Wolf Warrior

It wasn't too long ago I saw Donnie Yen's Kung Fu Jungle, which offered a triumphant display of frenetically paced, vicious fight sequences, that continuously delivered in originality and entertainment. To say China is renowned for delivering outstanding martial arts movies, would be an understatement – sadly though, Wolf Warrior, does not continue the tradition. Though the words 'breathtaking martial arts' appears on the top of the box I purchased, let me assure viewers of this statement's inaccuracy. It is unfortunate the fight sequences failed to convey anything original, however, the addendum that these scenes only comprise less than five minutes of the feature's entirety, only adds to the disappointment.

Lead actor Wu Jing, who was involved in writing and directing this production, clearly sets himself up as an action hero, his character surviving a number of confrontations that would surely kill any ordinary human being. However, despite even this, the film seldom enthralls. A particularly entertaining scene sees Jing running from cover to cover, avoiding an enemy sniper's fire, however, even this moment is rather dull in contrast with how outstandingly tense it could have been.

Leng Feng (Jing) is a brilliant sniper, whose reckless behavior, in order to save the lives of his fellow soldiers, results in his military career being called into question. Long Xiaoyun (the beautiful Yu Nan) sees Feng's potential, and recruits him into a secret Special Forces group – the War Wolves, a collection of some of China's most accomplished military personnel. During a training exercise however, the lives of all participants are plunged into jeopardy, when drug lord Min Deng (Dahong Ni), in his desperate attempt to avenge the loss of his brother during Feng's last mission, recruits Tom Cat (Scott Adkins), and his band of mercenaries, to kill all involved.

Viewers will be quick to notice the antagonistic force, comprised of muscular militia, are all of Caucasian/European origin, while the protagonists are all Chinese. If anything, the film appears to advertise the strength and courage of Chinese forces, and it is here the film excels, much of the dialogue used in these sequences conveying empowering notions of patriotism, and despite the fact I am not Chinese, even I was impressed by how the Asian super power's military was spoken of. At the same time though, the film incidentally contradicts this with the sheer number of Chinese soldiers that fall like flies against the oppositional forces.

The occasional heroic dialogue however is usurped by the often uninteresting conversations, a number of which are quips at the expense of Xiaoyun's character. A high-ranking female in the Chinese military who commands the War Wolves, you would imagine that she demands respect. Instead, she is the subject of many sexist lines from Feng, and other men, and rather than punishing their insubordinate behavior, she appears content with their unsatisfactory conduct.

Despite the front cover of the film I purchased showing a man with a minigun, please don't be fooled into thinking, like I was, that this weapon will be used in a particularly exciting scene – believe me, it's not. Wolf Warrior has the ingredients of a great action film; however, the recipe goes disastrously wrong, the tension between Feng and Cat being very under-exaggerated, while the villains themselves, despite their bravado, prove to be nowhere near as threatening as an action fan may hope. Furthermore, the lack of depth and attention provided to many of the characters, especially the villains, prohibits the audience from connecting with them, and though the film strives to emotionally involve its viewers, these attempts feel forced and out of place.

Jing and Adkins are clearly adept martial artists, and it would have been great to view them in a film where their talents are proficiently captured – sadly, this feature does not serve as the venue for such excitement. In short, Wolf Warrior has all the hype of an action film, but none of the flavor, and though the end hints at a sequel, we can only hope that if China decides to make a franchise here, the sequels prove to be immensely more entertaining.

It's a mystery to me why Wolf Warrior became one of the most successful cinematic franchises in the People's Republic of China.

The acting performances are cringe-worthy at times and especially lead actor Wu Jing has stiff body language yet overacts whenever he expresses himself verbally which makes for an unbalanced contrast. The special effects look as if they had been made by a company specialized on video games in the mid-nineties and the movie constantly exposes these flaws. The two worst offenders are the bullet fired in slow-motion in the beginning of the movie that had me laughing out loud and the pack of wolves that doesn't even look remotely close to real wolves. The story is also forgettable and unimaginative. The locations are equally bland and mostly limited to some exchangeable fields and forests. The movie also includes an unhealthy dose of Chinese propaganda but that often comes along with military action films.

Still, after a weak start, the movie still manages to end up being solid. The action scenes are intense and will keep the audience on the edge of its seat towards the end. The lead character who can be described as a resilient non-conformist with a soft core is easy to empathize with and his tough but tender female sidekick is also sympathetic. The film doesn't overstay its welcone with a concise length around ninety minutes which can be considered a strength these days.

