NYAFF XXIII Review: In WOLF HIDING, Nick Cheung And Co. Show Their Teeth With Unflinching Ferocity

4.5 min. read

Actor Marc Ma’s screen filmography has popped up a few times on our radar over the years. As of late, he’s a standout on both sides of the lens with his feature debut, Wolf Hiding, open to IQIYI subscribers as of late last year and now testing international waters with a North American Premiere before audiences of the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival.

It’s an action pic too, so you know I was keen on catching this one. Best of all is that it has Nick Cheung brimming with energy in this film as the discernible lead, and with actors like Taiwanese talents Ethan Juan, and Darren Wang, and also Danny Chan who sheds the more prolific Bruce Lee persona of some of his hit roles for a more entrenched role that allows him to maintain his substance.

The movie also brings on board screen veteran Paul Chun who is no stranger to the villains’ millieu, which is right where from which the movie sets its course. The murky, black market world of organ trade and human trafficking run by Ugo (Ma) is etched in to the secret profiteering that so benefits his rich tycoon uncle, Hong Tai (Chun), who is also on his way to retirement with the announcement of a corporate successor in toe.

It isn’t long before the film’s title card and during the film’s first half hour that the Hong Tai corporation finds itself under threat in the form of Chen An (Cheung), an elusive mercenary now killing its employees, and even snuffing Tai’s would be successor. Pertinent to Tai’s survival are the elite security detail led by Ma (Wang) and Qiao (Chan).

Also essential to Tai are the services of corrupt cop Mai (Juan), whose job mostly involves leading violent raids on the city’s encamped protestors demanding answers about their missing loved ones. As the violence escaltes and Hong Tai’s men resort to suspicion among their ranks, one of their own makes their move, offsetting a collision course that will see Chen An brought full circle in his long-winded mission of vengeance.

Ma’s feature debut a high energy actioner that crackles right down to the very end. It’s energy and pacing is upbeat enough along with the performances and the action that you’re hardly led astray, and the plot is carefully crafted in revealing its inner workings and twists before the final act. Before you know it, there’s a larger scheme at play with tons of skullduggery and bloodshed afoot, and the stakes go even higher as the climax approaches.

The movie is set in a fictional Asian city which comes bolstered by a lot of migrant faces and English dialect for a select few portions of the film throughout. The film is definitely better suited when the actors are speaking Mandarin though, however there is an added delight when watching campy gweilo actors playing stereotypical gangsters – at least one with a somewhat convincingly Spanish accent. It helps to know the movie in whole isn’t entirely grounded in reality, and so there’s an escapist aspect to cosign with the enjoyment.

Undoubtedly, the film’s tangible criminal underworld provides plenty of veracity to its seriousness. Cheung’s character is someone you’re definitely rooting for here in this regard, and the most important aspect of this petains to the role of An’s sister, Le (Chen Xiaoyi), with whom he shares a small hut on the outskirts of the city. It just so happens that Le has a small scar on her chest which An is aware of, a minute detail Ma subtly challenges you to remember as the plot thickens.

Most of the action is a blast to watch from stunt director Shin Jae-myung and his team. The violence gets blood red with much of the screenfighting doled out with knifes and anything blunt, on top of the occasional fists and feet that come handy. One punch looked sorely amiss somewhere in the final act, but the rest of it holds up to cosign a brutal, bruising and thrilling freshman endeavor from Ma and screenwriter Gu Haoran.

The climatic action finale is a sweet little cherry on top that brings it altogether. It saves the unfortunate room for at least one key character to die (possibly, as he’s seen on a set of steps in a seated position and clearly unawake after receiving what looked like a fatal stab wound), but Ma’s Wolf Hiding is nothing short of a neat modern actioner fresh out of the mainland.

Wolf Hiding was reviewed for the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival which runs from July 12 through 28.