Title: Red Skies
Stars: Vivian Wu, Shawn Christian,
Kadeem Hardison, Rachel Crawford, Roger Yuan, Sidney Liufau, Pauley Perrette,
Caroline Largerfelt, Clancy Brown, and Ming Lo
Writer: John Rogers
Directors: Rob Lieberman and Larry
Carroll
Executive Producers: John Woo, John
Rogers, Terrence Chang, and Susanne Zizzi
Running Time: 66 minutes without
commercials
Media: USA Original Television Special
(NTSC VHS Screener)
Premiere: Wednesday, August 7, 2002, at
8pm (ET/PT)
Network: USA Network Television (Check
your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
TV Rating: PG 14
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
“Red Skies” is an action special
event from acclaimed Hong Kong Filmmaker John Woo. Vivian Wu stars as a strong
willed police officer from Mainland China who is recruited by the FBI to
investigate Triad Gangsters smuggling drugs as cargo with Asian immigrants. The
special also stars Shawn Christian, Kadeem Hardison, and Clancy Brown.
While the idea of drugs and drug
trafficking as well as the exploitation of immigrants has been done before in
films as diverse as “Lethal Weapon 4” to “Traffic,” and lest we forget
the ever popular 80s show “Miami Vice,” “Red Skies” attempts to
transcend the genre by giving the show a look and feel closer to more serious
crime dramas like “CSI” with well choreographed martial arts sequences
thrown in for action. For the most part it works because of the strength and
talents of the supporting cast like Kadeem Hardison, who shows much more range
as an actor here than he was ever able to on “The Cosby Show” spin-off “A
Different World,” and the very likeable Clancy Brown who is in my opinion just
an excellent screen presence whether he is playing a villain or someone in
between.
The special is too short to be a TV
movie of the week so I have to wonder if this is the pilot to a possible new
series? Vivian Wu is fine as a female lead, but the strength of the special lies
more in the dramatic elements and supporting cast than in the strange mix of
martial arts and serious crime drama. You can judge for yourself when “Red
Skies” debuts on the USA Cable Network on Wednesday, August 7, 2002 at 8pm
(ET/PT).
© Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.