Chapo Trap House - 600 - We Fight for China (2/7/22)

Episode Date: February 8, 2022

We ring in our 600th episode by taking our movie reviews international. We watched Wolf Warrior (2015) and Wolf Warrior II (2017), two entries in the emerging genre of Chinese action blockbusters. What can these films tell us about the new Chinese century? Does belt and road translate to the cinema? Can Xi thought defeat the neoliberlized menace of CGI blood and lead to the return of true action filmmaking? Is it based to get silly with your homies? All these answers and more await you. Tickets going fast for our southern tour, get yours here: chapotraphouse.com/live

Brothers and sisters, Choppo is hitting the road soon. If you are hoping to see us in Charlotte and Nashville, too late, sold out. Get the tickets while they're hot if you are in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Austin, and New Orleans. Their tickets are going fast. So please go to ChoppoTrapHouse.com slash live and buy tickets to come see us to our tour of the south. Gentlemen, any further thoughts? If you miss this, because let's be honest, the south is 15 years behind everyone else. In 10 years, Choppo Mania is going to sweep the southern states.

Everyone's going to get really into Bernie Sanders. 12 years later, it's gritty time and you're going to hate us. But you have a two-year window where it's actually pretty sick to be into us. And you will have the cred. You will have been there early. Yeah, you were like, I was actually a day one listener like six years after they started. So do you want that or not? Do you want to, because I'm pretty much assuming every girl in the south still gets like Monrope heresings.

Do you want to impress those girls? This is the only way in like two years. So be there or go fuck yourself because we're never coming back to your fucking shithole. This is it. Fuck you. This is it. Because my whole plan is for this tour to end with us literally being chased out of New Orleans by an angry mob for doing too good an impression of their accent.

Yes. Yes. Yeah. There's going to be so angry at how uncannily accurate it is that they'll decide that I'm a witch and drive us out of town on a rail. If successful, the tour will end with a fan boat chase through the bayou. Yeah. Absolutely.

I want to be jumped by goons in Atlanta and I want them to strip me naked and then put on the incredibly tight jeans they wear in that city onto me. I think there are location specific punishments for all of us, just like Dante's Seven Layers of Hell. In Dallas, we will be renting an open top car. We will be renting an open top Lincoln Continental and driving through the streets of Dallas. I'll be checking out a movie at a certain theater in Dallas. I'd like to come arrest me.

Yeah. We're working on it. Yeah. We will see you there. We said we would never do it. This time, we mean it after we do it. This time, we're never doing it again ever until the next time we do it. Of course.

Yeah. Tickets available at choppotraphouse.com. It's your choppo coming to you Monday, February 7th, 2022. Friends, the world is a scary place. From time to time, we here at choppo must consider what the adversaries of America are up to. What are their intentions? How do they see themselves? How do they see the world?

How do they see America? Most importantly of all, what movies are they making? What are their movies like? How does their film culture portray this? You've got Russia, Vladimir Putin. He has his designs on the Ukraine. Or should I say Ukraine? And then President Xi.

He is looking at Taiwan and they are looking at America. Will we stop them? Will our movies be able to stand up to theirs? I don't know any Russian movies. Haven't seen a Russian movie and I can't even remember how long. I'm not even going to go there. So today, we will be talking about China. And in particular, the basically recruitment films for the People's Liberation Army,

Wolf Warrior I and Wolf Warrior II. If I can say one thing about these movies, it is simply this. Those who violate China will be punishable even if they are far away. Yeah, these are amazing. This is an amazing movie. And let me just tell you, I've seen Russian movies. I've seen both types of Russian movies. I've seen the kind they made during the Cold War,

a movie that's called The Skeleton Key. And it's five and a half hours long. And the Russians very foolishly thought that they could beat America culturally by making very emotionally raw, evocative, subtle, five hour long films. It was not the case. I've seen the Russian movies they've made after we turned them into Americans. And they literally the only genre of movie in Russia now is Independence Day. That's the only movie that they make.

Where everyone's a vampire for some reason. Yeah, they're invaded by aliens who are vampires, who are clearly a metaphor for avars. But Wolf Warrior shows the difference between Russia and China. It's sort of like Venom. China got bitten by the American symbiote. But they used it to their advantage to make what America used to make, which is an amazing mid-tier action movie.

And okay, here's the thing about Wolf Warrior 1 and 2. We sort of divided our labors here. We watched Wolf Warrior 1, Matt watched Wolf Warrior 2. So we have full spectrum Wolf Warrior coverage. And I guess to beginning with here, I will say, I mean, it's very chic to talk about how much money the CIA or the Pentagon spends on Marvel movies and what they get in return for it. Folks, I'm here to tell you that the People's Liberation Army,

whatever our government is spending on action movies, the People's Liberation Army is spending more. We cannot allow an action movie gap is what I'm saying here. Because citizens, the admonishments of Chairman Xi are gentle and fall like rain. But if you insult the People's Republic, the Wolf Warriors will be coming for you. Okay, so this is a series of action films directed by and starring the Chinese martial arts film acting extraordinaire Wu Jing. The first one was, I think it made $900 million at the International Box Office. And not only that, but the term Wolf Warrior has been officially adopted by the Chinese state

as a term to refer to what under President Xi is referred to as Wolf Warrior diplomacy. And when we get into Wolf Warrior 2, I think that's like specifically what they're referring to. But basically it means that like, you know, no more will China sort of like play rope-a-dope or kind of like hide its power or play a conservative sort of like, you know, a running game. Like no, they're going big, they're flexing their muscles on the world stage, and it is through movies, the greatest art form of all through which they will demonstrate not just military might, not just technological and economic power, but cultural power as seen in the perfect, tight 90 minute action movie.

That is, it is a mirror to something promised by Secretary Tony Blinken who outlined his plan in January of 2021 to initiate marriage story diplomacy. It's a lifestyle he is bringing to other nations. Alright, so just overall here, how would you describe the Wolf Warrior movies before we get into the plots of each of them? What do we make of their star, Wu Jing? And what do we make of like just sort of the style of film that the Chinese state is attempting here? Just tonally, the merger of like Chinese film vocabulary with as, yeah, Felix was saying,

the mid-budget action movie. The way it comes off, I could only describe it as like, if Michael Bay produced a Tommy Wiseau directed propaganda film for the Chinese military. Yeah, there are things in this movie that like, I sort of held off on criticism because I don't know how much of it is like weird screenwriting or like, yeah, a Wissowian touch and how much of that is like, oh, is that just like, is that like a joke about like Chinese bureaucracy? Is that just like, is this interaction like normal, you know?

