Why So Blu?

Wolf Warrior (Blu-ray Review)

An elite squad of mercenaries just met their deadliest target. Sergeant Leng Feng (Wu Jing), top marksman of the Chinese Special Forces, is jailed under court martial for disobeying orders. But he’s just the kind of fighter the Wolf Warriors are looking for. Silent. Stealthy. Deadly. The Wolves bring Feng into their pack, honing his skills to a knife’s edge. But another team has Feng on their radar: a group of corrupt blades-for-hire, seeking revenge for the drug lord’s murder. 

 

 

 

Film 

I remember getting the PR release for Wolf Warrior and seeing Scott Adkins on the cover and thinking that anything Scott Adkins related would be awesome. It is but only to certain extend – and that’s with reference to Wolf Warrior – not his output in general. Sergeant Leng Fu (Wu Jing) is an excellent marksman shooter and after being disgraced by taking his skills to the limit he is sent off to train with an elite group of soldiers known as the Wolf Warriors.

I mentioned Leng Fu taking his skills to the limit – the limit was that he killed a ruthless drug lord. The drug lord had friends and family and they have taken it upon themselves to hire a band of ruthless mercenaries led by Tom Cat (Scott Adkins). Tom Cat and his group are no pushovers and they manage to infiltrate and mow down a lot of soldiers during the training. The fact that they infiltrate during training excesses throws everyone for a loop.

Once things settle down we learn the real purpose of Tom Cat’s mission. Leng Fu must gather up his courage and abilities to rise against this outsider force before he ends up on the chopping block. Wolf Warrior started out great but then it nosedived into familiar clichés. The most obvious one is that of its pro-China propaganda. Granted, I see this in American films about pro-American propaganda, like in ALL of Michael Bay’s films (I’m not a Michael Bay fan), but it doesn’t work on his films and this doesn’t work in Wu Jing’s film. It beats you over the head repeatedly.

I will say that the action scenes and martial arts choreography are the best things the film has going for it. Wu Jing has some unbelievable speed and Scott Adkins had both speed and strength. These attributes are put to use throughout the film, as well. There’s also a scene towards the middle of the film that uses some rather odd CGI but due to it being pretty outrageous works for the best. It reminded me of The Grey. 

Again, the film is not that deep – it’s standard action fair and it’s the action that works overall. What don’t work are the scenes of obvious propaganda and some of the plot points. I will not say that Wolf Warrior is unmatchable, because it has some great action; it’s just not a very good movie in of itself. If you must watch the film then I would recommend a rental, because Scott Adkins and Wu Jing are great fighters.

Video 

Encoding: AVC/MPEG-4

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Clarity/Detail: Wolf Warrior on Blu-ray looks fantastic on Blu-ray. Contrast and sharpness levels are on point and I did not detect any instances of postproduction tweaking to liven the image up.

Depth: The film may not be in 3-D but this high definition transfer really leaps from the screen and through your home theater. The level of depth in the image, especially the scenes in the jungle, will blow you away.

Black Levels: There were several scenes that were shot at night – these scenes did not crush.

Color Reproduction: The color palette was outstanding and considering the film takes place mostly in the jungle those green levels really pop. It’s rich and vibrant.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones looked natural – no one looks liked they suffered an unfortunate sunburn or anything like that.

Noise/Artifacts: I did not notice any instances of dirt, debris, noise, or artifacts while watching the Blu-ray.

 

 

Audio 

Audio Format(s): Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1

Subtitles: English

Dynamics: Wolf Warrior sounds just as good as it looks. It’s an action movie, so expect a very dynamic soundtrack going in. It will give your home theater a great workout.

Low Frequency Extension: The LFE subwoofer channel was made for a movie like this. There is tons of heavy weaponry and machinery that the low-end bass levels lends itself to.

Surround Sound Presentation: The rear channels will brighten up your day with flying splinters, bullets, and even wolves. You’ll have to see the film in order to get that reference.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is clear and crisp.

 

 

 

Extras  

There are no extras included.

 

Summary 

The action is great but the simple storyline is overshadowed by blatant Chinese jingoism is beyond distracting and quite obvious. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great, though. Another dent to the overall score is that there are no special features included. Considering Wu Jing co-wrote, executive produced, produced, starred, and directed the film – some behind-the-scenes footage would have been nice. If you’re an action or martial arts fan then Wolf Warrior will satisfy but don’t expect anything more than basic thrills.

 

 

 

 

 

Wolf Warrior is released on Blu-ray & DVD September 1!

 

 

 

ORDER NOW!