Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) Review: Patriotism at Full Throttle

Is Wolf Warrior 2 worth watching?

Yes, with reservations. Wolf Warrior 2 is a loud, relentlessly inventive action film whose set pieces rival Hollywood’s, even if its politics are delivered with all the subtlety of a tank. Wu Jing directs and stars with total commitment, and the film moves from one large-scale sequence to the next without pausing for breath. The reservation is the message: its patriotism is unapologetic, its portrait of Africa is simplistic, and its characters are drawn in the broadest possible strokes.

What is Wolf Warrior 2 about?

Wolf Warrior 2 follows Leng Feng (Wu Jing), a former Chinese special-forces soldier who has left the military and is drifting through an African country when civil war breaks out. As rebel forces and foreign mercenaries sweep through the region, he takes it upon himself to help evacuate civilians, including Chinese workers and local people caught in the fighting, and finds himself up against a ruthless mercenary unit led by a commander played by Frank Grillo. Celina Jade co-stars as a doctor caught up in the crisis.

The film is a sequel to Wu’s 2015 Wolf Warrior but works on its own. It is a Chinese production, mostly in Mandarin with some English, and runs 123 minutes. It became, for a time, the highest-grossing film ever released in China, and it was nominated for Best Picture at the Golden Rooster Awards.

Action that aims for the top tier

Whatever one thinks of its worldview, Wolf Warrior 2 is a serious piece of action craftsmanship. The film opens with an underwater fight staged in a long, fluid take that announces its ambition immediately, and it keeps escalating from there: street battles, vehicle chases, a tank sequence that turns city blocks into rubble, and a series of close-quarters fights that make good use of Wu’s martial arts background.

Wu stages much of this with a clarity that many bigger-budget films lack. Geography is easy to follow, the stunt work feels physical, and the pacing leaves little room for the audience to question the plausibility of what they are seeing. It is maximalist filmmaking, but it is controlled maximalism, and fans of action cinema will find plenty to admire.

A star vehicle built on bravado

Wu plays Leng Feng as a near-invincible hero, cocky, charming and willing to take absurd amounts of punishment. It is less a performance than a presence, in the tradition of 1980s action stars who carried films on sheer physical confidence. Frank Grillo brings genuine menace to the mercenary leader, even if the script gives him little beyond sneering contempt and a taste for violence. Celina Jade does what she can with a role written mainly to react to the hero.

The supporting characters are sketched quickly and serve the story’s momentum rather than any deeper purpose. That is a common trait in the genre, but it becomes more noticeable here because the film wants the audience to feel so much about the people being rescued.

The message comes first

The weakest part of Wolf Warrior 2 is its insistence on turning every beat into a statement. Chinese strength and national pride are celebrated with little irony, the foreign villains are cartoonishly arrogant, and African characters are largely positioned as people to be saved rather than as participants with their own agency. It swaps one saviour narrative for another rather than questioning the idea. Viewers who are uncomfortable with overt nationalism in their entertainment will find it hard to ignore, and even those willing to go along with it may find the flag-waving excessive by the final stretch.

Who should watch Wolf Warrior 2?

It is a strong pick for fans of large-scale action films, particularly those who enjoy practical stunts, military hardware and martial arts in the same package. It also matters as a cultural artefact: few films show as clearly how Chinese blockbusters began to compete with Hollywood on spectacle and scale. The violence is frequent and intense, with gunfights, explosions and brutal hand-to-hand combat, so it suits older teenagers and adults. At just over two hours it moves quickly.

Worth pairing with:

• The Battle at Lake Changjin, a later Chinese war epic, also featuring Wu Jing, on an even bigger scale.
• Red Cliff, John Woo’s historical war saga, for Chinese spectacle with a more classical sweep.
• Hero, Zhang Yimou’s martial arts landmark, which treats nationhood with far more ambiguity.

The verdict

Wolf Warrior 2 is a blunt instrument, but a well-made one: a patriotic action spectacle with set pieces good enough to impress viewers who do not share its politics. The thin characters and heavy-handed message keep it from greatness, yet as a showcase for Wu Jing and a milestone in Chinese blockbuster filmmaking, it is worth a look.

Rating: 3.5/5