Yeah, exactly. But like the thing that's nice about it is, instead of being like off-putting and taking you out, it doesn't matter because the meat of the movie is, you know, people being murdered with a minigun. And all the like, all the character moments, all the like, Japs and jokes are like so specific to Chinese culture that you cannot hope to understand them. Unless you're like a really weird American who, you know, reads about other countries. But like, yeah, yeah, there's like, there's a scene where after they deploy,

they're like, they're literally hopping. They're hopping like they're playing hopscotch. And they're like, if you want a woman like Long Zhiyong, who's their commander, you have to misbehave. Who can get a great woman like the Wolf Warriors? And I'm, you know, I'm like, is this a weird thing or is it normal to do this if you're in the Chinese military? I don't know, but I don't care because it's, I'm having a great time.

See, the Chinese military is still a generation behind our military when it comes to rival chance that you can sing with your friends. You know, I don't know, but I've been told Eskimo Pussy is mighty cold. In the Wolf Warrior Battalion, like the little jingles that they sing to amp themselves up are like, all Wolf Warriors want a good wife. You can achieve one with discipline. Yeah. I think, I think like if more Americans see this movie, which they will,

like because of us, they're going to, it's going to create a cascade effects. After a week of this episode being out, so many suffering girlfriends in America are going to have seen this movie. Believe you me. Maybe the last movie they see in the relationship, but they will see it. But, but like, I think, I think like what the, the thing where they do reballed chance that also, you know, at the same time, instead of being like, Oh, like full metal jacket.

Oh, I'm going to fuck a cow in the house. Oh, it's like, you know, I'm, I will develop my body and mind and be great to get a wife. I can see, you know, you see American kids doing that. Yeah. But okay, Felix, a week from now, you're right. Suffering girlfriends all over the country will be exposed to the Wolf Warrior movies, which means that their failed boyfriends will also be exposed to it.

But as a sort of aspirational masculine icon, the figure of the soldier Lang Lang, I believe his name is Lang Fang played by Wu Jin. It's sort of like, like similar to the Chinese kung fu movies, you know, like the Chinese hero like embodies like sort of Confucian virtues of like humility, honor, and fighting on behalf of others, you know, like there's no, they have to like defer, you know, kind of braggadocio and like it's about how, you know, helping others. And I think rather than the awful, the awful, the solely infected Marvel

superhero masculine icon of just like, you know, the quips and bands and sort of meta, meta kind of like a self-effacing, you know, ironic, emasculation, is that a word? I don't know. But yes, no, the Wolf Warrior is a simple man fighting for honor and who wants a girlfriend. He just wants a girlfriend. Yeah.

He will fight for China and to achieve a girlfriend. Who is his commanding officer? There is no soy in this movie, which is pretty interesting because I would say China probably has more hectares, however you say that word. Hectares. Hectares. Hectares. Hectares of soybean production in America.

You know, we're just like being, we're looking at the size of both places and like how important it is to the diet. But I mean, honestly, we're probably equal now. Who cares? I think we export soy to China actually at this point. They love it. They can't get enough of our soy. They're eating, it shows it's not the soy, it's like the mojo in

Austin Powers or the opposite of it. It doesn't matter whether you eat the soy or not. It matters like how much you internalize it because they're eating all our like Conagra soy, but look at their action stars. Their action stars are, dude, it's Wu Jing. It's the hero Lang Fang who is stoic. He's honorable. When he does that, when he disobeys...

He's a little bit silly. He's got a little bit of silliness. Okay. Okay. This is something that I now believe after you said this. Silliness is the antidote to soy. That's very true because the whole, the thing that makes soy so insufferable is its self-consciousness.

It's afraid to be anything. It's afraid to commit to anything. To everything. To be above everything. But being silly is a commitment that soy pussies will not make. It is the cringin-based dichotomy. Being soy is cringe. Being silly is based.

Silly. When you're soy, you never stop being soy. No matter if you're doing a podcast, you're doing like a true crime podcast or you think the election is going to be stolen or there's a fucking pandemic. You're still having this bullshit, annoying affect, this weird disconnect. If you're silly, it's like, okay, work is done for now. Time to play hopscotch and sing a revolt chant and make a joke about, you know, make fun of my friend.

And once silly time is over, that's when we resume our mission. And think about who's silly. Shamar Moore. Leng Feng. That's it. But are these guys soy? No. Here's an example from the film itself.

Our hero will, you know, seamlessly transition from being agonized over having to potentially shoot his commanding officer in the head at his request to stop other soldiers from getting hit by a sniper. And then he'll just stick his tongue out to his friends and they'll be like, ha, ha, ha. Yeah. Soy is insecurity. Soy is you can never commit to anything because you're afraid of being made fun

of. Silliness is like, maybe you're going to laugh at me and think I'm a frivolous person, but I know that's okay because I'm the one soldier in the entire PLA who can wall bang people. All right. So, okay, so let's go into the Wolf Warrior one. So, okay, like the film begins with a kind of like commando raid on a drug lab that goes bad, you know, like shit's blowing up and like our hero is in like

Overwatch. He's a sniper. He's an expert marksman. And like it goes bad and like the head of the drug lab like takes a hostage and he's hiding behind this like very thick concrete wall. And Wolf Warrior is like, you know, in the headset, like he's not authorized to take the shot because it's like a former chemical factory and the concrete is simply like too, it's too thick.

It's industrial chemical factory style concrete that you can't shoot through. So, he's not authorized to take the shot, but like, you know, his comrades are in danger. So, what does he do? He fucking, he takes the shot not once, not twice, but three times in the exact same space in the ultra reinforced concrete, weakening it each time. He puts the same bullet in the same spot each time. And on the third try, it goes straight through the dude's head.

Hostage saved, but he, his career in the army is over because he disobeyed a direct order to save. It's to save his comrades. And you know, like, you know, action movie trope, even in China, there is a stupid chief. It's like, God damn it, Lang Thang. We told you not to take the shot. And he was just like, it is an honor to do my duty and serve the People's Republic.

Yeah. And they're like, why did you take the shot? Were you thinking of killing someone? And he was like, no, I was thinking only of saving the lives of my comrades. It is an honor to do my duty. Yeah. No, he's not like, it's not like an American sort of cool anti-hero where it's like, you fuck you, fuck you.

You'd want those hostages to die. You know, like dirty hairy. He's like, I eagerly accept my punishment. He's awesome. I also like, I like how the, the stupid CEO, the stupid, yeah, the stupid, the equivalent of the stupid chief in this movie is like, oh, this is level nine industrial concrete that was first invented in a laboratory in Guangzhou in 2014.

