The Great Wall Review: A monster flick of epic proportions dwarfed by its own ambition

Film: The Great Wall

Director: Zhang Yimou

Cast: Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau

Rating: *** (THREE STARS)

WHAT'S IT ABOUT:

William (Damon) and Pero (Pascal) may well be mercenaries for hire, out looking for an elusive 'black powder'  (read: gunpowder). Which, in medieval times, in the age of bows and arrows, may have been a significant technological advancement and therefore, of great worth.

Anyway, our two heroes find their way to the Nameless Order who populate The Northern border bounded by the Great Wall (of China, obviously!). Once there, they're captured and questioned, until a chance encounter with the Tao Tei, mythical creatures who roam the badlands every sixty years.

Pero is clear about what he wants. And over time, it becomes clear what William wants, too. But will they put aside their wants to do what needs to be done?

WHAT'S HOT:

More than Matt Damon, we're struck by how effective Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell) can be as the not-such-a-pushover sidekick Pero. His inclinations and pursuits are more clearly spelled out than Damon's William. Unlike Damon's character, he isn't swayed by jingoistic speeches about trust and such. He's there for a reason and has clear intent to make it out of the Great Wall with his booty. 
Yimou's canvas is a larger-than-life, all-encompassing, all-spectacle screen-filling monster epic. It's clearly not new turf for him and his confidence shows.

The VFX is effective and almost on par with some other big creature movies that Hollywood churns out. And what they cannot match in scale, they out-scale in numbers.

WHAT'S NOT:

The idea that one needs a Western hero to save an Asian country is as hackneyed and regressive as they come. The idea that so-called 'hero' has to have a not-so-reputable history, but skills worthy of being one of the best warriors on the battlefield. It's almost as if it makes up for being a bad person.

Jing Tian as the English-spouting Commander Lin seems almost too besotted/drawn by Damon's William for her character to have any graph. She, like the rest of the supportive cast are effective, but severely limited by the script, never becoming more than mere pawns in a larger game. The cowering Ballard (Dafoe) seems out of sorts. For someone who's been observing the warriors for 25 years (he can never leave, they say), he should know better than to venture out alone with something valuable. As the hero of the piece, Matt is the unwilling warrior dragged into a war that isn't his own. There's a late attempt and reining in the film's all-too-blatant predictability by the very end of the movie.

WHAT TO DO:

As a monster flick of epic proportions, it is dwarfed by its own ambition, never quite reaching full potential, but is entertaining nevertheless. A one-time watch.