A band of military officers must confront a deadly zombie outbreak in the long awaited third feature film from director Chee Keong Cheung.
In the United Kingdom, a virus outbreak has caused the infected to transform into bloodthirsty zombies. There is reason to believe a scientist may be among the survivors in the quarantine zone that may have discovered a cure to the outbreak. A band of Special Forces officers from the SAS and the U.S. Army have been tasked with finding the scientist by any means necessary.
The group is led by Captain Marcus Stanton, whose wife was a victim of the outbreak. As the group descend upon the quarantine area, they are constantly finding themselves threatened by the zombies. As some members find themselves fallen or infected by the zombies, Stanton and crew come across a young girl who apparently turns out to be immune. Stanton and the team now must protect the young girl at all costs and continue their original mission before the quarantine zone is set to be decimated.
The third feature film from director Chee Keong Cheung, a full ten years after his last directorial effort, Bodyguard: A New Beginning, takes the zombie apocalypse film and adds a twist of having these zombies actually having the ability to fight back. Chee, an avid fan of martial arts films, had made his first film around a martial arts tournament film that actually has some heart to it while his second film was a action-drama thriller that had both good fights and a good storyline.
The positives of this film are that if you like both the gory zombie film and the martial arts action film, then you will enjoy the action-filled sequences. The cast of soldiers is quite a delight to watch as they bring a level of intensity in their performances as well as bring an emotional range when the script calls for it. As Captain Stanton, it is quite great to see Oris Erhuero take the lead and does a fine job in his role. Joined by El Mariachi himself, Carlos Gallardo (who also serves as an executive producer with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman); Mark Strange, martial artist extraordinare and one of Chee’s favorites to work with; pro wrestler Katarina Waters, Street Fighter: Assassin Fist’s Akira Koieyama, Boyka: Undisputed villain Martyn Ford, Joshua Dickinson and Michael Sheehan, this is one band of soldiers who are ready to kick some major butt.
The only gripe, should there be one, is that the film at times drag in certain areas and thus, makes the film run a bit too long. At a whopping 117 minutes, there seems to be a bit of filler that proves to be unnecessary in the form of a band of survivors who out of fear, form their own militia group against the zombie horde as they feel they can’t trust the military, due to the fact that some have turned into zombies themselves. That brings to mind that this a situation where it may have been too much added in and takes away the basis of the film.
Redcon-1 is a middle of the road zombie action film that may run a bit too long, but anyone who likes gory zombie action and martial arts action, especially seeing Mark Strange going solo against the horde in one scene, will likely want to see this.
WFG RATING: C+
Dread presents an Apocalypse Pictures/Intense Productions film. Director: Chee Keong Cheung. Producers: Chee Keong Cheung, Ioanna Karaleva, and Mark Strange. Writers: Chee Keong Cheung, Mark Strange, and Steve Horvath. Cinematography: Lorenzo Levrini. Editing: Martin Hunter, Alex Fenn, and Chris Gill.
Cast: Oris Erhuero, Carlos Gallardo, Mark Strange, Katarina Leigh Waters, Martyn Ford, Joshua Dickinson, Michael Sheehan, Akira Koieyama, Euan MacNaiughton, Marc Baylis, Douglas Russell, Robert Goodale, Madeleine Kelly.
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