580 reviews
Its OK, Why the vitriol?
OK. It is not an Academy award winner. It does not aspire to be. It is a two hour-roller-coaster popcorn flick. Decent CGI, acceptable acting, OK props, OK story. This story won't stay with me as a memorable piece of art. But I enjoyed it for what ir is, and had a good time. Go in with that level of expectations and you wont be disappointed! Value for money.
Not a masterpiece for sure, yet enjoyable
If you don't have any expectations, this film might surprise you a bit. I really liked the special effects, even if I started laughing when I first saw the antagonists.
Most scenes between battles were quite awkward, full of clichés. Yet, once the battle begins, any cliché this film might have is really fun to watch and not at all annoying.
What I hated the most was the unfortunate English accent... used during the Song dynasty (960-1279).
Overall, the plot is quite linear and simple and is centered around one important moment. Character development was welcoming, but not impressive and definitely not unexpected. The best part was not fulfilling the love sub-plot, even though I half expected this and I would have been really disappointed if it had happened.
Anyway, it was an enjoyable film with better 3D effects than I expected and many other films, so give it a try. But be open minded and admire what is to be admired.
Most scenes between battles were quite awkward, full of clichés. Yet, once the battle begins, any cliché this film might have is really fun to watch and not at all annoying.
What I hated the most was the unfortunate English accent... used during the Song dynasty (960-1279).
Overall, the plot is quite linear and simple and is centered around one important moment. Character development was welcoming, but not impressive and definitely not unexpected. The best part was not fulfilling the love sub-plot, even though I half expected this and I would have been really disappointed if it had happened.
Anyway, it was an enjoyable film with better 3D effects than I expected and many other films, so give it a try. But be open minded and admire what is to be admired.
They watch without expectation.
The Great Wall surprised me a lot, and I believe that the fact that I watched the movie without expecting anything was important, I had no expectations, I had seen only 1 trailer and I went to see, I liked it a lot, first that the battles are good Made, the CGI is quite competent, obviously the battle is not Lord of the Rings level, but they are good, the soundtrack is good, the cast works, the characters are interesting, the movie sins in the script and the rhythm has problems, The film owes much to the battle that manages to bring a great entertainment, but if it were not for them the movie would be annoying, The Great Wall is a cool movie and worth watching. Note 6.7
- miguelneto-74936
- Aug 14, 2017
- Permalink
The Great Wall
Matt Damon, given his predicament and the backlash of being a white person cast in a move that was based in China, still gave a great performance. The plot was nothing special, but I throughly enjoyed the concept. The cinematography was beautifully shot and the colors throughout the movie make it very pleasing to the eyes. Without the camera work, this would not be a good movie. I think this movie is still worth a watch.
A good balance of East and West
First of all this is a movie about fighting monsters - not a fact based historical epic. So don't take it that seriously and you'll have an okay time. The great wall is the center of a fight against some invading dragon dinosaur like creatures.
There have been criticisms of having a white hero in the lead role. But it's just a monster movie so take it easy. There should have been more of the "saving" done by Chinese characters but to be fair they did make the white people look scruffy and the Chinese ones pretty/handsome. Matt Damon does look kind of short and puffy here compared to the Chinese cast. Liked Pedro Pascal the excellent detective Pena from Narcos as Matt's partner in crime. Tian Jing is a feisty enough female commander. So all is fair race wise in this war.
Overall there is a good balance between East and West. A Western screenplay by Max Brooks keeps things going quickly without the irritating self sacrifice and slow dialog of the recent Jackie Chan Adrien Brody movie. Director Zhang Yimou is known for extravaganzas and sometimes the action does look circus acrobat like. But it's not too bad - the excessive slow motion deaths and explosions that plague some Chinese movies isn't such a problem here.
There have been criticisms of having a white hero in the lead role. But it's just a monster movie so take it easy. There should have been more of the "saving" done by Chinese characters but to be fair they did make the white people look scruffy and the Chinese ones pretty/handsome. Matt Damon does look kind of short and puffy here compared to the Chinese cast. Liked Pedro Pascal the excellent detective Pena from Narcos as Matt's partner in crime. Tian Jing is a feisty enough female commander. So all is fair race wise in this war.
