Wolf Pack Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Wolf Pack Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 21, 2024

When a film focuses on a protagonist who isn't quite sure what's going on, it perhaps makes sense to keep the audience in a state of befuddlement as well. But when a film starts offering ostensible info dumps and the audience is still confused, it might be a sign of inartful writing or other production deficits, and that may well be the case with Wolf Pack. Ke Tong (Aarif Lee, whose IMDb page lists his name as Aarif Rahman) is some kind of doctor, seen delivering evidently purloined drugs to a M*A*S*H like unit where he also informs a nurse that a patient there needs to be taken to an actual hospital. Already things are off to an opaque start, something that only is exacerbated when Ke Tong is followed to a bus (which is magically there at the M*A*S*H facility) by a mysterious woman who is later identified with the codename Goblin (Luxia Jiang), and who immediately strikes up a conversation with him, pulling out a magazine that he's in and remarking that she knew it was him. It turns out she knew it was him because she's on a mission to more or less kidnap him, which then happens in rather spectacular fashion in one of the film's early if brief moments of excitement. Ke Tong then finds himself conscripted into a group of mercenaries led by Guan Zhiyang (Max Zhang AKA Jin Zhang).

Wolf Pack then engages in a series of bait and switch tactics with regard to Ke Tong that are repeatedly incoherent, but which finally settle down into what is more or less a fight against ecoterrorism. By that point, though, a number of supposedly important background tidbits have been imparted, including that Guan Zhiyang may have salient information about the death of Ke Tong's father, in just one sign of how cliché ridden this enterprise is. A few passing flashbacks are inserted to supposedly offer context, but which frankly come off as needless detours between some decently staged action scenes. This film might have been perceived as a victim of "lost in translation" syndrome, but it's perhaps salient to note that it doesn't seem to have had much of a theatrical life even in its native China, which might suggest even Chinese audiences found it confusing. There is a drinking game to be had in taking a swig every time some character points a gun threateningly directly at the head of another character, only to have nothing happen (of course), but alcohol poisoning may result.

Wolf Pack Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wolf Pack is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Unsurprisingly, there isn't much if any technical information on the shoot that I could find online, but this is a competent digital capture that I assume had a 2K DI. While detail levels are rather crisp and well defined throughout, huge swaths of the film have been graded to a kind of weird, almost sickly, yellow-green color. There are a few passing sequences graded more "traditionally" to what might be called "thriller blue", but the odd yellow-green grading actually starts to look increasingly alien after a while. A few passing deficits in artful CGI show up, but fine detail on practical sets and costumes is typically excellent.

Wolf Pack Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Wolf Pack lists a Mandarin language track offered in either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or Dolby Digital 2.0, but there's actually more than a bit of English dialogue sprinkled throughout the film, with some characters almost ping ponging between the two languages, sometimes even in individual lines. One way or the other, the glut of action elements provides good opportunities for some well designed immersion, and a number of outdoor scenes offer both action sound effects like gunfire or punches being thrown along with some nicely rendered ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. There are two sets of optional English subtitles available, one translating only the Mandarin sections, the other offering complete subtitles for all dialogue in both languages.

Wolf Pack Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 00:59)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Wolf Pack Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

By the time Ke Tong has been forced to remove shrapnel from a terrorist's brain only to find out that's just one of several "fake outs" the script engages in to get to its supposedly final destination, some viewers will already be so seriously confused that any subsequent plot machinations may seem positively baffling. If you have a tolerance for not understanding what's going on, there are at least some fun set pieces, and that aforementioned drinking game to keep you at least fitfully engaged (until you pass out). Technical merits are solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.