I would think the main reason (among others) they're using AKs is probably because they're recognizable as "bad guy" guns.

I don't see why. Humvee usage in China is bound to increase and even trickle into the military once they get enough of the components produced indigenously, so a PLA Humvee wouldn't be all that unrealistic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Mo...uring_in_China

Now a "Chinese" M1 Abrams is quite a completely different story, though...

But they you have to ask yourself. How would the Chinese transport all their vehicles across the ocean en mass? I know there's transports designed for that sort of thing, but they'd need a lot of them to have a force of tanks and AFVs, etc to match up to what we keep in the US.

Yeah, definitely a valid point, like has previously been pointed out. I was just now thinking that the "captured" Humvees and M1 Abrams (mocked-up Centurions, I know) could be a budgetary tool as well as a way of circumventing the logistical impossibility of a military invasion of the US mainland like we've been discussing.

Armorers already have the ability to import/purchase/manufacture most types of weaponry that none of us can hope to touch in our lifetimes. If they didn't, we wouldn't get to see the latest FN and H&K toys in our favorite films. But Norinco just happens to be a particularly unusual case, due to their notoriety.

As MPM pointed out, legislators don't think to themselves, "Hmmm, how is this going to effect the armorers who supply Hollywood?" when they sign legislation. And since there are only a few dozen armorers working in California (if I recall correctly), they don't have much lobbying power - although there is a group called the AEAA which attempts to fill this niche.

And I think that (along with the legal issues) is probably the best explanation. Everyone associates "Reds" with Kalashnikovs. I'm guessing that the director probably made this creative decision. If the director had insisted on having Type 95/97s, then the armorers would have tried to get him some (either by vismoding another weapon, or by using those new Real Sword airsoft replicas).

Yeah, that sounds to me like it might be the explanation conoceted by the filmmakers. But I guess we'll find out when the movie gets released.

Most directors don't really care what guns are used unless he's Mann. A majority of the time, guns and weapons in general are the last thing on anyone's mind.

True, but I imagine that if the armorer went to the director and asked, "What guns should the Chicoms have - modernized AKs, or futuristic bullpup Type 95/97s?", the director would probably think to himself, "Hmmm, Reds = AKs" and choose the AK-103s.

It's a tendency of people to use mental shortcuts like that, after all.

I still think the director most likely doesn't care as long as they are using a weapon that best represent Communism and what better weapon than an AK, but it would have been better if they somehow managed to squeeze in QBZs or try to mock some up

I wasn't aware the Chinese had pixelized camo now, I thought they used a camo pattern that resembled a bleached-out version of our old Woodland camo pattern, as seen in Battlefield 2 (which is circa 2005).

Here's an example of the camo used by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Battlefield 2, compared to the above pics:

I would guess they adopted the digital pattern after "Battlefield 2" came out. After all, it was only in 2004-05 that our Army adopted the ACU, and whatever we do, the rest of the world follows later. Maybe the date that the PLA adopted the new pattern is on Sino Defence.com somewhere.

It's not so much that the director "cares", but MPM has said that directors usually have the final say on the weapons choices. Since directors don't know or care much about guns, they're likely to pick what they've seen in other movies and TV shows, or what they think the characters should have.