One of the most anticipated martial arts action movies on the horizon, as far as Impact is concerned, is Wolf Warriors (previously known as Wolf War or Wolf), a modern day action thriller which sees Chinese Wushu maestro Wu Jing pulling double duty both in front and behind the camera as director and leading man, a Chinese special forces officer who must battle a blade kicking mercenary team lead by Britkicker Scott Adkins from the Undisputed & Ninja series.
Commander Leng Feng (Wu Jing) is a special forces officer often drawn into conflict with his superiors over his maverick behaviour. During an assault on a drug lord's hideout, Feng saves the day by disobeying a direct order and taking down the drug lord with an incredible kill shot. After serving time for disobeying orders and insubordination, Leng Feng's skills and bravery earns him a place in China's elite Wolf Warrior Squadron. Bonding with his men through rigorous training and drills, he finally finds a team he can call his own. But their final training exercise takes a turn for the worst when they are ambushed by a group of highly trained foreign mercenaries lead by Tom (Scott Adkins), who have sworn to avenge their former employers death by killing Leng Feng and his men. Battle lines are drawn and there will be no retreat, no surrender!
Wolf Warriors sees Wu Jing taking the reigns as both leading man and full director for the first time, he'd previously co-directed Legendary Assassin in which he starred alongside Celina Jade, with frequent collaborator former Jackie Chan Stunt-Team leader Nicky Li (Li Ching-chi) sharing directorial duties. While Nicky lends a hand with the action once more on this film, its Wu Jing's project all the way, he helped develop the storyline and screenplay for the movie and guided the film through every step of production, with Producer LV Jianmen of Chunqiu Time Films' support.
Wu is currently recovering from injuries suffered during the production of this film and SPL 2 as well as others through the course of his career (we're sure you join us all in wishing him well) and is getting full support from the Chinese army for this project, even though it could be counted as a controversial subject of foreign mercenaries operating within Chinese borders. We've long championed Wu Jing's career at Impact, since his debut in Yuen Woo-ping's Tai Chi 2/Tai Chi Boxer which also spawned a 40 episode TV series... through such projects as Drunken Monkey, SPL, Fatal Contact, Legendary Assassin, his cameo in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and much more. He's always been someone we feel should have broken out in a much bigger way, and here's hoping that this and SPL 2 with Tony Jaa will make that happen.
Playing Wu's nemesis in the movie is another of Impact's favourite action actors, Britikicker Scott Adkins who continues to build his name with starring roles. As well as the previously mentioned Undisputed and Ninja series, he's had bigger projects such as The Expendables 2 and this year's Legend of Hercules. Adkins made his action movie debut in Extreme Challenge and worked with Nicky Li on both The Accidental Spy and The Medallion with Jackie Chan. We're excited about seeing Adkins back in action with a Hong Kong fight team... and some of his tweets about the production certainly have us excited.
- Just kicked Wu Jing in the face! It's ok, he stamped in my head the other week.
- Working with Chinese/HK crew again makes me realise how much I still have to learn and what a work ethic Wu Jing an amazing martial artist!
- It was my pleasure working with Wu Jing on this - amazing man and martial artist.
Joining Wu and Adkins on the movie is a very impressive supporting cast that includes Yu Nan from The Expendables 2 and Speed Racer, Wing Tsun maestro Chris Collins from The White Storm, Parkour expert and stuntman Kyle Shapiro, Kevin Lee soon to be seen in both Dragon Blade with Jackie Chan and Pound of Flesh with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sona Eyambe from Zombie 108 and in an as yet undisclosed role, Vincent Zhao (Chiu man-cheuk) from True Legend and The Blade.
The film is scheduled for an Imax 3D release in China in early 2015, with an international release set to follow. (Anybody interested in the international rights should contact Master Meng Wang Intl Projects Manager at Chunqiu Time Films at [email protected]
Until then... here's an early trailer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0AxJSrk_wM