Overall there is a good balance between East and West. A Western screenplay by Max Brooks keeps things going quickly without the irritating self sacrifice and slow dialog of the recent Jackie Chan Adrien Brody movie. Director Zhang Yimou is known for extravaganzas and sometimes the action does look circus acrobat like. But it's not too bad - the excessive slow motion deaths and explosions that plague some Chinese movies isn't such a problem here.
- phd_travel
- Jan 8, 2017
- Permalink
Well done and entertaining!
When I was little, in Romania, I saw about three Chinese films, all made in that imbecile communist period, very very hard to see. This Chinese production (also with some American, Australian and Canadian help) is not even close to what were those idiotic propaganda films. As I said in the review for "Kong: Skull Island", "Kong: Skull Island" and "The Great Wall" they have something in common. And I do not mean only the actress Jing Tian, present in both and Legendary Entertainment, as one of the producing companies for both films. I refer in particular the monsters and the "very special"(I mean, very good) special effects. They look very well in both movies. I liked Matt Damon more in "Jason Bourne" and "The Martian" but he's OK here too. The whole film is OK. Tian Jing is distinguished and sweet.
- RodrigAndrisan
- Mar 15, 2017
- Permalink
Exercising Your Damons
Millions of people watching the 2017 Oscars would have seen Jimmy Kimmel roasting poor Matt Damon as a part of their long running 'feud'. At one point he points out that Matt gave up the leading role in "Manchester by the Sea" to star in a "Chinese ponytail movie" that "went on to lose $80 million at the box office". "The Great Wall" is that movie!
So is it really that bad?
Well, it's no "Manchester by the Sea" for sure. But I don't think it's quite the total turkey that critics have been labelling it as either. I went to see it on a Sunday afternoon, and approaching it as a matinée bit of frothy action is a good mental state to be in.
Matt Damon plays the ponytailed-wonder William, a European mercenary travelling in 11th Century China with his colleague Tovar (Pedro Pascal) in an attempt to determine the secrets of black powder – a secret well-guarded by the Chinese. Captured by the 'New Order' at the Great Wall and imprisoned there by General Shao (Hanyu Zhang), William earns the respect of Shao and his beautiful warrior second- in- command Lin Mae (Tian Jing) with his bowmanship. This is almost immediately put to use by the arrival (after 60 year's absence – a funny thing, timing, isn't it?) of hoards of vicious creatures called Taoties. (I thought they said Tauntauns initially, so was expecting some sort of Chinese/Star Wars crossover! But no.)
Taoties who scale the wall are defeated by William who poleaxes them. (This is an attempt at brilliant humour to anyone who has already seen the film – poleaxe . get it? POLEaxe. Oh, never mind!) Despite being a mercenary at heart, William is torn between staying and helping Lin Mae fight the beasts and fleeing with Tovar, their new chum Ballard (Willem Dafoe) and their black powder loot. (I'm sure something about Lin Mae's tight-fitting blue armour was influential in his decision).
This is an historic film in that although in recent years there has been cross-fertilization of Chinese actors into Western films for box-office reasons (for example, in the appalling "Independence Day: Resurgence" and the much better Damon vehicle "The Martian") this was the first truly co-produced Chinese/Hollywood feature filmed entirely in China. It might also be the last given the film's $150 million budget and the dismal box-office!
To start with some positives, you can rely on a Chinese-set film (the film location was Qingdao) to allow the use of an army of extras and – although a whole bunch of CGI was also no doubt used – some of the battles scenes are impressive. There is a stirring choral theme by Ramin Djawadi (best known for his TV themes for "Game of Thrones" and the brilliant "Westworld") played over silk-screen painted end titles that just make for a beautiful combination. And Tian Jing as the heroine Lin Mae is not only stunningly good-looking but also injects some much needed acting talent into the cast, where most of those involved (including Damon himself) look like they would rather be somewhere else.
