Wings of Dread (2026) Review

“Wings of Dread” Poster

Back when I was first getting into HK action cinema I watched the 1986 classic Royal Warriors (and still own the Universe DVD to this day!), a highlight of which sees Michelle Yeoh and Hiroyuki Sanada take on Chan Wai-Man and a bunch of hijackers on a plane. A masterpiece of close quarters choreography, I’d always thought what a cool idea it would be to set a whole kung-fu movie within the confines of a flight, and thankfully it only took 40 years for that idea to be realised. The movie is Wings of Dread, the latest from the web movie action dream team of Qin Pengfei and Ashton Chen.

While traditionally their pairing comes in the form of director and star, as seen in the likes of Black Storm and Blade of Fury, here Chen also shares co-director duties with Pengfei, having cut his teeth as a director helming 2022’s Detective Chen and it’s 2026 sequel (both of which he also starred in). What’s more likely to grab audience’s attention though is the casting of Iko Uwais (The Raid, The Night Comes for Us), here making a welcome return to playing the villain. In that regard Wings of Dread is something of a watershed moment in the web movie industry, for the first time attracting an international action talent of Uwais’s calibre to come onboard. Sure, there are those who may say Siyu Cheng did it first by bringing in Tony Jaa for 2024’s Striking Rescue, but I’d argue that was more of a comeback vehicle for Jaa after a period of inactivity, while Uwais is still very much active, having released his own directorial debut Timur in 2025.

The ‘flights in peril’ genre has made something of a comeback in recent years, with 2024’s High Forces from China and Korea’s Hijack 1971 from the same year both unfolding in-flight (and even airports have had their moment in the sun with Carry-On), however Wings of Dread strips the genre down to it’s nitty gritty essentials. Chen is an “Air Police Officer” who’s off-duty on a flight in which his flight attendant girlfriend is working (played by Nita Xia – Mojin: Return to the South China Sea), and more importantly, also has a prisoner being escorted back to China (played by Tao Hai – Extraordinary Mission). As a bonus, we get some of the classic web movie made-up country names for good measure – Uraya and Verogue. Unbeknownst to any of the crew, Uwais and his gang have infiltrated the flight as passengers, and intend to free Hai by threatening to blow up the plane with a bomb that’s been smuggled onboard.

Despite its punchy 85-minute runtime, Pengfei’s latest actually takes a little while to get going during its initial third. After a promising pre-title fight sequence in a car, which contains the best electric vehicle visual gag you’re likely to see within an action movie context, the rest of the comedic leanings fail to land. Mostly consisting of an introduction to an assortment of passengers – there’s the dyed blonde hair punk who doesn’t understand the carry-on rules, the overzealous live streaming couple, and the pretentious first-class passenger hitting on the flight attendants – proceedings begin to feel somewhat laboured.

There’s also an elephant in the room in the form of the voice dubbing that Iko Uwais has been subjected to. Despite clearly speaking the lines himself, the decision has been taken to replace his voice with a silky toned American accent, one which is at once both mildly disconcerting but also absurdly funny. Best approached in the same vein as Jimmy Wang Yu’s vocal treatment in The Man from Hong Kong, for those familiar with Uwais’s real voice then chances are the decision will either frustrate or bemuse. Thankfully, the fact that the dubbing exactly matches the mouth movements means it never becomes too much of a distraction (and those unfamiliar may perhaps not even notice), and certainly doesn’t have any impact on the audience’s perception of him as a threat once the fists and feet begin to fly (apologies, terrible pun).

Fly they do, as once the initial third is out of the way, much of the last hour is dedicated to brawls erupting in the cramped fuselage flying 30,000 feet above sea level. In a short period of time Pengfei has established a go-to action team that consistently deliver the goods, and here everyone is present and accounted for. Playing a fellow Air Police Officer is Qu Jing Jing (The Body Guard), with Liu Fengchao (The Butcher’s Blade) checked-in as one of the villains, and regular choreographers Qiankun Li (Eye for an Eye 2) and Wei Zhang (Fight Against Evil 2) are both onboard to handle the fight action. Notably Uwais has also brought in a member of his own team in the form of Rama Ramadhan, who left a strong impression both in front and behind the camera in 2025’s Lone Samurai, and here takes on the role of stunt choreographer.

In terms of how much variety you can squeeze out of fights that break out in as confined a space as a plane, I think it’s fair to say that there’s not too much left over for any other production to attempt after what’s on display in Wings of Dread. There’s an ensemble approach to the action scenes, with frequently more than one fight breaking out at the same time, and Pengfei and Chen take the approach to intercut between the respective brawls. The approach successfully captures the franticness of the combat within such close quarters (somewhat of a Pengfei speciality), without sacrificing the rhythm of each individual fight.

As per usual for these productions, Chen by necessity is the least interesting character, with his morally upstanding air cop never missing an opportunity to espouse the virtues of how his job is to ensure everyone returns to the motherland safely. Also as usual for these productions, his action talents make up for his one-note characterisation, with a highlight reel that sees him engage in a two on one against femme fatales Qu Jing Jing and Hong Shuang (Hunt the Wicked) and a couple of one on ones against Uwais (the first of which has him handcuffed!). Fengchao is his usual scene stealing self once he springs into action, his disguise as someone on crutches soon giving way to reveal him as a ruthless kicking machine, showing some incredible dexterity in the kicks he manages to pull off in the confines of an aisle. Indeed much of the fight action may take place in economy, but it’s never anything less than first class.

Chen eventually gets out of the handcuffs for the finale against Uwais in the cargo hold, conveniently giving them a broader canvas to duke it out than in the cabin. As their second time to go at it the face off doesn’t disappoint, and one element I enjoyed that even a bigger budgeted effort like High Forces disregarded, is the element of turbulence coming into play while they’re exchanging blows. Utilising everything from a luggage handle to the baggage netting, the opportunity to pit Chen’s kung-fu against Uwais’s silat doesn’t go to waste, with their physicality shining through despite the chaotic environment the fight takes place in.

Surprisingly though, the Chen versus Uwais fight wasn’t my favorite, with a bathroom fight between Qu Jing Jing and Hong Shuang being a ferocious display of two ladies going for broke in a space barely big enough for one person, let alone two. I’ve only ever seen one other fight take place in a plane bathroom, and that was in 2014’s Non-Stop which pitted Liam Neeson against Anson Mount. It’s safe to say Wings of Dread blows it out of the sky. Pengfei has gained a reputation for staging fights in confined spaces, and Jing Jing and Shuang’s fight almost feels like him saying to the audience – “you think a plane is already confined enough? Let’s go one better!” The type of fight scene that feels like a perfect combination of performers willing to give all they’ve got, choreography, and cinematography, it’s a highlight.

Admittedly some of the more jingoistic elements of Wings of Dread will definitely either raise an eyebrow or a laugh, depending on your disposition – a classic example being that you’d think the fact Chen’s girlfriend is hurt would be enough to rile him up against Uwais, but actually what gets him going the most is Uwais’s taunt of “Chinese police!? Pathetic!” But at the end of the day, such scenarios are to be expected from a setup such as this, and by the time one of the passenger’s yells “Chinese air police good!” in the closing scene, chances are you’ll agree with them.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10