In the end, fans of military action movies can give this solid average film a try and will get exactly what they can expect. The movie is comparable to franchises like Rambo and might sit well with a larger audience. In the end, the movie however fails to be innovative enough to stand out. Before revisting this film, I would rathet watch some old Chuck Norris movies again. These film have more charm and less fake animations.

Must admit it is simply a propaganda, and it's just for Chinese people. Not surprised to see such a low rate for this movie on IMDb while it is generally rated high on Chinese film reviewing websites. I AM disappointed to the poor story and CGI of this movie but I think it's already not only a movie for entertainment to most of the Chinese people. You probably have no idea what Chinese kids are like today in the country. Most of them set their life goal to move aboard, seems like our country is too weak to compare with other developed countries. Their heroes are Hollywood superheroes, and every time they hear something about our own country they only see the weakness and just laugh at it. This movie, I say, is to build up the faith, the self-confidence to our country. It is to show the kids that our country is much stronger than they imagine, and to show them that every time when they're in danger, it is the country that will protect them from it. As a 17-year-old Chinese kid myself I can strongly feel what I get from this movie. It probably is not a good MOVIE, but it has the power to move all the Chinese people. Go watch Wolf Worrior II. Much better than this one as it can at least be called a MOVIE.

Watching this so-called Chinese Special Force crap is like getting the root canal dental treatment without anesthetic procedure. It's very painful to watch a film spent so many manpower and money for nothing. I often thought why most of all the mega-budget movie productions out of Asia, including China, Hong Kong, India and other Asian countries always turned out so lame and so childish shallow and pathetic. I think mostly it's because their screenplays sucked big time, the dialog sucked, the casting sucked, and worst of all, the directing sucked.

Why after having borrowed so heavily from many foreign movies yet still turned out so lame?

1) Just like the stupid "Strike Back" TV series, a camera seemed to be always followed every movement of the characters from so many different angles for the control center to monitor so easily. It's just looked so unconvincingly stupid.

2) In order to tone down a fully macho testosterone crappy movie, the stupid production would so stupid put one totally unnecessary, highly impossible female character in it. So in "Blackhat", we got a totally useless and purposeless heroine to play a very absurd unnecessary role. This "Wolf Warriors" is even worse, they put a woman with bee-stung lips to play as the leader of the so-called toughest of all toughest Chinese military forces. Give me a break, will you?

3) When you in the hot pursuit of the unseen enemy in the jungle, why a) everybody still holding their assault rifles in front of their eyes? How this stupid gun holding gesture would speed up their chasing speed? b) they never spread out but grouped so tightly together, making them such an big easy target and never got a chance to react?

4) Why once all of the Chinese military films would inject so much unconvincing patriotic slogans?

5) Why the stupid production team would be so stupid enough to add computerized wolf pack attack the so-called 'Wolf Warriors"? Where's the brotherhood, man?

6) Why all the cameo uniforms looked so new?

7) It's very tiresome to watch what we have seen in this movie, like the realistic Chinese military forces, endless trainings, rehearsals, would-be imaginary fighting, small or large scale; or even computerized strategic rehearsals are always and the only stuff that Chinese military forces are doing everyday. It's so formulaic and so painful to watch again and again.

8) The soundtrack was over-the-top annoying and unnecessary most of the time.

This is another self-indulgent, self-righteous, self-pompous...a B movie styled film trying so hard to glorify the Chinese Communist 'Liberation' Army.

A fervid display of Chinese nationalism & jingoistic propaganda, Wolf Warrior treads the same route that countless Hollywood action war blockbusters have walked, and packs some expertly choreographed moments of action as well. However, the story has no meat on it, its characters are dull, the CGI is lame, and the pacing is tedious throughout.

Co-written & directed by Wu Jing who also stars as the lead, the film establishes its tone rather well with its stylishly photographed opening segment, and also makes it abundantly clear who its intended audience are. But once it tries to build a narrative around its primary character, the shortcomings in the script are effortlessly exposed and turns this 90 mins story into a chore.

Not a single character is worth caring about which keeps us detached to everything that unfolds on screen. The action picks up in the second half but it is predictable & uninteresting. Wu brings a physicality to his role that helps keep things afloat but its nationalistic sentiments are overplayed. Scott Adkins plays the baddie and does his usual shtick. And that romance angle is an absolute cringe.

Overall, Wolf Warrior is a bland, boring & blatant propaganda piece that attempts to remind its citizens of their duty & responsibility to their nation but the execution is all over the place. There are a couple intense & captivating scenes of martial arts face-offs where it redeems itself to an extent yet for the most part, the picture remains an unexciting & unstimulating affair. A forgettable, lifeless & uninspiring actioner.