Judging from the marketing, you may think the martial arts action star Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”) and former-boxer Mike Tyson (“Ip Man 3”) are the stars of “China Salesman” but they only have small roles. Instead, make way for Dong-Xue Li (“1911”) as telecoms salesman Yan Jian because apparently the world has been waiting for an action movie about the telecoms industry.

Set in North Africa, this movie follows China’s DH Telecoms employees competing against European rivals for telecom contracts. However, a conspiracy leads to the nation being on the edge of civil war with the Europeans eager to exploit the resources. It seems the only person that can save the day is Yan Jian by fixing the communications systems.

Yan Jian is one of the most pathetic characters ever to be in an action movie. He never really does anything action-packed and he seems more like a comedic sidekick (minus the comedic part). The problem is that he is not a sidekick, he’s the main character. We have to suffer through hearing him try to say his lines in English. Seagal and Tyson do appear in the movie and they do have a fistfight (the highlight of the movie). The most obvious stuntman in the world replaces Seagal in several shots. Most of the other characters are just other people involved with telecoms.

The Chinese propaganda in this movie is laughable at times as one scene is just an excuse for Yan Jian to wave a Chinese flag around. The misleading marketing will likely annoy most viewers that are expecting Tyson and Seagal to be in the spotlight. The subject matter in this movie is just so boring. Maybe it is possible to make an interesting film about telecoms contracts but do not try to make an action movie about them.