It cannot withstand, it can withstand the bullets of 7.62. Well, you know, show me the equivalent American. The equivalent American is like already crashing an A-10 warthog into that building. And being like, the terroristic individuals killed the hostages before we crashed the plane. All right. So, so like, okay, then it's like the guy, like the, the, the huge, the drug lord who's like in Southeast Asia, who's like, you know, in control of the drug lab

or whatever. There's like a command, there's like a SWAT team raid on his, on his place. And he's just kind of like calmly smoking a cigar, doing Chinese brush painting. And you think he's getting arrested. But no, like he is, like, just as he's being arrested is like broken out, saved by a team of all Caucasian mercenaries who slaughter, slaughter the SWAT team and free him. And they are led by the God.

And we can, we can actually like make a slight digression about the insisting career of Scott Adkins, the God of direct-to-video movies, Scott Acton's, Scott Adkins, one of like the best martial artists like working in film is, is, he's the leader of the, like the, the elite mercenary unit that is paid by this drug lord to like free him from jail. But ah, not just that. His brother was the head of the drug lab, the guy who was shot through concrete. That was his younger brother.

And he's putting a hit out on the Wolf Warrior. So they really go through pains to show that the, the bad guys in this movie are essentially like the guys who founded Black Rifle Coffee. Yes, exactly. They are all like Oakley wearing shitheads and like, and then like made up of the, the, like the best of the best of like all of the, all of their foreign country is like special forces. And the Adkins character is, they make clear to, they make, they go to pains to

say that he is a former Navy SEAL. I really appreciated the portrayal of the operators in this movie. You know, because they are portrayed as basically like frat boys, like drunken frat boys. Whereas the, the PLA guys, as we said, are like good earnest, like school kids, basically. But, but like, it doesn't quite get into the cartoonish level, but it feels very accurate from the perspective of a Chinese national, you know, absolutely.

They're very, they're very good at going up against that line where it would be like their cartoon, like that Turkish movie Valley of the Wolves. Oh God, yeah. We said we're going to watch for like seven years. All the soldiers in that look like WWE wrestlers. Yeah. Literally all the soldiers in Valley of the Wolves are like, like even when their lines aren't dubbed, they sound dubbed and they're just like, they're just skulking around being

like, time to rape more infants for Jews. It's like, okay guys, I know you don't like NATO, but like maybe, maybe this, this could have used some table reads and rewrites, but, but the characters in this movie, yeah, they seem very realistic to the seals that we know and love, the ones that we profiled. The Eddie Gallagher's of the world. They're very, very Eddie Gallagher. And yeah, as, as Chris said, our heroes, it's like they would never do it. Like they will, they will happily like sacrifice their life for the greater good, yet they

love having silly fun with their friends. They're not harming anyone. Except for brought in people. The Eddie Gallagher comparison is actually more in line with the portrayal of American soldiers in Valley of the Wolves than this movie. Cause like, you know, these guys are hard and killers and bad asses, but like they're essentially, they are professionals. Whereas Eddie Gallagher was just a serial killer.

Yeah. Yeah. They are, they're portrayed as worthy adversaries. Yeah. It is a kind of fine subtle line that I was surprised at while they pulled off. And also like the Scott Adkins character, he goes by the code name Tomcat. Go name Tomcat is the best mercenary in the world. And like, you know, like when they're doing their mission against the wolf warrior unit,

like he, like he tells his guys, he's like, don't underestimate them. Like, you know, like, you know, like until you're up against them, like you can't disrespect them or whatever. So like there's mutual respect here. And I would also like to point out the scene that where I knew I was in for a fun time watching this movie is that like after, after the mercenaries have like freed the drug lord, there's like one shinies cop that's still breathing. And the drug lord takes a mini gun and unloads it into his chest on the ground.

So like classic 80s action movie bad guy style shit. Meanwhile, they do a really stylistic, like almost a fuck. What's that? Oh yeah. You know that movie kick ass? It's sort of like, it very reminds me of something from kick ass or shoot him up. One of those like very self aware, like silly action films that are pretty fun. They have it so that while the mercenaries are midi gunning the shit out of the SWAT team

and people bodies are flying and cars are exploding. The guy never moves the drug lord. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, yeah, it's another thing this movie does where it's on the verge of being cartoonish, but it's like, this is actually cool. The drone shot you got for this is awesome. The guy is like a pretty good convincing triad leader. I do.

I like how what he talks about his brother, he's like, he was always so eager to prove that he was a man, but I always knew he was going to get wall banked. It was just the type of guy he was. Okay, so we were introduced to the bad guys, but like meanwhile, our hero is he's in, he's serving his set, he's in military confinement, like a waiting, you know, dishonorable discharge from the PLA, but then he is visited in his cell by like, you know, like a sexy lady who's a, you know, an officer in the PLA and she is there to recruit him into the elite wolf unit of like the Chinese special forces.

And the way she sort of like interviews him for this job is sort of like, she's like, you know, we're selecting you because you disobeyed orders and there's like a 50% chance you can be a wolf warrior or a 50% chance. It's like a coin flip, whether you're going to get drummed out of the military or you're exactly the guy we're looking for. So here's the test and she breaks out a bottle of like that, like a high test, like sorghum liquor that Peng's eye drinks and makes him chug it. Like he has to do the tornado to get like, like invited to join the wolf warriors.

She like, she gets him drunk and then asks him about his childhood, essentially. This movie's relationship to drinking is very funny and interesting. I also really appreciate that he is just pouring sweat in this scene, just like absolutely sheets coming off of him. He is he is a very wet the entire movie. The liquor thing. I had to rewind this scene because it's the presentation of liquor was so unfamiliar to me.

It looked like it was like a container of acrylic paint and I was like, is that what she's having? I mean, I don't know, but yeah, no, it is it is a very utilitarian bottle of liquor. But yeah, he turns up. So yeah, he has to do the peng's eye drinking challenge to join the wolf warriors. Yes, but he does. And they're like, we're only looking for tough guys and you're a tough guy. And then they like, and one of my favorite scenes of the movie, they're like, OK, let's

see how tough you are. And they just like strap him to a helicopter by like, you know, like a rope and then just the helicopter takes off and they just like carry him to the wolf warrior unit. And I was like, this actually looks really fun. This doesn't seem like that much of a test of endurance because he's like running and doing the running man. He's doing the running man. And I was like, looks really fun.

So then they drop him off in the wolf warrior unit and he's like all alone. But then he realizes like they're all around. They drive like 15 tanks up to him and then like all the frog men come out of the swamp and they're like, they're like, you think you're tough enough to be a wolf warrior? We don't like you. Like you allowed us to like, you know, approach your position and you're a sniper and he's like, sir, like I am a sniper. And if I was in this position to begin with, it means that you have betrayed your country

and army. And then they're like, ah, good answer. It's so it's so sick because it shows like that being a being a it's like the five pillars of hip hop to be a wolf warrior. You need, you know, physical fortitude, mental fortitude, ready to drink the turpentine liquor. You're, you're silly. But then the fifth thing is like logic. It's like using your brain and he destroys them in this debate.

