Hollywood hears howls at the door as Chinese action flick ‘ Wolf Warrior II’ rakes in $ 650 million in a single market

If Hollywood hears a wolf at the door, it may well be Chinese director- producerstar turned wolfpack leader Wu Jing, whose recent effort, Wolf Warrior II, has gobbled up the competition to become a genuine cultural phenomenon, not only in China, but also in Hollywood.

After being shocked by the movie’s performance at the box office, raking in $ 650 million since July 28 in China alone, some critics, like Film Journal International, contend that it’s because “Wolf Warrior II is like a propaganda movie, with Leng even unfurling a Chinese flag at one point to assure safe passage through a war zone.” But other critics shrugged that off. “Like Sylvester Stallone before him, and John Wayne before Stallone, star Wu Jing has successfully exploited the crowd- pleasing potential of enhancing militaristic action- adventure heroics with a heavy dose of flag- waving patriotism,” Variety argued in a review Friday.

“The big difference here, of course, is that the flag waved by Wu and others in this shoot-’ em- up extravaganza is that of the People’s Republic of China, and Wu’s heroic Leng Feng is not a Green Beret, but rather a once and fu- ture member of his country’s elite Wolf Warriors special ops unit.”

US co- star, Frank Grillo, who compellingly plays the blood- thirsty mercenary antagonist, “Big Daddy,” rebutted it as well, “It’s Chinese nationalistic, not propaganda. It’s no more propaganda than Rambo.”

Grillo, best known for his portrayal of famed Marvel comic book character, “Crossbones” in Disney’s blockbuster Captain America franchise, sang Wu Jing’s praises in an interview with the Xinhua News Agency Thursday, “He’s a special man who’s got his finger on the pulse of what politically and emotionally charges his country.”

“I’ve got about 15 calls from Hollywood studio people, casting people and producers, asking, ‘ Can Wu Jing speak English?’” revealed Grillo. “Wu Jing can do anything. He’s breathing very thin air right now and is in a room with very few other people.”