And some of the action scenes are rather fun in a 'park your brain by the door' sort of way, including (nonsensically) cute warrior girls high-diving off the wall on bungey ropes to near certain death. While the CGI monsters are of the (yawn) over-the-top LoTR variety, their ability to swarm like locusts at the Queen's command is also quite entertainingly rendered.
Where the movie balloon comes crashing down to earth in flames though is with the story and the screenplay – all done by three different people each, which is NEVER a good sign.
The story (by Max Brooks ("World War Z"), Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (both on "The Last Samurai") is plain nonsensical at times. No spoilers here, but the transition from "wall under siege" to "wall not under siege" gives the word 'clunky' a bad name. As another absurdity, the "New Order" seem amazed how William was able to slay one of the creatures (thanks to the poleaxing 'McGuffin' previously referenced) but then throughout the rest of the film he slays creatures left right and centre (McGuffin-less) through just the use of a spear or an arrow! Bonkers.
Things get worse when you add words to the actions. The screenplay by Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro (both "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time") and Tony Gilroy (Tony Gilroy? Surely not he of all the "Bourne" films and "Rogue One" fame? The very same!) has a reading age of about an 8 year old. It feels like it has been translated into Chinese and then back again to English with Google Translate. "Is that the best you can do?" asks Tovar to William at one point. I was thinking exactly the same thing.
The combination of the cinematography and the special effects have the unfortunate effect of giving the film the veneer of a video game, but this is one where your kid-brother has stolen the controls and refuses to give them back to you.
Having had the great thrill of visiting a section of The Great Wall near Beijing, I can confirm that it is an astonishing engineering masterpiece that has to be seen to be truly believed. It ranks as one of the genuine wonders of the world. The same can not be said of this movie. Early teens might enjoy it as a mindless action flick. But otherwise best avoided until it emerges on a raining Sunday afternoon on the TV.
(For the graphical version of this review, and to comment, please visit bob-the-movie-man.com).
So is it really that bad?
Well, it's no "Manchester by the Sea" for sure. But I don't think it's quite the total turkey that critics have been labelling it as either. I went to see it on a Sunday afternoon, and approaching it as a matinée bit of frothy action is a good mental state to be in.
Matt Damon plays the ponytailed-wonder William, a European mercenary travelling in 11th Century China with his colleague Tovar (Pedro Pascal) in an attempt to determine the secrets of black powder – a secret well-guarded by the Chinese. Captured by the 'New Order' at the Great Wall and imprisoned there by General Shao (Hanyu Zhang), William earns the respect of Shao and his beautiful warrior second- in- command Lin Mae (Tian Jing) with his bowmanship. This is almost immediately put to use by the arrival (after 60 year's absence – a funny thing, timing, isn't it?) of hoards of vicious creatures called Taoties. (I thought they said Tauntauns initially, so was expecting some sort of Chinese/Star Wars crossover! But no.)
Taoties who scale the wall are defeated by William who poleaxes them. (This is an attempt at brilliant humour to anyone who has already seen the film – poleaxe . get it? POLEaxe. Oh, never mind!) Despite being a mercenary at heart, William is torn between staying and helping Lin Mae fight the beasts and fleeing with Tovar, their new chum Ballard (Willem Dafoe) and their black powder loot. (I'm sure something about Lin Mae's tight-fitting blue armour was influential in his decision).
This is an historic film in that although in recent years there has been cross-fertilization of Chinese actors into Western films for box-office reasons (for example, in the appalling "Independence Day: Resurgence" and the much better Damon vehicle "The Martian") this was the first truly co-produced Chinese/Hollywood feature filmed entirely in China. It might also be the last given the film's $150 million budget and the dismal box-office!
To start with some positives, you can rely on a Chinese-set film (the film location was Qingdao) to allow the use of an army of extras and – although a whole bunch of CGI was also no doubt used – some of the battles scenes are impressive. There is a stirring choral theme by Ramin Djawadi (best known for his TV themes for "Game of Thrones" and the brilliant "Westworld") played over silk-screen painted end titles that just make for a beautiful combination. And Tian Jing as the heroine Lin Mae is not only stunningly good-looking but also injects some much needed acting talent into the cast, where most of those involved (including Damon himself) look like they would rather be somewhere else.
