There are a few things that draw me to Chinese action movies. My dad has long been an avid fan of Bruce Lee which meant that I grew up watching his films and consequently took an independent liking to the genre. When I heard news of the new Chinese blockbuster Wolf Warrior 2 hitting Melbourne theatres, my interest certainly piqued.
However not long into my viewing had my interest dissipated, as I soon realised that the film was little more than a botched attempt to propagate Chinese nationalism, while dampened by the overlays of an American narrative that was presumably conceived to appeal to Western audiences. The result? A bizarre hybrid of a patriotic Chinese film and over-the-top Hollywood film trying to do too many things at once. Themes of romance and comedy were intertwined with a running patriotic message that lacked tact or subtlety and felt shoved down your throat. Appealing to the masses may have encouraged commercial success, but in this case came with the loss of the authentic Chinese culture I had hoped to see in the film.
Upon watching the trailer for the first time I was pleased to see an Asian actor in the lead role. Wolf Warrior 2 seemed to come at a perfect time to appease my disappointment after watching the likes of Ghost in the Shell (Sanders, 2017) and The Bachelorette. Growing up Australian-born Chinese has led me to become particularly conscious of the lack of diversity in Western film and television. As a child I would subconsciously find myself searching for a face on the television that reflected my own, but often to no avail. No doubt this was a factor that could explain myself and my dad’s appreciation for someone like Bruce Lee, who reached an unprecedented status as an Asian leading man in the global cinema landscape and received the kind of critical acclaim that would otherwise have been reserved for Western actors and actresses. The themes prevalent in his movies, and most Chinese action films in general, revolve around enforcing justice, sticking-it-to-the-man and proving the underdog can come out victorious. He had the ability to incite empowerment for audiences around the world – anyone who felt marginalised saw Bruce Lee as a force of resistance against oppression. It was his acceptance as a hero by the international community that provided a sense of reassurance for any non-White audiences struggling with their identity.
Yet contrary to what I anticipated, Wolf Warrior 2’s leading man failed to incite even a shred of this pride, and instead I felt more inclined to cringe at the majority of his actions and dialogue. Wu Jing, (both director and main actor) plays the hero Lu Feng, who is comparable to Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo in his macho characteristics but remains a far cry from the effortlessly cool and resilient Bruce Lee. Feng is excessively violent and has to prove his masculinity – one scene shows him outdrink local Africans by guzzling countless beers before whipping out a bottle of Chinese baiju liquor and effortlessly chugging that down too. We see Feng, China’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ soldier, saving Chinese expatriates from Western mercenaries amongst a myriad of other seemingly endless heroic acts that simply feels like too much.
It’s uplifting to hear that a movie produced in China featuring a lead actor of the same descent has received positive world-wide reception; a welcome change to the constant stream of movies that Hollywood spurns out. Reading about the magnitude of Wolf Warrior 2’s international acclaim, and its record breaking box office success deceived me into believing it would be an indication of its cinematic quality (it’s currently the second film ever in history to reach over 800 million USD within a month after its release, coming second only to Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Abrams, 2015)). Yet I couldn’t quite understand what parts of the film deemed it so deserving of the praise it had garnered. Its penchant for incorporating as many jingoistic tropes as possible was tedious and dull. The most overt of these was in the final scene which featured an image of a Chinese passport and the message: “remember, at your back stands a strong motherland”. Far from feeling the empowerment intended by these words, I found myself sighing and rolling my eyes.
Chinese films generally tend to stay loyal to traditional Chinese values and while there is no denying that Wolf Warrior 2 is nationalistic, it is simultaneously ‘Hollywoodised’. Its narrative has been unabashedly altered to be more palatable for international audiences in a bid to gain larger commercial success – the Chinese production company behind the film had hired the Russo brothers (Captain America: Civil War (2016)) as consultants and their team of stunt directors and composers to co-produce the film. It explains why the movie is littered with so many traces of a Hollywood action blockbuster that appeals to Western audiences, yet fails to fulfil the authentic Chinese action film genre. If a 2 hour barrage of watered-down Bond-style fight sequences and overzealous propaganda is what you’re looking for, then Wolf Warrior 2 won’t disappoint. And don’t worry, there’s even hints of a Wolf Warrior 3 on its way. But I won’t be holding my breath.
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