And like, I do like that. Like when they said like the wolf warrior, like rallying cry is we're the fucking best. Be humble. And like, I like that dichotomy there because it's like, this is what would be missing from like an American action movie. And they even go into this spiel about how like wolves are social animals. There are no lone wolves. There is only the team, you know, and like, and I just like to do like the lone wolf is

like the, that is the American archetype for like an action movie anti-hero. And in this, like the, the concept of the wolves is like, no, it's the wolf pack. It's the wolf team. Even just like the sheer numbers, like if this was an American movie, you would maybe have like a core group of like five guys who would be characters and that's like the unit. There are always like 60 wolf warriors around. There's a bunch of them at all points. And I think this is legitimately like very good propaganda filmmaking because every time

we see Scott Atkins in the mercenaries, it's always like, he's usually the only one talking. Everyone's subservient to him because he has to know he's better than everyone. But with the wolf warriors, it's an ensemble. And with all their, there are multiple scenes of like silliness, you know, sandwich between like scenes of cool fights, including the one I thought egregious use of CGI in the movie. I was expecting them to use real animals in this one scene we're going to bring up. But they, you know, obviously our hero is Ling Feng, but he's, you're never like, oh, he's better than all of them. Like, no, they're only as strong as their bonds.

And the star of the movie truly is the wolf warriors. It's beautiful. So like the plot of the movie begins pretty fast because like this is the movie. This is the part of the movie where I was like most confused by is because like there's no like, oh, like how is he going to like fit into his new unit or whatever. It's just like transitions immediately to a war game that the wolf unit is doing against like another, you know, battalion of like the PLA or whatever. And like I was just sort of a little bit confused by that part. It took me a second to like realize what was going on. And like he's going up against his former unit and like, you know, he saves them from an ambush and he like, you know, he tags his former commanding officer in the war game. He like takes him out with his sniper rifle and they're like, damn, you really are tough.

Like if I was your former commanding officer, I'd kill you. But then it gets, it gets pretty real because then like the mercenaries find them like in, you know, in the, in the remote, you know, near the border of China, like in the forest. And like they start using real ammo and they kill one of the, one of the wolf comrades. And I knew this guy was not long for the world because in one of the silly moments, he shows his friends like the photo of his infant daughter and his helmet. And I was like, okay, that guy's getting tagged real quick. I mean, you get, if you're in a war movie and you start showing pictures of your best girl or your kids back home, you're going home in a body bag pretty soon. Yeah. Oh yeah. And then the scene that Felix alluded to, at one point when they're like out in the middle of the night alone.

They're attacked by an actual pack of wolves. And like in the one like very creaky instance of this movie, a very bad CGI graphics. But once again, it was surprising because I was like, oh, they're the wolf unit. The wolves will be their friends and they'll bond with the wolves. But it's like, no, they're just like, fix bayonets and they just like got five guys just like do hand to hand combat with like 30 CGI wolves and kill all of them. Yeah. Like I was kind of hoping that it would be real animals, you know. No, yeah.

I mean, we're not saying we really wanted them to kill wolves or that we wanted the amazing actors in this film to be endangered. But, you know, they used real missiles. That was one of the things that I heard about this movie before that they used actual missiles, like actual seven figure missiles and, you know, set them off. But the Chinese military hardware on display and this is quite entertaining. Yeah, especially when is the last time you guys saw an actual tank in a movie? There are 20 of them in this movie. Yes. You know, like America, we're done with tanks.

China, they're still they're just getting started with tanks. The stuff they do to tanks in this movie and how much they use, they made me realize how much I wanted this thing. I never knew I wanted the Chinese because this could never be made in America. Even if you've made this in America with like not awful politics, it wouldn't be. They wouldn't do it a cool way. It would be all CGI and no, no way. A Chinese movie about a Hezbollah unit blowing up Mercavas in the like that would be Israel versus Lebanon 15 years ago. That would be so fucking good to done in this style because, you know, they would build replica Mercavas and really blow them up.

And the Mercava was the tank that they thought it was like we could never be penetrated by like an explosive device or something like that. And I think like the first one that crossed the border like jumped 15 feet in the air. Yeah. Hezbollah turned those fucking tanks into air fryers. So, so like it's no longer a war game. It's actually war because, you know, the borders of the motherland of China have been, you know, transgressed by foreign mercenaries who have killed the Chinese soldier. And then they like airdrop them all their real live ammo. And they're like there's a scene where they just tool up and like there's a moment where they they remove the wolf warrior unit patch from their their uniform because they're like when it is no longer about what unit we're in. And they all all of them throw on just a patch that says I fight for China in English.

It's the Chinese flag and it says I fight for China. And then they like they just like they just run out and they're like they're they're they're tracking these mercenaries who are going to try to cross the border and they're going to get them before they cross the border. I like the idea that PLA soldiers are assigned special badges for when shit gets real. It's like, you know, take off your normal badge and put this on if you if you really mean it. And they absolutely do. You know, like the most of the second half of this movie is just like just like they're running through the woods shooting at each other and like, you know, getting fucked up by landmines and like a lot of the Chinese soldiers die like a lot of them die. And there's a scene where they get pinned down by a sniper that I talked about earlier and it's like they're sort of a flashback to Ling Feng's father, who was also in the Chinese military. And he found himself in a situation like the classic the classic full metal jacket like sniper set up where like there's a sniper and they just keep injuring people.

And then one after the other like your friends try to like pop up and drag you out or, you know, save your life and then one by one they all get taken out. And like Ling Feng's father is like the last one alive and his commanding officer is like, please, brother, do me a favor and make it quick. And he has to like cry as he like just like kills his friend just to like, you know, stop his suffering and like end, you know, and end more soldiers dying to try to save him. Yeah, yeah, this is after in the first like quarter of the movie, a pretty cute Ling Feng flashback scene where he's he's sort of like doing career day at school. And he remember that where he missed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like all the kids at school think his dad like left his family to fuck some woman and he goes to like just beats the shit out of the other kid. They don't show him beating up the other kids. I want to be clear, but it's implied. The last half of this movie is basically predator. If the predator was black route rifle coffee guys.