And some of the action scenes are rather fun in a 'park your brain by the door' sort of way, including (nonsensically) cute warrior girls high-diving off the wall on bungey ropes to near certain death. While the CGI monsters are of the (yawn) over-the-top LoTR variety, their ability to swarm like locusts at the Queen's command is also quite entertainingly rendered.
Where the movie balloon comes crashing down to earth in flames though is with the story and the screenplay – all done by three different people each, which is NEVER a good sign.
The story (by Max Brooks ("World War Z"), Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (both on "The Last Samurai") is plain nonsensical at times. No spoilers here, but the transition from "wall under siege" to "wall not under siege" gives the word 'clunky' a bad name. As another absurdity, the "New Order" seem amazed how William was able to slay one of the creatures (thanks to the poleaxing 'McGuffin' previously referenced) but then throughout the rest of the film he slays creatures left right and centre (McGuffin-less) through just the use of a spear or an arrow! Bonkers.
Things get worse when you add words to the actions. The screenplay by Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro (both "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time") and Tony Gilroy (Tony Gilroy? Surely not he of all the "Bourne" films and "Rogue One" fame? The very same!) has a reading age of about an 8 year old. It feels like it has been translated into Chinese and then back again to English with Google Translate. "Is that the best you can do?" asks Tovar to William at one point. I was thinking exactly the same thing.
The combination of the cinematography and the special effects have the unfortunate effect of giving the film the veneer of a video game, but this is one where your kid-brother has stolen the controls and refuses to give them back to you.
Having had the great thrill of visiting a section of The Great Wall near Beijing, I can confirm that it is an astonishing engineering masterpiece that has to be seen to be truly believed. It ranks as one of the genuine wonders of the world. The same can not be said of this movie. Early teens might enjoy it as a mindless action flick. But otherwise best avoided until it emerges on a raining Sunday afternoon on the TV.
(For the graphical version of this review, and to comment, please visit bob-the-movie-man.com).
- bob-the-movie-man
- Mar 17, 2017
- Permalink
Green Trouble in Little China
'The Great Wall' isn't so great
I really enjoyed the film
As a Chinese lives in France, I got to see the film several weeks after its premier in China, and actually enjoyed the film a lot despite the bad reviews it gets back home.
The plot is plain and simple, I can see the struggle that the screenwriters have in navigating between the potential whitewashing criticism and its Chineseness (or the lack of, by my Chinese standard). The transition between acts are well thought out (very Hollywood in a positive way), many good ideas in the design of battle sequence. But overall it feels a little bit rushed, I wish it would be 10 or 20 minutes longer for proper character building, and a demonstration of lives behind the Great Wall. For example, a recreation of the painting "Along the river during the Qingming festival" would be a dream come true.
The visual is very satisfactory, my only complain is that the armors are too shiny, the battlefields are too clean to my taste. I prefer the dirty rusty kind of look in Star Wars and Mad Max. The scenery is wonderful, it makes me want to visit Zhangye of Gansu Province in the summer.
The plot is plain and simple, I can see the struggle that the screenwriters have in navigating between the potential whitewashing criticism and its Chineseness (or the lack of, by my Chinese standard). The transition between acts are well thought out (very Hollywood in a positive way), many good ideas in the design of battle sequence. But overall it feels a little bit rushed, I wish it would be 10 or 20 minutes longer for proper character building, and a demonstration of lives behind the Great Wall. For example, a recreation of the painting "Along the river during the Qingming festival" would be a dream come true.
The visual is very satisfactory, my only complain is that the armors are too shiny, the battlefields are too clean to my taste. I prefer the dirty rusty kind of look in Star Wars and Mad Max. The scenery is wonderful, it makes me want to visit Zhangye of Gansu Province in the summer.
Entertaining but not Great.
- paulclaassen
- Jul 2, 2018
- Permalink
A Very Entertaining Film
As a constant film goer I was really impressed with this film. It was entertaining. The story worked well. The acting was great. And the effects were really impressive. I watched it on a big screen in Bangkok and enjoyed the experience. The sound was equally impressive.
