Matt Damon stepped up the plate in his first Chinese movie, as an European mercenary in China during the Song dynasty. Damon's only flaw was the American accent, that did not match the job title.
Jing Tian was credible as Commander Lin Mae.
Andy Lau showed his competency in the second language. I was very impressed that the scriptwriter entrusted a lot of English dialog to his character, the military strategist. Andy Lau should have received third billing.
Lu Han did a very good job as the apprentice soldier, whose work experience was in the kitchen.
The monsters looked like relatives of the alien species in the Alien movies.
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You never really care who lives or dies, if the wall would fall or the entire capital for that matter. Even though there’s a lot of great actors in the movie, you can’t really tell because of how lacking the movie is. There’s no real build up between the main characters and their friendship, which once again fails to make you engaged in the story. This makes all the dialogues throughout the movie oddly empty, like they’re reciting it all before filming the real deal.
A lot of scenes didn’t make any sense, especially some of the action scenes that obviously wasn’t well thought-out, but solely made to look good on the screen.
With that said, if you need a flat and easy action movie to watch a Sunday night I won’t stop you! There’s a reason why I gave the movie 4,5/10 instead of 1/10.
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Although the views are nice—I'm talking the landscapes, the panorama, the whole fucking mise en scène— and the CGI gorgeous, there's absolutely no depth to the story.
The setting is generic, the plot ... generic; It's all just generic... and boring.
I didn't much care for the characters either; superficial, experiencing no growth whatsoever.
Beyond the great casting, the creators have delivered nothing of substance - nothing you haven't seen before!
The action scenes were really good and so was the accompanying music.
It's an action movie, but the action just wasn't exciting...again, because I didn't care about any of the characters.
In a way, watching The Great Wall feels like watching potential go down the drain.
$150 million went floating... what a waste!
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This review may contain spoilers
I watched this in the cinema and it was superb!! The creatures and cinematography looked convincing and the acting...it's too good...just beautiful... especially Damon Matt :) The main highlight of this movie is to tell us to trust...trust people...trust in yourself etc. I know..I'm talking about the movie like I'm writing an assessment or something XDSo, that was just like a introduction. Now, I will move on to how I think of the story, acting/cast, music and re watch value (I'm kinda copying what other people are doing for their reviews but.. let's move on XD)
STORY:
Thrilling. I loved it...because I love thrilling movies hehe. In this movie, there was always something happening that thrills us, whether it's a creature gonna attack them, preparing for a battle or even just explaining what the Taotei's are is thrilling!! I will not make this paragraph long so I'll just make this short...if I extend the paragraph, I might add spoilers and I know you don't want that ;)
NOOOO!!!! I just wrote a really good review but somehow got deleted T_T
So, this second half is my second time writing the review...(it took me a lot of time!)
ACTING/CAST:
..........I feel so blank after all that writing is deleted T_T Anyways, Damon Matt's acting is the top of the top. I can't describe it but it's too good lol. At the very start of the movie, he had really messy and long hair that I didn't even realise it was Matt. Until, when he fixed it, I was like, "OMG! It's him...." (I actually don't know who damon matt is but now I know :) He's an actor who played as William Garin in The Great Wall :D) The movie was already better with Matt (and luhan and karry!*fangirls*) but it was even better with JingTian too! I've never seen her before but she's a goddess...Just beautiful..I'm speechless.
MUSIC:
You know, usually, when I make reviews, I talk about how emotional that ost was or how powerful his/her voice has! But this time, no voice...just instruments XD But I liked it. The music really fitted in with what was happening in the movie. Impressive.
REWATCH VALUE:
Have you experienced this before? Whenever, I go to the cinemas, the movie always seems to go very fast! It's like BAM! DONE! LET'S GO HOME! But, I don't want to. I just wanna watch another movie! (for example, Beauty and the Beast) 9.0 I might have rated it too high, since I went to the cinamas to watch it-
actually..... the movie would have gone really quickly if I watched it online too! lol
OVERALL:
Superb. Thrilling. Convincing. Impressive~~ I loved this movie-I mean I love this movie and still love it lol. It really makes your day more interesting! Definitely Recommend it! (espcially for a boring Sunday afternoon) I watched it on a Sunday afternoon but that sunday afternoon wasn't sunny...it was raining...really badly....bu that doesn't mean my day was bad! I love the movie, The Great Wall and I'm actually going to The Great Wall next year.....will I see those creatures (taotei)? XD......hopefully not...