Yeah, absolutely. And like there's a moment where like, you know, Ling Feng like faces the same horrible dilemma that his father did where like his commanding officer is literally giving him an order to just blow just shoot him in the head to like so that like other individuals will stop disobeying orders and just like, you know, popping up to get shot immediately. But then like, you know, he's inspired in the moment and like he realizes that if they all shoot the same tree, they just cut it down and like falls in front of him and falls to sort of like, you know, crawl up on his stomach, grab the guy, save him from the sniper, even though, and then he's like, you can you can put me in confinement when we get back, you know, he disobeys orders again. But you know, it's sort of like, it's his, it's his, it's his braveness and his willingness to disobey orders that is both, you know, it's like, it's not celebrated, but it's also what makes him such a special wolf warrior. There's like, there's another moment where like the Gatling gun guy is like this huge, you know, huge Western Caucasian man. And there's a there's a classic moment of like little guy fighting a big guy tactics that I enjoyed, because like they take him down. That was cool. And then throughout the whole thing, it's just like the sexy commanding officer, like Leng Feng when he like steps on the landmine and has to diffuse it. All he wants to know about is like, do you have a boyfriend. And there's this whole scene where they're in like the command center and there's like 15 like plasma TVs and like 20 people with headsets looking at satellite images. And he's like, Commander Long, I need to know, do you have a boyfriend and everyone's just waiting for her response. And then she's like, the general is like, Commander Long, you're he's awaiting your response.

Yeah, that's another example of a charming scene. Yeah, that's silly. And like, think about the equivalent, think about the equivalent in a Western Western equivalent. How did you know how does that go? It's probably like, he's rescuing her. And he's like, so is there a mister, mister commanding officer. And they have a repulsive relationship. And then the next movie is all about their trauma. This, it's all it's all about silly fun. Just join the PLA and have silly fun with your homies. Like that is that is that is the main message of this movie. It's like, then there's another thing interesting tick. This movie was made in 2015. There's some like, just like throwaway plotline that the bad guy, the main drug lord is working with the bio pharmaceutical sector in viral research. Yeah, it's like the bad guy is working with the Wuhan virology lab. Think like a genetic virus or something. Viruses show up in the second one too. It's like they were kind of trying to tell us something.

Babe Ruth calling the shot. And then it just like, like, like it's basically Wolf Warrior is chasing Scott Atkins. And it's just basically the two of them are left and it just he's literally just running and just like they're just like it's a foot race to the Chinese border. And there's a great moment earlier in the movie where the Chinese general says, like he was like, this is a this is an ugly unremembered place. But the border of China is the most beautiful place to a soldier. It is what we must fight and die for. Fight and die to preserve. And then just like that, there is a there is a final fight between Wu Jin and Scott Atkins. And I just got to say, Scott Atkins is is so goaded.

I know we've talked about Avengement on the show before we all we all love when we saw Avengement. Was it Avengement or Revengement? Avengement, Revengement. I don't know. There's a lot. There's a lot of Avenging and Revenge going on in that movie. And then of course, it was Avengement. It was amazing. We were talking about this when we started recording, but it's the Scott Atkins career. It's very interesting to be like the Tom Cruise of direct to DVD movies, like being the absolute pinnacle of success, but still not quite ever able to break into actual Hollywood. But he's he is a legend. He's a champion, you know, the universal soldier franchise. Of course, with those movies. Like, I mean, insane.

And then also like Atkins is like he he he he see this is the thing like he possesses something and he's probably not used in Hollywood because like what he possesses is our virtues that are like going unused. Actual martial arts skills, actual stuntman skills. Yeah, like he does the stunts, the fighting and like he's he's a good actor and like he conceivably like carries himself both in his physical skills and performance as like a legitimate badass and tough. If I was Scott Atkins, I would be so honored to get the call from Wu Jing being like we need you to be the manifestation of Western of like Western evil badassery in our Chinese army movie. Think about every villain in any type of American action film, if you can call them that, you know, since the marvelization of American culture. Every villain has been written by an AI to produce the maximum amount of slash fan fiction. How badass they are, how cool they are, how interesting they are, it's all secondary because they're using techniques from Operation Freakout to convince American teenagers to write gay fan fiction about them. Nothing else matters.

We would, Scott Atkins, he's better than that. And you know, you can, if you want, look, if you just want to do that, if you want to write slash fiction, we're laying thing and Tomcat, those two characters, fuck, that's, you know, knock yourself out, but you shouldn't be convinced to do it by mind control put forth by Disney. And another thing I love about the Tomcat character is despite the pains they go to elucidate that he is a former US Navy SEAL, the times he speaks in the movie, he's like, all right, listen, you cunts, I'm gonna tell you one thing about these PLA, I'm gonna tell you one thing about these PLA chaps, they ain't no fucking picnic. All right, listen, you cunts, listen, you fucking cunt, I'm a former US Navy SEAL, I've got the Medal of Honor, it's up the apples and pears, ain't it? You cunts don't want to be caught and put into one of the black catacombs. Tell you, tell you, tell you Jesus right now, the way that they're doing it, the way that personal and community development happens in China is really something spectacular. Guangzhou steel and iron ore corporation has already beaten expectations for financial years 2022. You fucking lot think you can go up against that. That's not that far off the actual dialogue. In the final showdown between Wolf Warrior and Tomcat, they have a very cool hand-to-hand combat, knife fighting, extremely sick, and of course it looks like Tomcat has defeated Wolf Warrior and he's like prone and he's kicking him and he's mocking him and there's a scene where he's like, he rips the iFight for China patch off of the Wolf Warrior's uniform and he goes, he's like, you know, you call this the red zone for mercenaries, you're nothing but a bunch of boy scouts.

And he goes, you fight for this, it makes no difference, it means nothing, it means bloody nothing, well I fight for money, I fight for money. And he has this big ass fucking Bowie knife to the throat of Wolf Warrior and you think it's all over. And then I swear, I've never seen this in an action movie but it was fucking sick. Wolf Warrior grabs his hand and cuts into his throat just a little bit but just enough to direct the knife just behind him into Scott Adkins throat and just drives it in. So he cuts his own throat a little bit to just jam that gigantic knife into Scott Adkins throat. And once again, I see like there's a little bit of ideology at play here because Wolf Warrior uses like a small curved blade to fight, very cool. And like he flips it around at one point and like slices his wrist, awesome. But like the big American like gigantic like K-bar knife, its giant size is ultimately what dooms Scott Adkins because the knife is just too big and there's just too much of it and just a little bit more force, it goes straight into his throat.

Very cool. And the American would never think to take like sacrifice a little bit to achieve his objective. Yes. Yeah, Wolf Warrior I think what he has could be classified as a karambit. I actually I have the same knife that Scott Adkins has in this movie. I use it to open packages. I literally hold on. I'm going to go get it.

Make this the episode and me and Wolf Warrior side by side with our knives. And then Wolf Warrior wins the day and then gets to go. Oh hell yeah. Look at that knife. Oh my God. There we go. There we go. Do you think you could just use scissors when you're opening a probably fake barber coat from eBay and got for $150?