I just can't understand why the really negative reviews abound. Some are cursing it for having foreign actors. Others about the political situation etc. And the poor director is even getting a caning.
The story is about a legend. And it was wonderful to just sit back and let someone tell a story. I nearly didn't go because of all the bad reviews but I am glad I went and made up my own mind.
Go and see it.
I just can't understand why the really negative reviews abound. Some are cursing it for having foreign actors. Others about the political situation etc. And the poor director is even getting a caning.
The story is about a legend. And it was wonderful to just sit back and let someone tell a story. I nearly didn't go because of all the bad reviews but I am glad I went and made up my own mind.
Go and see it.
- captainpat
- Dec 28, 2016
- Permalink
A Greater Wall Needed
I liked this movie. It was something new for the monster genre and who could dispute the facts of the story if it happened centuries ago? I was thankful that the scenes moved steadily because when they didn't you lose interest right away. I also like the fact that the monsters attack in broad daylight but that was taking a risk. Why? You lose the fear factor that comes with not being able to see for sure. If there was more care given to the story line, perhaps some time spent in the enemy camp like where is it, what do they do and how they live plus more history on what happened centuries prior this could have been a nice contender similar to the Pitch Black monsters in the Riddick flick. I was curious why they didn't have sub-titles for the Chinese speaking parts. I had to guess at what was happening. For the amount of money spent here, they could have made this into a 2 hour movie that could have had sequel potential for the monsters. The stars in this movie look like they went along for a paycheck more than their resume building. Interesting as when I was watching, I knew this would do well in China etc. but what about us? Never the less, I was captured for the hour and forty five minutes so I have no gripe. This is not a see it again movie by the way. One time and your done here and I mean for decades! Have popcorn, sunflower seeds or anything that keeps your hands busy or you might start biting your nails at some parts. Include a tasty drink to wash it all down. Now, lets go kill some monsters
- Richie-67-485852
- Nov 18, 2017
- Permalink
The Lousy Wall
Anyone who is saying that this movie is anything but awful, then they have absolutely no taste in movies, or grand expectations, or any feasible amount of credibility to tell you what a good movie is. The CGI is laughable. The story is laughable, the acting is laughable, the over all premise and execution of this movie is completely laughable. After reading so many TEN star ratings an ranting about how wonderful this film is, one wonders if they are getting paid or were involved or just plain high as a kite, or simply wouldn't know good cinema if it bit them in the bum. But then again, i've heard people rave about how great sharknado is. So maybe after claiming something like sharknado is cinematic mastery, then one can understand why anyone would watch this and think it is anything but a waste of time AND MONEY to view such crap on the silver screen. Don't believe my review. Simply watch this Hollywood drivel for yourself and come to terms with not listening to just one reviewer that gave this thing a 1 star rating. Only regret is not being able to give it a minus rating. It's bad folks. Just horrible.
- lowbudgetstudios
- Mar 5, 2017
- Permalink
I liked it a lot!
This film tells the story of two Western men who goes to China in search of gunpowder. They enter the Middle Kingdom with the foot of a beast they have killed, hoping to make a bargain with the Chinese for gunpowder. Instead, they get into a big adventure with monstrous beasts that nothing could have prepared them for.
I was really skeptical about "The Great Wall", because the last film I watched that was made for the Chinese market was horrible. "The Great Wall", on the other hand, pleasantly surprised me because it surpassed my expectations with flying colours. The plot is tight, thrilling and well paced. I am so happy to see Chinese actors and actresses taking positive roles. Even the Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau is only having a supporting role in this film! In addition, I was not expecting Jing Tian's English to be as good as that. She had a mostly non speaking role in "Kong Skull Island", so I thought it was because of the language barrier. The battle scenes against the beasts are plentiful, and the scenes are thrilling and draws me in like a magnet. I cannot wait to see what happens next. The grand finale is breathtaking, both visually and literally. I enjoyed it a lot.