P.S. "Trust (???” Trust in your people, yourself. You can do it. (yep! Motivation Quote! Fighting! )
lololololololol
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The wall may be great but this movie isn't
The Great Wall made for an average popcorn movie with lush visuals and a completely forgettable script and characters. With only a hint of Zhang Yi Mou’s usual movie magic I found it mildly entertaining. It’s like the damning compliment laced with criticism, “It’s fine I just I expected more from you because you are better than this.”William (Matt Damon) and Tovar (Pedro Pascal), two mercenaries seeking the fabled black powder, end up captured by The Nameless Order that guards the Great Wall. Very quickly this prickly western bandits wandering into the wrong place in China drama turns itself on its head when the reason for the Great Wall is discovered. Like a gruesome batch of cicadas, deadly green monsters appear every 60 years to remind the emperor and his people to not be greedy. The Nameless Order’s job is to drive them back. And yes, the plot is just that weird and weirdly simple.
At first, I worried that this would be a white savior story. Instead, the white guy was saved from his avarice by learning from the Nameless Order and their strong belief in “trust” and their belief and loyalty to each other. The script was so diluted of any real meaning, perhaps in the desire to not offend or confuse either Western or Eastern audiences, that it lacked spark and anything deeply intriguing. Though several well-known faces appeared on screen, most of the characters would barely qualify as cardboard cutouts.
Jing Tian as General Lin Mei along with Andy Lau as her wise advisor gave the most competent performances. Pedro Pascal as the ethically challenged Tovar did what he could with the rascal role. Matt Damon as the biggest western star in the movie playing William looked completely confused, maybe he was looking for his agent. His “Irish” accent was all over the place and came and went from sentence to sentence. His wig looked like the food truck had run over it a few times and then the hairstylist closed her eyes and pasted it onto his head. He also lacked any chemistry with Pascal and Jing, leaving the bromance and inferred romance without any heat.
The tei tao, which resembled four-legged monsters from numerous film and television productions only green and with their eyes on their shoulders, were suitably scary if overly familiar looking. Editing for the escalation of the monsters’ attacks could be quite awkward as they appeared and disappeared without much reason. The primary weakness of the monsters resulted in a strangely anti-climactic ending.
Now, for some of the things that worked. It was a Zhang Yi Mou film so it did have his signature color saturation, richly emotional OST, gorgeous battle armor, beautiful scenery and sets, and fascinating coordinated battles. The idea that the wall was built to keep out ravenous alien creatures was a fun concept, if not well implemented. I’m a fan of Zhang’s work which means I was more forgiving of this film’s flaws than I might have been otherwise.
If you are in the mood for an aesthetically shot film with colorful costumes and good battle action against green alien critters and can check your brain at the door, this might be a movie to try. Pop some popcorn, even better if you can watch with a friend, and see what you think of this ludicrous movie.
1/27/23
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The CGI was awesome and especially the green tao-tei monsters looked very real.
I liked the Chinese characters more than the three western ones, especially the female general and the leader of the wall warriors. However I think that all the actors did a good job with their roles.
The plot was quite basic and could be easily guessed but one can't expect some big plot twists from an action movie.
Overall it is a great movie worth rewatching.
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This review may contain spoilers
Which promotional poster is more appealing? Personally, the Chinese one with actors others than Matt Damon featured is a film I would go see.
In its attempts to appeal and draw in a Western audience, The Great Wall kind of shot itself in the foot. Its main mistake was marketing the film as Matt Damon’s The Great Wall, because really, it was not. When the Matt Damon-centric trailers and the promotional posters with his giantass face on them came out, the criticisms started pouring in, calling it whitewashing and promoting a white savior narrative. With the materials and evidence we were given at that time, the criticisms rang true and stung, especially when left and right we were hearing of whitewashing films (Ghost in the Shell, Aloha, Gods of Egypt, Doctor Strange, Death Note, etc) and a general lack of Asian-American representation in Hollywood - once bitten, twice shy, I suppose. Marketing The Great Wall by using its main foreign actor to draw in viewers outside China came at maybe too high a price. It brought with it talks of boycott and just a general hate for the film from the Asian-American community, myself included, which undoubtedly must have hurt its performance at the box office (Wikipedia states it lost money). I’ve recently seen the film at last - I was curious and found out Andy Lau was in it (which I wouldn’t have gotten from the English poster) - and thought a lot of the criticisms were unfounded.