No. You see the same shit that Scott Adkins used. Yeah, no. Very, very sick. The only thing I've seen something like this though that's sort of going through yourself is I don't think it's in the movie, but it's in the comic book of Sin City. Hardigan does something like this. Well, I mean, they are borrowing. They're surely borrowing from the West, you know, in the action movie format.

And then, you know, like there's some, you know, the bad guy drug lord is trying to seek across the border disguised as like, you know, a Medevac unit or whatever. But, you know, that shit doesn't work. Wolf Warrior gets him. And, you know, it ends with the general says those who challenge China's resolve will have no safe place. And, you know, then Wolf Warrior gets to be silly with his new girlfriend. It's all good. And then I will say, I was very, very impressed to see my favorite thing in like in any Chinese action movie, every Jackie Chan movie used to do this over the end credits to like a banging ass song. They show the outtakes from all the stunts and people being silly on the side of the movie.

Outtakes, bloopers, like them fucking up their stunts. It's great. Flubbing their lines, getting hurt. It's all great fun, you know. So, yeah, that's Wolf Warrior one, but apparently Wolf Warrior two, the follow up is even more was even more I guess in the Western press, more controversial because of how explicitly it makes America the bad guy, and how even more sort of jingoistic and nationalistic it was. So, so Matt, what do you remember from Wolf Warrior two like what's what's the general plot. Before I begin, I have a statement to read.

Dear Eternal President Xi. From afar, I have greatly admired your stewardship of the Chinese Communist Party. It is clear by now that socialism with Chinese characteristics offers the only viable global alternative to terminally declining US dollar hegemony. The comprehensive deepening of reform at home coupled with the visionary Belt and Road Initiative abroad are offering a stable basis for the development of a worldwide alliance of progressive national elements towards the long term goal of overthrowing Anglo American finance capital and establishing global communism. However, there is one issue with your leadership that sadly prevents me from offering my official endorsement of Xi Jinping thought. A black mark on your record that has become increasingly difficult to ignore the presence of CGI blood and muscle flashes in Chinese action blockbusters such as Wolf Warrior two. If the 1980s action films of your regime are going to insist on using the contemporary Washington consensus approach to action special effects, sacrificing verisimilitude and awesomeness on an altar of grim budgetary efficiency, perhaps party led development really is functionally identical to neoliberal capitalism. As such, I am here by calling for the US to renew its commitment to defending the sovereignty of Taiwan, supporting the struggle of freedom fighters in Hong Kong and calling on our State Department to increase diplomatic pressure to force regime change for to punish the continued persecution of the

Uighurs, whatever they're called anyway. I knew it. I knew it was coming. Yes. Yes. Sadly, Wolf Warrior one and two does use CGI bullet hits. I don't know what I'm watching. Why I'm watching this. I'm sorry. Yes, it has all the beats of the classic 80s action films that we all loved and grew up with and that Hollywood does not make anymore. But it's video game garbage. There's no immersion. There's not. There's no kineticism. They do use like real tanks sometimes and some of the car crashes and stuff are OK. But every time anybody gets shot, which in Wolf Warrior two is a ton. It's just this totally cafe breaking eruption of digitized viscera. And it just takes me out of it. And it just makes me think there is no hope that that China cannot stand up to American hegemony because everybody at the end of the day is not going to be able to argue with the budgetary rationale of not using real squibs and blanks. And it just makes me very it makes me despair for the future. That's for sure. Do you think that if the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia still existed and let's say Tito is an immortal being, which maybe he was. Maybe he's going to be back. He's occluded, I think. Yeah, he's included Tito. Yeah, everyone. Big things coming. He's coming back. But do you think that would be the one country that would still make movies with squibs? I do believe I believe in him. I believe that the eternal Tito and his model for socialism would have would have given workplace power and workplace power would have meant, hey, let's keep the guy on set to put the fucking squibs on the guy.

And turning it over to Fiverr to do a bunch of fucking pixel bullshit. If there's one place in the world where squibs still existed is Eastern Europe. Oh, my God. Yeah. No. Oh, I mean, now his arm gets blown off big deal. I mean, like a giant Flintstones chewables container of oxys and he's fine. But Matt, I mean, like, isn't it all the more depressing, like the budgetary restrictions? Because does it Wolf Warrior to end with like an actual bombardment by the Chinese Navy of like a fucking like they actually blew up like with fucking like battleship guns, like an action. Yeah, they show it's like a mixture of CGI and an actual footage of rockets being launched off of the Chinese naval vessel. Yeah. And then some tanks. I mean, like it just it is depressive because Wolf Warrior one, there are probably 20 tanks, 15 jeeps and like nearly 30 helicopters of every variety attack and transport utilized in the filming of this movie. So I mean, it's you're right, it is depressing that the bullet hits are still CGI. I'm telling you, man, if they were if they were using squibs in these movies, I would I would be selling my services to such as they are. Hell, I'd be I would go be I would let them send me down to the countryside. I would harvest millet.

So if I got to see action movies with fucking squibs on a consistent basis, but instead I have to rot here in America because there's there's no hope anywhere in the world. Can you guys close yours for a second just for no reason? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. President Xi, I know that we are not yet at the stage of socialism yet where we can use squibs. I know that like that there has to be more development. I don't really know where I know that from. I just know what I feel it. I feel in my heart. I know there's more stuff you have to do. I'm not like I'm not a Monday morning quarterback. I don't do periodical politics. I know you're the man in the arena. I know that eventually we are going to get to the point where we see squibs. I will sell all three of these fucking losers out. I will go there. I will I will I'm offering my services. No one no one in your entire God bless you. You guys are doing amazing. No one in your entire country has Jewish movie magic secrets and the secrets of TV. It is the one thing you don't have. I can offer it. I can offer it. I could in the next century, you're going to have to compete with Ken Olin. I do not want you to fall to him. I'm offering my services.

All I ask for is $10 million a year for the rest of my life forever. Thank you. And I want to be on Chinese Raya. But Wolf Warrior 2 takes place in Africa. In Africa, yes. That is really the battleground for the new Cold War between our two great powers. What is the general plot of Wolf Warrior 2? So it starts off with a very cool action scene where the Wolf Warrior fights a bunch of Somali pirates off the coast off of a, I think oil tanker underwater with using martial arts to defeat them. It's pretty cool. And then you get the credit sequence and then it's Wolf Warrior's family or I think the, no, the family of Wolf Warriors. I think the girlfriend from the first one gets killed. Oh no. At some point. Manderlong? No.