I was really skeptical about "The Great Wall", because the last film I watched that was made for the Chinese market was horrible. "The Great Wall", on the other hand, pleasantly surprised me because it surpassed my expectations with flying colours. The plot is tight, thrilling and well paced. I am so happy to see Chinese actors and actresses taking positive roles. Even the Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau is only having a supporting role in this film! In addition, I was not expecting Jing Tian's English to be as good as that. She had a mostly non speaking role in "Kong Skull Island", so I thought it was because of the language barrier. The battle scenes against the beasts are plentiful, and the scenes are thrilling and draws me in like a magnet. I cannot wait to see what happens next. The grand finale is breathtaking, both visually and literally. I enjoyed it a lot.
Liked it more than I thought I would (opinion, slight analysis, correctness, recommendation)
Tip: Don't get influenced by the ratings that much. See for yourself.
Warning: There are NO spoilers in my review, but there is a general characteristic regarding the main character and the Chinese people in the movie. (related to the complaints)
I watched this movie on 3D and I generally liked it. My expectations were lower, especially as I saw the rating was quite low for a movie of that type - it's supposed to be impressive, therefore more people would love it. A commercial movie related to history sounds pretty bad enough, adding that the action develops in China and the main character is a white man, and that they are fighting against monsters. All that sounded like it might turn out to be complete bullshit, but...
It's actually not. First of all, in the beginning of the movie there is an introduction about The Great Wall of China and it is mentioned that the movie is based on one of the LEGENDS about it. Secondly, the white men arriving there are just warriors who are traveling in order to find useful goods, and they are not presented in the best light - they are fighting for their basic needs and for their personal profit, they don't trust anybody, even their own friends. While the Chinese people are presented in a good way - they are hardworking, skillful, honourable, trustworthy as much as they could be in such times. They fight for their country and they are ready to die for it, they're not cowards who just take what they want for themselves and run away. This contrast is one of the main points of the movie.
Also, there is a beautiful message behind the whole story. It's not just action with monsters. So I'd say everything unusual in this movie about which many people complain, is actually pretty reasonable.
Besides that, I noticed that the effects are not that good in certain scenes, but generally they're well made. You get into the movie, it doesn't look much like a movie set, even on 3D where the flaws can be seen more easily sometimes.
I generally love historical action movies, and while I prefer for them to be historically correct and I find it important, I think that sometimes it's better that they're not because this causes a lot of conflicts and we can never be sure how correct they are exactly. In Hollywood everything is biased, pretty much, so maybe it's a much better idea if such movies are based on legends and just have meaningful morals of the story. That seems to be good enough, like in this movie.
There are some pretty intense moments, so if you get scared easily, maybe you should be careful with this movie. It gets tense and it's about war after all.
Warning: There are NO spoilers in my review, but there is a general characteristic regarding the main character and the Chinese people in the movie. (related to the complaints)
I watched this movie on 3D and I generally liked it. My expectations were lower, especially as I saw the rating was quite low for a movie of that type - it's supposed to be impressive, therefore more people would love it. A commercial movie related to history sounds pretty bad enough, adding that the action develops in China and the main character is a white man, and that they are fighting against monsters. All that sounded like it might turn out to be complete bullshit, but...
It's actually not. First of all, in the beginning of the movie there is an introduction about The Great Wall of China and it is mentioned that the movie is based on one of the LEGENDS about it. Secondly, the white men arriving there are just warriors who are traveling in order to find useful goods, and they are not presented in the best light - they are fighting for their basic needs and for their personal profit, they don't trust anybody, even their own friends. While the Chinese people are presented in a good way - they are hardworking, skillful, honourable, trustworthy as much as they could be in such times. They fight for their country and they are ready to die for it, they're not cowards who just take what they want for themselves and run away. This contrast is one of the main points of the movie.
Also, there is a beautiful message behind the whole story. It's not just action with monsters. So I'd say everything unusual in this movie about which many people complain, is actually pretty reasonable.
Besides that, I noticed that the effects are not that good in certain scenes, but generally they're well made. You get into the movie, it doesn't look much like a movie set, even on 3D where the flaws can be seen more easily sometimes.
