Rating: C-
Dir: Wu Jing
Star: Wu Jing, Scott Adkins, Yu Nan, Ni Dahong
I’d previously reviewed the sequel, on the basis of it being the biggest blockbuster you’ve probably never heard of, but it has taken me five more years to get round to the original. I just stumbled across it on Tubi, and recognized the title, due to its presence in the filmography of Mr. Adkins. A spin-off from a TV series, it’s okay, I suppose. In comparison to the much more successful sequel, this is definitely weaker in the story department, and far more obvious – sometimes to a cringey degree – in its patriotism. The technical stuff is mostly good, except for one bizarre fight against a pack of wolves, that serves no purpose, and is rendered in bargain basement CGI. Not bothering would have been an improvement.
The hero is Leng Feng (Wu), an Army sniper who gets court-martialled after disobeying orders, despite his actions saving lives, shooting a drug dealer in a hostage situation. He’s sent to army prison, but freed by Lieutenant Colonel Long Xiaoyun (Yu), who wants him for her most special of special forces, the Wolf Warriors. They act as enemies for army training exercises, which seems a bit of a waste, but whatever. They’re on one such scenario, when the WW’s are attacked by foreign mercenaries under the command of the amusingly named Tom Cat (Adkins). The mercs were hired by crime boss Min Deng, to take revenge on Leng. Do you remember that drug dealer he shot? Turns out it was Min’s little brother.
This leads to lengthy sequences of the two groups, running around a forest and firing guns at each other. It’s mostly kinda dull: say what you want about the wolf attack sequence, it was at least original. It feels like the makers are aware of these shortcomings too, which is why they drop in a subplot about Min working on a bioweapon that can exclusively target those with Chinese genes. This doesn’t serve much purpose, and can easily be ignored. It does lead to the finale, where Min’s surviving forces think better of taking on the might of the People’s Liberation Army, and literally just back away slowly. You just can’t get the soldiers of fortune these days, can you?
The final hand-to-hand battle between Leng and Cat is pretty cool. There are just too many missteps to reach it, such as the inappropriate scene where Leng flirts with his commanding officer, while standing on a land-mine. Meanwhile, the hero learns heavy-handed messages about the importance being a team player. This means clunky dialogue such as, “One wolf cannot defeat a lion or a tiger, but a wolf pack can be invincible,” or still less subtle flag-waving pronouncements like, “Those who challenge China’s resolve will have no safe place to hide.” While Hollywood seems to have figured out how to tailor its product for the Chinese market, it appears that the flow of movies in the other direction is still a work in progress.
This review is part of Project Adkins, covering the movies of Scott Adkins.