And like he's back to like bring her like, like her ashes or something and her family or it's his family is fighting off real estate developers who are trying to bulldoze their home, which is that's a significant phenomenon in China in the last 20 years. And interesting to see them frankly showing like, yeah, there are unscrupulous real estate developers in China who are knocking over people's homes and they show the guy and he's like a classic stereotyped bad capitalist. And there's all these cops there to enforce the demolition and the the evil real estate guy gets in Wolf Warrior's face and he just kicks him like 15 feet into a car and goes to jail. And then in jail, he gets out of jail and then he just he goes to Africa to like wander sort of like like a Rambo deal like he's he's left the country that has spurned him and now he's going to he's going to wander the world. And he works as a mercenary for the freighter for a freighter that delivers supplies to Africa that's where he fights off the Somali pirates. And the whole time he's been there for three years now, as a mercenary in China, he's carry around on his neck, a bullet he found, which he believes is what killed his his girlfriend. And he's in China, he's in Africa. He's at like a port. He's with his buddies. He's partying. You find out that there's a mysterious virus sweeping through the country, killing people called the Lamala, LeMann virus. And at the same time, there's a rebel army that's coming to try to overthrow the government. And while they're hanging out, the rebel army shows up starts massacring everybody with terrible bullshit CGI.

And it's eventually Wolf Warrior and some other Chinese nationals are like hemmed in by this army of rebels who are going to kill them. And then the Chinese like console shows up and it's like, No, these people are Chinese. You don't get to kill them. The Africans go nuts, but you can't kill the Chinese. And so they get rescued. But then they find out that there's a factory with a where they're making a cure for this virus that's killing everybody. And that this doctor is there. And he goes to rescue him. And the whole time he's fighting these these blackwater type guys led by an American this time Frank Grillo, who works for a mercenary outfit called like, I think it's called Dion Corp, which is close to the actual Dina Corp. And he's working with the rebels. And there's a bunch of stuff that happens. He rescues a little girl who is like the test subject who has the antidote to the virus. He gets infected with the virus. He gets cured. There's a lot more plot in Wolf Warrior two than in Wolf Warrior one. Yeah, there's a lot. It's it's he's running around at one point he has to confront like the rich army fanatic kid of a factory owner, which is another sort of Frank depiction of an unwelcome development in Chinese society, which are like the spoiled kids of the new rich. And it all ends with him having a confrontation with Frank Grillo, whose character's name is Big Daddy.

And wait, wait, hold on a second. Tomcat and Big Daddy, are we sure they're not encouraging slash fiction in their religious portrayals? I don't know about this. And Grillo also has like he has he has Giles haircut from Street Fighter, but black. I mean, I watched the trailer for Wolf Warrior two. And it was very funny because like when they're doing like like the rundown of who's in the movie, and they show the Big Daddy character, it says Frank Grillo, and they're right underneath it, Captain America. You can see Wolf Warrior beat the shit out of Big Daddy, Captain America. Yeah, because he was just in the movie, Captain America, but not, in fact, Captain America. But I would imagine the choice to cast Grillo was not accidental. So at one point, Big Daddy shoots the Wolf Warrior and the bullet hits his magazine, he's got stuffed in front of his shirt. So it sticks in, it doesn't kill him. And when he reaches and pulls it out and looks at it, it matches the bullet that he's been wearing around his neck. Yo, Big Daddy is the one who killed his girlfriend. And so this makes it personal.

And so there's a big long fight. It's very bloody. And he eventually just stabs Frank Grillo's brains out and just smashes his skull. Very cathartic. Oh, right beforehand, while they're like right next to each other and Grillo's got his knife inch from Wolf Warrior's face, he says something like, you people have to realize that you will always be defeated by people like me. And then of course, it's like, no bitch, guess what? It's Chinese century, and you're dead now. And yeah, the mercenary army is wiped out by a volley of missiles from a Chinese naval ship. And at the very end of the film, the Wolf Warrior, who has gathered all these survivors, African and Chinese in this factory, holds up the Chinese flag to like the rescue battalions before they come and get them. And at the very end of the movie, there's a shot of a Chinese passport. And it's just filling the whole screen. And it says, citizens of the People's Republic of China, when you encounter danger on a foreign land, do not give up. Please remember, at your back stands a strong motherland.

Oh my God. It's so tight. This movie is ostensibly about like Belt and Road stuff and like the Chinese development agenda budding up against America. But it's really for Chinese nationals who are the ones who are building all this shit, you know, in all these places in Africa and in Central Asia where they're doing Belt and Road development, to tell them, don't worry about it. If you get kidnapped, we will rescue you. God, does the US passport have anything that bad ass in the fine print? No. And I will say, so like he's not in the army here, so it doesn't really show the other Wolf Warriors. This one really is more like a classic American thing where he is on his own. Yeah, because it's personal. Like, some guy killed his girlfriend and it's like he's sort of like, yeah, he's a man apart from his country. He feels alienated by it. Yeah. And it shows how the best propaganda is stuff that is willing to let some like uncomfortable truths through because this movie like it acknowledges rapacious real estate developers and corruption in China. It acknowledges sort of xenophobia and parochial attitudes among Chinese in Africa because there's like the part where the guy goes, the Chinese, they come with us, the rest of them we don't care about.

And you know, Wolf Warrior gets sold out, but like at the end of the day, he's holding up that flag and it's the Chinese military that saves the day. And there is one line talking about his time in the service that I thought, damn, this is so much better than anything the US Army has ever fucking put out. He says, you know what they say, join the army, regret it for two years. Don't join, regret it for life. That's pretty cool. It's like as opposed to army strong. It's like this is literally saying like, you know, you live with the shame forever for failing to do your civic patriotic duty. Meanwhile, army strong. Or the one that's meant to recruit mass shooters army of one. I have my passport right here. A lot of people don't notice this, but they do put like bullshit like Americana instructions.

Not instructions, but no, that's like every page has like different landmarks and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they have quotes at the top to whatever America hopes to bring past in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America. Dwight the Eisenhower. Oh, God, this is brutal. May God continue to you. May God continue the unity of our country as the railroad unites the two great oceans of the world. Well, I guess you built that railroad. Yeah, I kind of gave up on that railroad. This is this fuck this thing.

There's nothing good in there. There's nothing that's like if you're in trouble, a mighty nation is behind. It's like it's like it might as well be like if you're in trouble, good luck. That is the message America is sending everybody about everything. Yeah. Oh, there's also a mid credit scene where were you where, of course, Wolf Warriors brought back to the army. He has been redeemed and has shown a video that his girlfriend is still alive. Let's go. Which means, of course, time for Wolf Warrior III.

