Wolf Warrior 2

A pretty good movie given the quality of most Chinese movies. Great efforts are put into producing exciting and vivid scenes of shootings and fights. However, the story is way too simple and unreal. The bad mercenaries are just bad and obsessed with killing the hero and people round him. Ironically, the warlord who hires them keeps telling them not to mess with Chinese but mercenaries totally ignores his order for reason unknown to us. An obvious dilemma is the producer wants to show that average African people love Chinese people and African warlords are afraid of China, which is politically correct in China. But still, there must be a Chinese-hating crazy paranoiac.

The hero, on the other hand, is really heroic and capable of fighting. But he never uses his brain. He, with the help of a security head and a rich second generation, keeps fighting against a small army with snipers, tanks and drones. And the hero wins in the end.

Wolf Warrior 2 wants to have it both ways. It wants to be about Chinese exceptionalism, but also wants to show the world a China and the her people, that are at one with the world community. It's a movie that wants to tug on the heartstrings of audiences at home and abroad, but fumbles the latter due to eschewing the universal human element in favor of focusing on exclusively the people of China (and their symbols and institutions).

But it was a pretty entertaining action movie, and interesting propaganda piece (I didn't see the first movie, but it didn't seem to matter much). The cgi was dodgy, but the action and fight choreography were really slick and inventive. There were also a couple cool plot wrinkles late in the movie that were really good, along with one of the most well done third act product placements I've ever seen.

**SPOILERS**

The main story line followed the hero, as he tried to save a few VIPs, along with African and Chinese workers trapped in the conflict zone. It was pretty straightforward stuff.

Now the secondary story line was where almost all the juicy propaganda was placed, the main thrust of which was is in how the Chinese people, and their government, were depicted as sticking by Africa and its people as western governments had abandoned it.

All the Westerners in the movie were in Africa under the sponsorship of stateless private, and non-governmental groups (UN and unspecified business interests) the latter of which were behind the bad guys. And it's the Western bad guys that were aiding and abetting African insurgents, who were murdering hundreds of their fellow Africans in the movie, and threatening to undermine the work that the Chinese government backed businesses were doing on the ground.

Not surprisingly it's the second plot, the propaganda plot, which was more effectively pulled off... building to a jingoistic pro Chinese climax that obviously struck a cord with audiences there.

Unfortunately, that came at the expense of giving the lead character a really organically heart felt ending. Yeah he avenges the death of his lover, but that's handled in a cold, matter of fact way that was unsatisfying. The same went for the burgeoning father/son relationship between the hero and the charismatic African boy whose mother he promised to save. Yeah he did it, but it was all so matter of fact. The execution was done as if they were merely boxes to be ticked. There was no heart behind the craft... that went elsewhere.

**END OF SPOILERS**

And that's a shame because the film could have had a real universal heart that resonated with audiences across the globe, instead of just in China. I'm not begrudging the movie it's jingoistic ending, that's cool, but it didn't have to come at the cost of leaving he rest of us out in the cold. The films loss and ours.

But again, Wolf Warrior 2 is a fine effort nonetheless. It's an action movie, and a pretty darn good one at that.

First,to be clear,I am a Chinese. I love my country of course, but I also love movies. That's why I think this movie is so bad at telling a story. I think this might be the terrible director's fault. I want my country to be strong, I also want my people to be respected by others. But not this way. Not a personal heroic mindless patriotic violent way. This kind of movie misled my people, they became super impulsive in some international issues because this kind of movies keeping showing off in China. There's a old saying that says, modesty makes one progress, but pride makes one lag behind. I hope that one day Chinese can also gain the world's respect by civilization or culture, not the self confidence gained by advanced weapons.

Eschewing overwrought nationalistic propaganda in favor of non-stop, balls-to-the-wall action, Wolf Warrior 2 is a superior sequel that hits the ground running from the start and never lets up. From the opening Captain Phillips-inspired pirate underwater takedown, a convenience store fight, a jeep-chase through a shanty town to a factory gunfight at night and another at daytime, there's enough action here to fuel three Michael Bay films. The Russo Brothers (directors of Captain America sequels) apparently consulted on the action, hence its high production values. Other positives include Celina Jade as the female lead and Frank Grillo as the villain, a racially diverse cast respectful of its premise set in Africa as well as moments of levity and broad comedy that should appeal to a wide audience.

The film's biggest draw, of course, is Chinese action-superstar Wu Jing. As a leading man, Wu Jing is kind of a perfect package. He has the pretty-boy looks to draw the female crowd but also a natural, convincing tough-guy persona. As a trained martial artist he has the physicality of Donnie Yen and the on screen charisma of Jet Li. Most importantly, Jing plays the kind of action hero that's just all too rare these days, the one that takes just as much punishment as he dishes it. Yet he sells it with the kind of world-class commitment that is simply awe-inspiring, like Jackie Chan or Tom Cruise who repeatedly endanger themselves simply to entertain their audience. It's all rather impressive until you realize he also directed the movie.

Still, there are minor flaws. Like every other Chinese films of late, flashbacks and dramatic scenes are rendered like bad 90's soap dramas – cut to slow-motion with colored filter, bad sound FX and obvious sad music cues so laughably bad its beyond parody. Noticeable green screen work occur here and there, as well as some obvious bad CGI during explosions. However these are minor occurrences that shouldn't detract from the overall experience.

Modern action films have become too sophisticated for its own good. Plots are overly convoluted with unnecessarily complicated character backstories, bloated runtimes, headache-inducing shaky cam action chopped up into indecipherable bits, lead actresses have to be badass fighters to be a strong female and villains having overly complex motivations to be evil. Wolf Warrior 2 is a reminder of simpler times, where it's perfectly OK to have a straightforward story backed-up by identifiable character archetypes, damsel-in-distresses who gets saved by the male hero without being considered weak and inferior to them and cartoonish, two-dimensional villains who just enjoy being evil. Like, its OK if the male protagonist becomes a lone, one-man killing machine who takes out an entire army. It's not realistic but who cares? As long as it's fun. In a summer where we've had a loud, incomprehensible Dunkirk, a War of the Planet of the Apes without enough war and an insufferable Spiderman: Homecoming filled with obnoxious Marvel fanboy worship, consider Wolf Warrior 2 a fresh alternative - a perfectly satisfying old-school action film that won't tax on brainpower but won't disrespect your intelligence either.

As far as action movies go, this was pretty good. Director Wu put a lot of time and energy in this and it pays off. The fight scenes, chases, and suspense was well done and the movie never seemed to stop the action. Acting was not Oscar winning but sufficient. Throughout the movie is interspersed China feel-good themes that even Beijing would be happy with... national pride, respect of China from others, participant in international law, etc. But what country doesn't have their own feel-good flicks? US certainly has their share. Overall a big improvement from the first movie. Not sure this movie will be popular outside China but maybe that doesn't matter.