I generally love historical action movies, and while I prefer for them to be historically correct and I find it important, I think that sometimes it's better that they're not because this causes a lot of conflicts and we can never be sure how correct they are exactly. In Hollywood everything is biased, pretty much, so maybe it's a much better idea if such movies are based on legends and just have meaningful morals of the story. That seems to be good enough, like in this movie.
There are some pretty intense moments, so if you get scared easily, maybe you should be careful with this movie. It gets tense and it's about war after all.
All together a decent and refreshing movie
There are awesome movies on one side while dreadful movie on the other and then there is this decent movie. The concept in this movie was at large not much different from LOTR but the director along with the writers, portrayed the magnificence of The Great Wall in a great fashion through a great angle view of the wall, through enemy creatures and the army itself which is refreshing rather than going on and on about the size of the wall (which is quite common these days in numerous movies and extremely annoying). Also there was this sprinkle of light but good jokes which captures the mood.Thus the movie in a nutshell was decent and entertaining.
- guptaraghav-24
- Feb 3, 2017
- Permalink
Don't waste your money
Total disaster! I can not think of one redeeming reason to see this. I'm glad it was a matinée. I can suspend belief with movies but this was just a bridge too far! The script writing was clunky, there was little to no chemistry between the main characters. I'm not exactly sure why William DaFoe was even in the movie. Stay away!
- mekreslins
- Feb 17, 2017
- Permalink
fun CGI romp with Matt Damon
- digdog-785-717538
- May 10, 2017
- Permalink
Claims of Whitewashing was the Least of their Worries
Decent fantasy action
The story is really nothing special, it's just an excuse for the action. The action is ok, they had a lot of money to spend and it shows. Acting was perfectly ok, no great perfomances here. Even the monsters were ok, nothing awesome but enough. But it was entertaining enough.
- RandomTard
- Jul 14, 2022
- Permalink
The Great Wall. This film that makes Elysium look like an Oscar winner!
- brankovranjkovic
- Mar 4, 2017
- Permalink
Surprisingly good
Wasn't expecting to enjoy this film but I was rapt soon in, fabulous acting and brilliant images, what a feast for the eyes and an adventure that dragged you along, (so not my normally my kind of thing) but amazing and recommended to everyone, the visuals are amazing, very stunning film
- juliejones-59443
- May 15, 2017
- Permalink
Colourful comic book adventure
- Leofwine_draca
- Jun 18, 2017
- Permalink
The Great Wall ShowMeTheMovies Review
An attempt at a bombastic creature-feature resulting in a pathetic excuse for a film, with little bother for pacing or any form of decent storytelling, The Great Wall does not keep up with modern-day CGI or acting quality in the slightest.
Basing a movie around one type of enemy; that being one creature in this film, is entirely dependent on whether that monster poses a threat to the protagonists at all. Creating a creature which appears threatening or terrifying is not a simple task, the likes of a huge franchise like Alien took an entire movie to build the Xenomorph into the icon it is today - and The Great Wall does not manage this. At all.
The reptilians that are known as the Tao Tei in the film are not threatening at all, their presence in the film is so prolific, they behave more like rodents rather than any form of adversary for the protagonists. The first attack upon the wall is within the first 30 minutes from tens of thousands of the Tao Tei (so this isn't a spoiler at all), and they all simply retreat because Matt Damon manages to kill one of the beasts, despite the fact it appears as if they are beating the humans.
The greatest threat to the Nameless Order (the army and defenders of the Great Wall) is Ballard (Willem Dafoe), who is only interested in deserting the wall to save his own life, and that seems to be conveyed as the worst crime anyone could ever commit and is worth far more focus and screen time than any monster that could be a 'real' threat.
The acting and character writing in the film is on par with films like Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones or Star Trek: Nemesis. Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal's characters are supposed to be best of friends even if they seem to disagree with each other consistently throughout the film on whether it is worth staying to defend the wall with the Nameless Order, which implies that William (Matt Damon's Character) believes that his contribution among an army of tens of thousands will make a measurable difference.