That's I didn't I had kind of an inkling they wouldn't fully kill the girlfriend. Yeah. I mean, like, we're going to get Wolf Warrior III because I think the Chinese are they can't get enough of actually murdering American troops in movies about Korea right now. Korean War. Hey, yeah, it's like, I mean, so I realized, hey, there was that like whole time where we just like kick the shit out of the US military for like a year. Like in actual combat. Why don't we just show that instead of having like some guy be a mercenary standing in for America, literally have US troops just get lit up by the Red Army. Just a just a little aside.

This is not a Chinese film. But if you're looking for a great film on the Korean War, there's a Korean film you can check out. Taekooki, you know, you'll see the recommendation. I mean, I do really, I mean, like, I don't know if it's available to stream anywhere yet, but the new one that just came out this year, the battle at Lake Chongqing is like the new like God knows it's been like hundreds of millions of dollars. Hundreds of millions of dollars making this movie. And it's like about the actual battle in the Korean war. Shosin Reservoir. Shosin Reservoir.

Yeah, where the US Marines got fucking washed. And apparently like this movie is like four hours long. But I mean, it looks incredible. And there are scenes where like they use real real PLA soldiers and there are scenes with like 700 extras in them. Like, I mean, come on, like that's that's movie magic right there. I got I got to see this movie. You're not going to get the squids actually having 700 people in one shot on a film. And that's that's pretty incredible.

That's at least some of that verisimilitude, you know, whatever. That's not going to be happy until it's 700 PLA soldiers all wired up head to toe to squids all going on. See, that's that's ridiculous. You do it commando style one good shot of a squib and then everyone else just falls. Exactly. That's fine. This thing where everybody gets this giant explosion of fake looking blood is the worst of all worlds. Like, I hate to say this because, you know, I agree with you, but I think we got to give up the ghost.

You know, it's like it's like the high speed commuter rail in America. Yeah. Like it's happening. Sad. But sometimes, you know, sometimes you got to take it on the chin. Just like saving Private Ryan's mom, the worst mother in history. Fucking stupid woman didn't teach any of her sons how to be safe in a war. Well, yeah.

Got everyone killed. It's funny, like basic situational awareness clearly missing there in the Ryan family. Yeah. Yeah. All her all her kids were like, oh, mom, if I'm ever in a war, what do I do if there's a landmine and she's like, I don't I don't know. I'm I'm I'm I'm drinking the sprite that has heroin in it from 1912. I don't care.

Speaking of landmines, we didn't mention that there is a pretty badass scene in Wolf Warrior One where the Wolf Warrior steps on a landmine, but notices it before he lifts his foot up. And there's like a tense scene of like, how is he going to beat it? And then he just ends up taking the landmine explosion and like surviving it due to his like mental fortitude. Yeah. If you if you're really good at breathing, you can you can survive a landmine. If you yeah, if you notice you have stepped on a landmine and then just concentrate really

hard on not dying, you can survive a landmine. What a cultural difference between America and China in America, you know, it's sort of a iTunes thing where if you're running off a cliff, you could kind of keep going if you don't notice it. But in China, like you can only survive following up the cliff if you acknowledge it. Well, I mean, just like sort of like, like just sort of wrap things up here. I mean, talk about the the one that just came out like Battle of Lake Chengjing, which I think is like very clearly China's attempt to do their saving Private Ryan attempt to kind of like

mythologize and valorize their their their military achievements of the past. Like it's a real thing like saving Private Ryan opens with Normandy and then tells a fictional story. But you're right. The story of Private Ryan saving Private Ryan in the context of World War Two is a little bit corny. I mean, it's ridiculous. Like why does this one fucking family get to have their their kids saved at the expense

of like 10 other guys? Like what would China make like the same version about the Chosin Reservoir where it's about they have to save one Chinese soldier when like millions of people are being killed? Who literally then went on to just raise some shitty fucking grandkids who are like visibly bored at Normandy? There is a there is a Chinese version of this movie and it's called The Bad Mom. And it's like bad Santa. He's bad at keeping your son safe.

Yeah, no, I when you see saving Private Ryan and he like goes to the he goes to the tombstone and his shitty grandkids are like granddad, I want to do the flaw stance, even though it's like 1998. It's like, yeah, was this worth it? No, we had to give up Vin Diesel for this asshole. And Barry Pepper. Yeah. And and the the you know, the Jewish guy and Paul Gimani.

No, I think you live. The Jewish guy. It's like, oh, they didn't take enough L's in that war. They didn't like go bad enough for us. We had to also like just fucking eat it on the soldier side for just this corner. They traded this increasingly precious resource, Jews in the 40s or another fucking square headed Mick. Oh, yeah, America doesn't have enough potato eating dipshits from Iowa.

Oh, my God. What an upsetting film. Well, yeah, fuck, fuck, fuck that movie. Fuck the fuck. Yeah. But that opening scene, come on. That's awesome. It gets off the fucking thing and they just get absolutely lit up.

It's terror. Yeah. But like that movie just in its heart is terrible because it's Spielberg, the most skilled American propagandist being like, it's true. You have to always sacrifice the community for the individual. That's true. If you'd like to actually, if you'd like a better take on the Normandy landings, watch Samuel Fuller is Big Red One.

Oh, hell yeah. And also his movie about the Korean War, but it was made like right after it that everyone forgot about called the Steel Helmets. Steel Helmets, yeah. And Samuel Fuller was actually like a combat veteran of World War II. And his take on Normandy and like the World War II general like American mythology is very, is way more, it's a way more jaundiced view of like being a soldier than Steven Spielberg gave you.

Even though Steven Spielberg's version is more like viscerally horrifying and like, you know. That's seen in Big Red One in Normandy, where they just draw numbers to see who's just go over the fucking thing. And it just make the Batarang thing. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

It's like, and like that, that's more like the Wolf Warrior thing because it's like, when your number is called, you just go. And then they go through 12 guys one after the other, like just getting taken out. And it's just like, That guy gets his ball blown off by the fucking bouncing Betty and Lee Marvin's just like, oh yeah, you're fine with one of them throws it over his shoulder. Big Red One is sick. That's back when directors had life experience beyond directing movies.

Well, yeah, yeah. No, because the average like 35 year old who directed a movie then had already like fought in a war and been divorced twice. Yeah. Now it's like, now it's like fucking Dan Harmon, who's like, well, I finally got my first girlfriend when I'm 47. Wouldn't you know what that makes me cry too? So check out Big Red One.

If you'd like to see a Mark Hamill performance that isn't a deep fake. Yes. Real Hamill action. So there you go. My fellow Wolf Warriors. If anyone offends China, no matter how remote, will you exterminate them? I'll give it my best shot. With Beauty Hunter.

This is my best. Again, when I do the show, I'm not thinking of killing. I'm only thinking of saving the lives of my comrades. It is an honor to do my duty. I fight for China. That's right. Until next time, fellas. Thank you.

Thank you.