Review of The Great Wall
Brian Smith
The Great Wall is a 2017 release that tells the story of European mercenaries searching for black powder as they become embroiled in the defense of the Great Wall of China against an army of monstrous creatures.
If this synopsis seems generic, it should. This movie is about as cut and paste as they come. Matt Damon plays the main character who is driven by greed and then you find out as in EVERY OTHER MOVIE EVER, he has a heart of gold. The main force of his desire to help the people of China in their fight against the evil creatures is his lust for a woman played by the incredibly beautiful Tian Jing.
The writers, there are SIX of them head-lined by World War Z scribe, Max Brooks, and the director, Yimou Zhang (Hero, House of Flying Daggers) are so busy congratulating themselves with a female lead who is also thrust into the position of being General of an army, that they forget that woman can and should be used as more than romantic fodder. This movie should have easily passed the Bechtel Test, but they couldn’t even do that right. There is a whole portion of the Wall defense made up of women, yet only ONE woman even has a name and in the end is reduced to nothing more than a McGuffin for Matt Damon’s character to have the smallest of character arcs.
Every plot point in this film was telegraphed and predictable. This may have been overlooked had the CGI been even remotely acceptable (think Avatar). However, while the monsters looked neat, the prolific use of CGI in this movie was reprehensible at best. The movie is in 3D but this reviewer can’t explain why. Nothing new was brought to the table at all in terms of framing or use of the CGI.
As has already been alluded to, the plot is cookie cutter, the acting is mediocre (what accent was Damon going for anyway?), the color pallet is actually good but that is about the only positive thing to say about this train-wreck of a screenplay and Americanization of Chinese Cinema.
In summation, don’t waste your time or your money going to this movie. If you want to see a decent period piece, I would suggest watching Last Samurai or any other film for that matter. As my screening plus one suggested, if you have the choice between watching your cousin’s wedding video for the umpteenth time or going to see this movie, watch the wedding video.