The only decent performance is that of Willem Dafoe, who does the best job he can with what role he has been given - which honestly isn't a great deal. The portrayal of General Lin (Tian Jing) is not unique at all, and Matt Damon didn't really play a character at all. Ideally, the film would have had a main character with some form of relationship with any other character and would show some actual emotion rather than murdering monsters and pretending to do the 'honourable' thing by staying and fighting them, all whilst being praised as a hero for literally managing to kill one beast alone.
The truth is that this movie does not make sense, the ending is as unsatisfying as anything that came before it, and the only parts of the movie that look visually impressive in the slightest are the shots of the wall from afar, which are plentiful by the end of the film. There is some obsession with using slow motion to a ridiculous extent mid-action to the point that it is jarring to watch at times in this movie, and the pacing is so basic that the film is repetitive by the end and it's only just over 90 minutes long! To spend this much money on creating a movie like this is basically laughable, and the intent to blend Eastern and Western film isn't a success here at all; purely an eastern-influenced, poor-quality Hollywood picture. I'm certain it is very much possible to merge influences from genres and cultures both east and west, but this pitiful film certainly feels forced.
I could not recommend this laughably-rushed movie to anyone, and frankly I wouldn't watch it again if you paid me. Essentially a boring, badly-delivered joke with barely enough substance to even call itself a movie.
showme-themovies.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/review-great-wall.html
Basing a movie around one type of enemy; that being one creature in this film, is entirely dependent on whether that monster poses a threat to the protagonists at all. Creating a creature which appears threatening or terrifying is not a simple task, the likes of a huge franchise like Alien took an entire movie to build the Xenomorph into the icon it is today - and The Great Wall does not manage this. At all.
The reptilians that are known as the Tao Tei in the film are not threatening at all, their presence in the film is so prolific, they behave more like rodents rather than any form of adversary for the protagonists. The first attack upon the wall is within the first 30 minutes from tens of thousands of the Tao Tei (so this isn't a spoiler at all), and they all simply retreat because Matt Damon manages to kill one of the beasts, despite the fact it appears as if they are beating the humans.
The greatest threat to the Nameless Order (the army and defenders of the Great Wall) is Ballard (Willem Dafoe), who is only interested in deserting the wall to save his own life, and that seems to be conveyed as the worst crime anyone could ever commit and is worth far more focus and screen time than any monster that could be a 'real' threat.
The acting and character writing in the film is on par with films like Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones or Star Trek: Nemesis. Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal's characters are supposed to be best of friends even if they seem to disagree with each other consistently throughout the film on whether it is worth staying to defend the wall with the Nameless Order, which implies that William (Matt Damon's Character) believes that his contribution among an army of tens of thousands will make a measurable difference.
The only decent performance is that of Willem Dafoe, who does the best job he can with what role he has been given - which honestly isn't a great deal. The portrayal of General Lin (Tian Jing) is not unique at all, and Matt Damon didn't really play a character at all. Ideally, the film would have had a main character with some form of relationship with any other character and would show some actual emotion rather than murdering monsters and pretending to do the 'honourable' thing by staying and fighting them, all whilst being praised as a hero for literally managing to kill one beast alone.
The truth is that this movie does not make sense, the ending is as unsatisfying as anything that came before it, and the only parts of the movie that look visually impressive in the slightest are the shots of the wall from afar, which are plentiful by the end of the film. There is some obsession with using slow motion to a ridiculous extent mid-action to the point that it is jarring to watch at times in this movie, and the pacing is so basic that the film is repetitive by the end and it's only just over 90 minutes long! To spend this much money on creating a movie like this is basically laughable, and the intent to blend Eastern and Western film isn't a success here at all; purely an eastern-influenced, poor-quality Hollywood picture. I'm certain it is very much possible to merge influences from genres and cultures both east and west, but this pitiful film certainly feels forced.
I could not recommend this laughably-rushed movie to anyone, and frankly I wouldn't watch it again if you paid me. Essentially a boring, badly-delivered joke with barely enough substance to even call itself a movie.
showme-themovies.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/review-great-wall.html
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- Mar 9, 2017
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