Red Sun Rising

Red Sun Rising

Red Sun Rising

Moviecut—Red Sun Rising

RED SUN RISING is a pretty good little action thriller which acts as a vehicle for straight-to-video star Don 'The Dragon' Wilson. It was clearly inspired by the Wesley Snipes vehicle RISING SUN and has a touch of class and quality to it that you don't usually see in this genre of 1990s film-making, as evinced by the familiar faces in the supporting cast and more plot and character twists than usual. The plot is familiar but detailed enough to keep you interested. Wilson's partner is killed so he goes off hunting the man responsible and soon finds that he's some kind of superman opponent who takes drugs to make him extra-powerful. There's also a back story about a fight between the Yakuza and a black street gang which gives Wilson ample opportunity to show off his fighting skills. The fights aren't the greatest and easily pale when compared to those from rival Hong Kong cinema, for example, but they're not the worst I've seen. There's too much close-up editing and stock hits when the camera guys should really be taking a step back and letting the fighters do their bit. Alongside an on-form Wilson we get turns from HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH's Terry Farrell, stuck with the horrible part of a racist cop; Michael Ironside on top form as the gruff superior; and a likable Mako doing his mentor bit. Edward Albert's in there too.

I remember saw this as a kid, and those visuals from the film really attached to my child psychic. I thought that I never see this film again, but I was fortunate, found it on the internet and downloaded it. A mystical low budget crap film about Japanese police man hunting down a Yakuza leader and his personal bodyguard and ninjitsu expert, who is also a dark magic user. The policeman was played by the kickboxing champion Don "the dragon" Willson, which was really fine in this film, he gaved some good fights also. Terry Farrel, who played Don's American partner was also OK, a tough, strong woman with large Cadillac! A supporting characters as Mako (Don's former ninjitsu master) who was really funny in this film, somewhat a comic relief and Michael Ironside (the man with the badass voice). For the end to mention martial arts actor James Lew, who played the main villain (you know him "Best of the Best" (1989), "Lethal Weapon 4" (1997), "Mission for Justice" (1992) and others). Lew played the leading bad guy very differently here, due to his scary looks, I think that he fit just fine for the leading bad guy here, a mystical, dark ninja bodyguard and user of dark ninja magic, and when he use hypnotic powers, his eyes turns blue, maybe I am older now, but, saw the film a few months ago, I found that really scary. Good work for James Lew! Other things as script, story, forget it, it's crappy, no use there. Just turn of your brain and enjoy this dark martial arts film. Love the music too. Watch it...! If you want... :)

Having sat down in 2021 to watch the 1994 action movie "Red Sun Rising", I can honestly say that this movie from writers Robert Easter, Neva Friedenn and Paul Maslak was a very generic and archetypical mid-1990s martial arts action movie. So why I hadn't I ever heard about "Red Sun Rising" before now 27 years after it was released? Well, I suppose because it was an martial arts action movie that didn't have any of the really noticeable of 1990s action movie stars in it. Sure, it had Don "The Dragon" Wilson in the lead, but he was a niche star, not widely known or recognized amidst the likes of Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme, etc. The storyline in "Red Sun Rising" was actually not too shabby, but it was just a bit too generic. I mean, you could have left the movie for a prolonged period and returned later on, only to be able to pick up and get right back into the movie. Nothing outstanding to this movie from director Francis Megahy. Aside from having Don "The Dragon" Wilson on the cast list, the movie also had familiar 1990s faces of Michael Ironside, Mako and Soon-Tek Oh on the cast list. The action sequences in "Red Sun Rising" were actually adequate. Sure, this was not groundbreaking choreography or anything, but it provided adequate enough entertainment for a single viewing. My rating of "Red Sun Rising" lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars. This was hardly among the best of action movies from the mid-1990s.

Don "The Dragon" Wilson was able to escape the clutches of schlockmeister Roger Corman for a little while and make this movie, which is one of his best. I know that might not seem much of a declaration, considering the poor quality of many Wilson movies, but this one managed to be genuinely entertaining. While a low-budget movie, the production values manage to be slick enough so that no scene looks especially cheap. The martial art scenes, while not up to those from Hong Kong movies, can be considered more realistic, and do manage to be exciting at times. There's even a decent attempt to do some character development! Speaking of the characters and actors, there is some good support from supporting players Ironside and (especially) Mako. The movie could have been given a little trimming (it goes on too long), but overall this is a solid little B movie.