae-mi while delivering, who used to live in the same neighborhood. Hae-mi asks him to look after her cat while she’s on a trip to Africa. When Hae-mi comes back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met in Africa, to Jong-soo. One day, Ben visits Jong-soo’s with Hae-mi and confesses his own secret hobby.
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