Wellington's Park Road Post was responsible for the mixing on Wolf Warrior 2.

"Anyone who offends China, no matter how remote, must be exterminated," isn't a line you'd expect to find in a New Zealand film - let alone a film that received $243,000 tax rebate from the Government.

Yet it's the tagline for Wolf Warrior 2, a militaristic Chinese propaganda film, partly made in New Zealand.

The film qualified for the Government's screen production grant, allowing it to receive a cool $243,000 taxpayer-funded rebate on the $1.2 million the film's producers spent on Kiwi shores.

That money was spent at Park Road Post, one of Peter Jackson's film companies, which would not comment on this story.

Wolf Warrior 2 The film shows Chinese military power projected throughout the world.

The film was not made directly by the Chinese Government, but by a slew of Chinese state-owned enterprises, including the China Film Group Corporation, China's largest film producer, and Bona Films.

Bona Films is a subsidiary of China Poly Group, another state-owned enterprise. China Poly Group is an unusual conglomerate housing the world's third largest art auction house and a real estate business, and has "longstanding ties to the military and the family of the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping," according to The New York Times.

The strong allegations made against the Chinese film industry's activities in New Zealand are made in forthcoming research from China expert Professor Anne-Marie Brady.

In it, she says growing cooperation between the Chinese and New Zealand film industries, combined with New Zealand's screen production grant, means "taxpayers are now subsidising China's propaganda films".

Her concerns aren't just confined to Chinese films — she said the growing ties could have a chilling effect on New Zealand's own cinematic output.

Wolf Warrior 2 A poster for Wolf Warrior 2

The big prize from growing co-operation between the two countries is to have more New Zealand films exhibited in China, allowing our filmmakers to profit from its enormous domestic cinema market.

The catch is that these films would then have to adhere to strict Chinese censorship rules, meaning they cannot be in any way critical of the Chinese state.

"It will have a chilling effect on our cultural scene," she said, noting it would mean New Zealand Hong Kongers, for example, would find it difficult to make films here that touched on issues relating to the unrest in the city.

New Zealand-made Mulan, directed by Whale Rider director Niki Caro, has copped criticism for its overly militaristic pro-China tone ahead of its release.

People have threatened to boycott the film, after it's star, Liu Yifei, posted a meme from the Communist Party's People's Daily saying "I support the Hong Kong police" on social media, alongside a heart emoji.

The post went up a day after the UN Humans rights office said the Hong Kong police were "employing less-lethal weapons in ways that are prohibited by international norms and standards".

Wolf Warrior 2 Wolf Warrior 2, which was partly made in New Zealand has been accused of being thinly-veiled Chinese military propaganda.

Wolf Warrior 2 was roundly criticised in Western media for its overly militaristic tone.

The Los Angeles Times said it was "fascinating" to see a film "closely mimic big-budget Hollywood war pictures" but with Americans now taking the role of the villains.

Variety noted the film's "full-throated nationalism", and drew comparisons with militaristic American films.

The reception in China's state-controlled media was more positive, with Government mouthpiece People's Daily, saying the film showed "fearless heroism and responsibility" and evoked passion for patriotism, according to a translation provided by the BBC.

Chinese media reported the first film in the Wolf Warrior series was made with the active cooperation of the People's Liberation Army, China's military.

Several real aircraft were used in the film, and one scene featured 32 active tanks. It appears to feature similar levels of military largesse made it into Wolf Warrior II, although the BBC reported these were replicas, rather than real.

Wolf Warrior 2 continues the story of a rogue Chinese Special forces soldier, Leng Feng.

Leng gets drawn into a conflict in an unnamed African country, where some of his friends are trapped alongside other Chinese workers.

The Chinese military doesn't intervene, as the African country hasn't invited them to do so, leaving it up to Leng to save his friends.

Chinese film critics have said the film is unusual for a Chinese film because it uses Hollywood styles of storytelling that feature characters with motivations that sometimes put individual goals ahead of the interests of the collective.

But it's not all about the individual. China's military saves the day in the end.

A reporter from America's National Public Radio said "the message seems to be that Chinese can now go overseas to study, invest and work, and the Chinese government will be there for them".

"By contrast, Leng's female American companion calls the US Embassy hoping to be rescued, but there's nobody there and she just gets a recording."