Wolf Warrior 2 is a white-knuckle film with a nationalistic streak, but it is visceral, based on its deception of heroism and sacrifice. The character of Leng Feng played by Jing Wu is not only convincing but also desperate, strong, and very human in the middle of the mess. Though the story of the film relies too much on cliched elements of duty and redemption, it manages to introduce a lot of violent battle and heart-throbbing moments that made me sit in the edge of my seat. The main idea of the story, a former soldier putting his life at risk to save innocent people, was really striking, creating the feeling of admiration and pride.
On the one hand, the movie is graphically a nonstop parade of explosive set pieces and well executed martial arts scenes. The photography is wretchedly real of the war zones and this is, in contrast, to the scenes of relative calmness between humans which add emotional resonance to the documentary. The music intensifies the drama and heroism, and the fact that the film is set in the harshness of war makes the production design make viewers feel as though they are there. The authoritative performance of Jing Wu gives credibility to the uncompromising feeling of duty of the character, and the background characters enrich the story, although some of them are stereotypical.
Although its action and emotional power are striking, sometimes, Wolf Warrior 2 is slipping into up-to-the-top territory, and the scenes can be considered to be exaggerated or even too patriotic in some instances. It may be dogged by the beat, and sometimes at the expense of substance. However, what remained in my mind after watching the movie was a great admiration towards the themes of sacrifice, resilience and protection. It is a corporeal, patriotic rollercoaster which evokes pride and awe and is thus an entertaining movie to watch when one is a fan of action-packed heroism with a national pride attached to it.
