In 2008, a combined task group of People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces and Chinese police raid a drug smuggling operation in an abandoned chemical facility in southern China. The leader of the smuggling operation, Wu Ji, holds one of his own men hostage while taking cover behind a section of the facility's reinforced wall. Leng Feng, a skilled PLA sniper, ignores orders to stand down and fires three shots at a weak section of the wall, penetrating through on the third shot and killing Wu Ji. Leng Feng is sent to solitary confinement as punishment, but is approached by Long Xiaoyun, the female commander of the legendary 'Wolf Warriors', an elite unit within the PLA tasked with simulating foreign tactics for the PLA to train against. Long Xiaoyun offers Leng Feng a place in the Wolf Warriors and he accepts, being airlifted to their training grounds the next day. The Wolf Warriors field leader lectures Leng Feng on the importance of teamwork to success. Meanwhile in southeast Asia, crime lord Min Deng is apprehended by authorities but rescued by group of foreign mercenaries led by ex-US Navy SEAL 'Tom Cat'. It is revealed that Min Deng is the older brother of Wu Ji, the drug smuggler slain by Leng Feng in 2008. Min Deng re-hires Tom Cat and his group to assassinate Leng Feng, but warns them not to underestimate the strength and resolve of the People's Liberation Army. The Wolf Warriors participate in a training exercise in a remote and uninhabited forested region on China's southern border. During the exercise, Tom Cat and his mercenaries ambush a Wolf Warrior squad, killing one of Leng Feng's comrades. Leng Feng and PLA helicopters pursue Tom Cat but he escapes, using graphite-powder weapons to deny airspace to PLA air support. Without quick-reaction air support to call on, PLA commanders cancel the training exercise and send a combined force of the Wolf Warriors and People's Liberation Army Special Operations Forces into the forest to apprehend Tom Cat and his mercenaries. While re-arming from helicopter-delivered supply drops, the Wolf Warriors are inspired by a speech from their commanders to defend the honour of China and avenge the death of their comrade. The combined infantry force move into the forest but are delayed by multiple traps set by Tom Cat and pinned down by sniper fire from Assassin, Tom Cat's elite marksman. Leng Feng and the other soldiers cut down a tree with sheer firepower to create cover and Leng Feng sprints into the forest alone to flank Assassin, dodging his fire and managing to engage and kill him at point-blank range. Meanwhile the rest of the PLA force engages Tom Cat's other mercenaries, who stage a fighting retreat but are eventually overwhelmed and killed one by one. At base, Long Xiaoyun and the other PLA commanders deduce that Ming Deng himself is also in the training area to take possession of a smuggled cache of biotechnology, which could allow the creation of a genetic weapon that could target Chinese people exclusively. Leng Feng again pursues Tom Cat through the forest, who delays him with multiple traps including a land mine, which Leng Feng triggers but escapes from by digging a pit under the mine and jumping away from the blast. He eventually catches Tom Cat just before the marker delineating China's southern border. Both fighters empty their weapons at each other before engaging in close-quarters combat. Leng Feng, wounded and exhausted from the previous fights, is nearly defeated, but manages to kill Tom Cat with his own knife after Tom Cat mocks Leng Feng's patriotism. Medical personnel from a PLA relief force arrive, but Leng Feng recognises the wrist tattoo of the medic that approaches him and realizes that they are Min Deng's men in PLA uniforms. He grabs a rifle and attacks them, eventually holding Min Deng himself at bayonet point on the very edge of the Chinese border. Min Deng's massive paramilitary force approaches from the other side of the border, but so do the rest of the Wolf Warriors and PLA soldiers. Min Deng's force retreats. After the action, Commander Long Xiaoyun agrees to accompany Leng Feng for a drink.
Cast
Wu Jing as Leng Feng, a marksman in the People's Liberation Army who was initially court martialled and reprimanded for failing to obey a direct order during an operation. He is later recruited into a Chinese Special Forces Unit called "War Wolf" after Long Xiaoyun takes an interest in him.
Yu Nan as Lieutenant Colonel Long Xiaoyun, Commander of the Chinese Special Forces Unit "War Wolf"
Ni Dahong as Ming Deng, a drug lord who hires a group of foreign mercenaries to avenge his brother's death at the hands of Leng Feng.
Scott Adkins as "Tom Cat," a former US Navy SEAL turned mercenary, who is hired by Meng Deng to kill Leng Feng with the aid of his sidekick, Crazy Bull.
Kevin Lee
Shi Zhaoqi
Zhou Xiaoou
Fang Zibin
Guo Guangping
Ru Ping
Hong Wei
Wang Sen
Zhuang Xiaolong
Production
The script went through 14 drafts over seven years. In order to portray more realistic combat scenes, the movie used five missiles, more than 30,000 rounds of ammunition, and a variety of Chinese active military aircraft, including the Chengdu J-10, Harbin Z-9, and CAIC Z-10. In one large battle scene, 32 active tanks appeared in the same shot, including a Type 96 tank. In order to prepare for the film, with the support of Chinese PLANanjing Military Region, Wu Jing trained for 18 months at a camp in Nanjing Military Region. On the first day of shooting, it was the hottest summer in Nanjing's history. The temperature was up to 49.8 °C, making 5 extra actors suffer from shock. Most of the film was made on location in Jiangsu province, at sites including Nanjing and Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.
Box office
As of 25 May 2015, it has earned US$89.11 million in China. In China, it opened on 2 April 2015, earning US$33.32 million in its 4-day opening weekend topping the Chinese box office. In its second weekend, it fell to number two, earning US$36.19 million.