One of the first questions raised about the film was why were there Europeans in a film set in ancient China, and a logical explanation was given for that. The Europeans were in ancient China because they were being their warmonger, greedy-ass self and were looking for the mysterious black powder (gunpowder). *spoilers* And they all failed and died except for the main characters, and the Chinese Army retained their secret in the end. *spoilers* The explanation given for the presence of Europeans in China was doable. Since the director stated that Matt Damon’s character William was not written for an Asian actor, that also answered the whitewashing question.
The next big question then was the white savior narrative, which I can say after seeing the film that it’s not true. Matt Damon’s character William might have lent a hand to his Chinese allies and unknowingly provided them with information they were able to make use of, but it was Strategist and War Counselor Wang, Commander-turned-General Lin Mae, and Peng Yong who were the saviors. William was more of an observer who occasionally helped out because it was either that or die. In fact, when William tried to make the final kill shot, so to speak, that would banish the evil and save everyone, he tried and failed. General Lin Mae, who stated “excuse me, I’m the one trained for this my whole life,” was the one who saved the day, not Matt Damon’s character. Did the film appeared like it was from Matt Damon’s/an outsider’s point of view? Yes, it was, likely a conscious decision to draw in a Western audience and introduce them to the Chinese actors and culture. But was it a white savior narrative? In my opinion, no, it wasn’t.
The Great Wall was a visually pleasing, action film with a strong female heroine at its center and a decent cast of character. The crux of the problem was that in trying to break into Western and American markets, promotions were solely focused on Matt Damon, which didn’t do it any favors. The Great Wall didn’t have any Chinese big names that Western audience was familiar enough with. It had Andy Lau, which, I’d say, would be enough to draw in any Asian audience (I could be wrong about this, but he was enough to draw me in), Western audience might or might not remember him from 2004’s House of Flying Daggers, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. While Andy Lau is well known in Asia, he isn’t a name like Jackie Chan or Jet Li, or even Donnie Yen, not Asian-Americans but Chinese actors who already broke into Hollywood that American audience will recognize and go see in theaters. Having his name alongside Matt Damon’s on promotional posters wouldn’t have hurt though. Or even an “introducing Jing Tian to American audience” for our heroine would have made it 100 times better than just Matt Damon’s The Great Wall.
The Great Wall has kind of the same vibe as Jackie Chan’s Dragon Blade with John Cusack, a mixture of Chinese and Western characters with the setting in China. Unfortunately for The Great Wall, it didn’t have Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan’s Dragon Blade did well, and it wasn’t really targeted or marketed to Western audience so you might not have even heard of it. It wasn’t wrapped in controversies or have the question of why were there Romans in China aimed at it. If it had been marketed to a Western audience, I believe it wouldn’t have made big, upsetting news either. It would have probably been seen as a collaboration between Jackie Chan and John Cusack, and it would have done fine and everyone would have gone about their day like normal. Unfortunately for The Great Wall, to American audience, it was Matt Damon’s The Great Wall because it was marketed as such. In attempting to be appealing, it unknowingly repel the very audience it was trying to draw in and a decent film didn’t get the recognition it deserved.
So in conclusion, watch The Great Wall. Just don’t think of it as Matt Damon’s The Great Wall and you’ll be okay.
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liked it
It's a visual treat for the eyes. It brings you to the edge of your seat. The story is interesting and makes you want to learn more about it. Every actor did an outstanding job portraying their respective characters. Matt Damon is a fantastic actor. I never found him boring in any of his roles throughout his career. Pedro Pascal was also fantastic as Tovar. Overall, the film is fantastic and worth seeing again. idk what else u write i can understand people who didnt really like it tho/It's a visual treat for the eyes. It brings you to the edge of your seat. The story is interesting and makes you want to learn more about it. Every actor did an outstanding job portraying their respective characters. Matt Damon is a fantastic actor. I never found him boring in any of his roles throughout his career. Pedro Pascal was also fantastic as Tovar. Overall, the film is fantastic and worth seeing again.It's a visual treat for the eyes. It brings you to the edge of your seat. The story is interesting and makes you want to learn more about it. Every actor did an outstanding job portraying their respective characters. Matt Damon is a fantastic actor. I never found him boring in any of his roles throughout his career. Pedro Pascal was also fantastic as Tovar. Overall, the film is fantastic and worth seeing again.It's a visual treat for the eyes. It brings you to the edge of your seat. The story is interesting and makes you want to learn more about it. Every actor did an outstanding job portraying their respective characters. Matt Damon is a fantastic actor. I never found him boring in any of his roles throughout his career. Pedro Pascal was also fantastic as Tovar. Overall, the film is fantastic and worth seeing again.
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