Wolf Warrior was a fun movie with more upside than not. This was my takeaway after watching it one night recently. Most Asian cinema I see are of the martial arts variety, be they Shaw Brothers-era classics, or modern ones, but I rarely get a chance to watch a military action flick from the East. To that end, Wolf Warrior was extra cool thanks to all of the tactical gear on display. There is still a good melee fighting martial arts component however, thanks to Wu Jing and Scott Adkins.
The story features Jacky Wu (Wu Jing) as a Chinese special forces sniper. During a cooperative mission with special police forces at a drug operations takedown, Wu uses his exceptional sniping abilities to take out a VIP target, but he did this against orders. He’s subsequently reprimanded, but a special detachment within the Chinese military — the Wolves — takes interest in him and he agrees to join up with them. As it turns out, the target that Wu took out was the younger brother of a very powerful drug lord who hires Tomcat (Scott Adkins) and his crack team of ex-special forces to track down and kill Wu. They intend to use the Chinese border to their advantage, using guerrilla tactics to make the kill and then exfiltrate back to the border which is a no-fire zone.
The military action is pretty solid in Wolf Warrior, although there are some shake-your-head moments where you might be a bit stunned or disappointed as I was in some of the decisions the Wolves make. These, predictably, thin out their numbers quickly (this is just a ninety minute movie afterall). This is intended to promote some drama and angst against the enemy of course, but it also pushes Wu fully into the spotlight. This is ok, but, one thing that chaffed me was how quickly Wu seemed to forget about his dead comrades. I thought it disrespectful, and yes I realize this is just a movie, but still. The second thing was how much he focused on his romantic interests in Nan Yu’s character, who was running the OP back at base. There’s even a really awkward scene where Wu asks her if she’s dating anyone, and everyone in the room hears their conversation. This is literally during the middle of the operation in which the only Wolf that isn’t dead or not tending to the injured or dead, is Wu.
Anyway, I don’t mean to get too hung up on that, but to me the romantic angle was unnecessary and actually damaging to the movie. I think you could argue that the story angle about Wu’s dad and his, well, mixed military past, was also kind of unnecessary. These two marks and a considerable dose of “wait, why?” moments where you need to suspend disbelief tarnish Wolf Warrior, but overall I enjoyed it. It’s apparent that a sequel is in the works, too. If this becomes a new series, something like the The Expendables, or Missing In Action, I would definitely take interest in that.
As for the Blu-ray release, it’s well done on the technical side. Expect a few previews that you can skip to get right to the well-designed menu. No English audio tracks are offered, which didn’t bother me. The only gripe I have about this is that on some scenes, the subtitles disappear really quickly; I don’t feel like I missed anything, but the snappiness of a few of these was surprising. What’s also surprising, on a disappointing level, is the complete lack of extra features. During the credits, you can watch some production footage and outtakes, and these are always welcomed, but as far as any traditional features go, there is nothing on the disc.
With that, let’s head to the summary…