The jingoistic Chinese kích hoạt flick "Wolf Warrior 2" is not a harmless piece of pro-military propaganda. This is the second highest-earning film in all of Chinese history, and its characters" sense of patriotism is built on the back of racist assumptions that would, in a European or American narrative, be rightfully criticized for being part of an ugly "white savior" nguồn fantasy. In time, "Wolf Warrior 2" might seem benignly kitschy, though its bộ vi xử lý core ideas about how only the Chinese military can save a nameless African country from bloodthirsty native rebels và amoral European mercenaries, will always be gross. After all, nothing dates faster than good intentions marred by pervasive ignorance. But watching "Wolf Warrior 2" with an at-capacity crowd on Sunday gave me an idea of what it was lượt thích to watch tripe lượt thích "Rambo II" back in the "80s. Like Sylvester Stallone"s earlier star vehicle, "Wolf Warrior 2" lectures you, pummels you, then expects you to cheer. 


The film starts off as a benignly goofy and technically impressive meathead spectacle. Director Wu Jing reprises his role as Leng Feng, a "Wolf Warrior" special ops officer who travels lớn an African country after he"s imprisoned in military jail for two years for beating up a heartless slumlord. Cảnh báo that the country Leng travels to is never spelled out, lest Leng"s shoot-"em-up safari get tied down by real-world details, or implications of exploitation that the film"s four screenwriters flirt with but never satisfactorily address.

Leng is a very tough dude, as the film"s rousing, và technically accomplished opening sequence attests. In a virtuoso opening that"s made to lớn look like one uninterrupted long take, Leng stops a group of pirates from boarding his Africa-bound sea vessel. Soon after that, Leng further proves his bona fides as a manly bro by out-drinking local Africans (you can tell that he"s a real man because he, after pounding down beers, whips out a bottle of high-proof Chinese baiju liquor and keeps on chugging). Then he saves a group of Chinese expatriates from a group of murderous rebels by shooting and kicking the baddies lớn bits. This scene is also promising since it includes a bit where Leng stops a flying grenade with a box-spring mattress, then discards the grenade so that it only destroys a nearby (and conveniently vacant) car.

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But "Wolf Warrior 2" gets really bad once it gets relatively sober. Leng makes tương tác with local Chinese military leaders, & sets off lớn rescue noted humanitarian doctors Chen and Rachel (Celina Jade) from evil soldier of fortune Big Daddy (Frank Grillo) and his fellow Caucasian assassins. Big Daddy & his group are not immediately offensive. In fact, they"re initially defined by generically stilted characterizations. But in time, Big Daddy"s group introduces a largely unexamined element of good vs. Bad exploitation inherent in any foreign military intervention in an undeveloped country. Sure, Big Daddy seems harmless when he assures Leng he will "always be inferior" to lớn "people like" Big Daddy, or even when Big Daddy speaks for the film"s creators when he exclaims that that he was wrong about the Chinese army"s prowess. Realistically, Big Daddy is a bad guy because he"s an outsider who doesn"t care about the people he"s casually slaughtering. Chú ý the way that Jing và his co-writers don"t bother focusing on the motives of the rebel groups that Big Daddy represents (more on this shortly). Big Daddy"s the real bad guy because he"s not a benign exploiter.


By contrast, Leng represents a relatively less troubling but still borderline exploitative outside group that is only fundamentally different than Big Daddy"s group because they think of themselves as missionaries with guns. Two of Leng"s colleagues even say that they like Africa because of its "good food, excellent scenery and hot women" và because it affords them the opportunity to shoot their guns. Leng stands out because, even though he"s been expelled from the military, he insists that "once a Wolf Warrior, always a Wolf Warrior." Leng"s colleagues are therefore afforded the opportunity to see the error of their ways simply by being around Leng long enough to be inspired by him.

Leng might be a rousing or just harmlessly proud figurehead if his sense of duty didn"t reek of He-man chauvinism. Just look at the behavior of the characters he"s rescuing and/or fighting. Look at how the Africans celebrate their newfound savior by behaving lượt thích racist fantasies of uncivilized mindless savages: they dance around an xuất hiện bonfire while pounding on hand-drums. Look at Tundu, Leng"s portly African "godson" sidekick who sells bootleg porn & eats a lot. Heck, look at Tundu"s mom, an overweight woman who breaks bottles & body-slams African rebels to lớn protect her son. Tundu"s mom"s heroism might be a sign of her being a secret bad-ass, but her violent outbursts are played for laughs. She"s a punchline, not a supporting character. She has no more depth than the African rebels who shoot up Tundu"s fellow victims. These guys shout, shoot & curse. There"s nothing more to them because the filmmakers vị not care about developing them as characters. How can you take seriously an kích hoạt film"s claims lớn self-serious heroism given all this latent uncritical political exceptionalism?

"Wolf Warrior 2" isn"t just intellectually repugnant—it"s also dramatically inert. Jing and his co-creators constantly demand that you take their characters" speechifying và humanitarian actions at face value. Lượt thích the way that Leng contracts and is quickly healed from the Lamanla virus, a supposedly incurable disease that has killed many undistinguished African characters. Leng, a foreigner, is tellingly the first person to be healed from Lamanla thanks to lớn Dr. Rachel"s use of Dr. Chen"s research. But why do these characters deserve praise when so much of their story devolves into unconvincing declarations of intent? Why are the action scenes over-edited & shot in a haze of blurry, amateurish, "Sports Mode"-style, run-and-gun hand-held photography? How am I supposed lớn turn off my mind & just enjoy this as spectacle? "Wolf Warrior 2" is for anyone who wishes more modern action movies were lượt thích bad Rambo ripoffs, only minus Stallone"s charms, and amplified by Michael Bay-levels of soul-dead military/gun fetishism. Jing will get your blood up, but not in a good way.


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Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker và freelance film critic whose work has been featured inThe thành phố new york Times,Vanity Fair,The
Village Voice,
and elsewhere.

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China"s deadliest special forces operative settles into a quiet life on the sea. When sadistic mercenaries begin targeting nearby civilians, he must leave his newfound peace behind và return khổng lồ his duties as a soldier & protector.

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Genre: Action, Adventure

Original Language: Chinese

Release Date (Theaters): Jul 28, 2017 limited

Release Date (Streaming): Dec 12, 2017

Box Office (Gross USA): $2.7M

Runtime: 2h 1m

Distributor: The H Collective

Production Co: Bona Film Group, china Film Group, Beijing Culture

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)


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