The Great Wall Review
PG13: Sequences of Fantasy Action Violence
Universal Pictures, Legendary Pictures
1 Hr and 43 Minutes
Cast: Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau
REVIEW: Don’t you love it when there’s a controversy for a movie? I can’t get excited for a lot of movies nowadays without hearing a controversy behind it. Ever since I saw Exodus: Gods and Kings in 2014, that was my first full exposure to noticing whitewashing. I was appalled with how much miscasting there was for that movie even while watching (and trying to keep my eyes. And this was a Ridley Scott movie. would say The Last Airbender would be my first example, but believe it or not, it was very diverse what it was worth. With some films where the entire cast is of a different ethnicity and the lead is Caucasian, I don’t have an issue with it. A film has to appeal to everyone right? Why is Matt Damon in The Great Wall? To put the American audience’s asses into seats. Boy was I wrong.
Let me tell you, this film could’ve gone better without Matt Damon.
When a mercenary warrior (Matt Damon) is imprisoned within the Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of the world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront the unimaginable and seemingly unstoppable force.
THE GOOD: The Great Wall is a Chinese production. Yes, its made for both a Chinese and American audiences, but this film isn’t for a dumb audience. It is a dumb movie, but it requires you to read. If it wasn’t for Damon and Pascal, this would’ve been considered as a foreign language film because the majority of the dialogue is in Chinese. Like it or not you have to read subtitles. It's honest about its setting where not everyone has to speak English. You're in China! Everyone isn't magically going to know how to speak English.
Thanks to Zhang Yimou’s direction the Great Wall moves pretty quickly. Though it starts off slow with sloppy quick cuts and shaky camera movements, it progresses to be better by the time we get to the wall. It felt as if the film’s intro was directed by someone else that by the time we get to the great wall, Yimou finally showed up to the director’s chair and got to work. The shaky cam begins to fade away as Yimou uses angle shots, smooth pans, especially during the action sequences. It's smooth and clear. Even when the action is in the fog you see all the action in stylish shots. The film features a variety of action sequences that are entertaining and cool. It’s like watching an anime show at times where the visuals are bright and colorful while the action is fun and creative.
Out of the entire cast, the only performance that keeps this film afloat is from Jing Tian who plays Commander Lin. Every time she’s onscreen and not giving any exposition she’s a pretty cool character. Lin is the character that is built from female empowerment. Her character is like Mulan if she was given the job as a commander after she saved China. She doesn’t have the “I don’t need a man” complex that Mulan has, but she does have the same amount of badassery that she inherits. Tian commands the film with such presence that I would love it if she was Mulan in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake. Seriously Disney cast Jing Tian as Mulan. Please do it. She’s already going to be in the upcoming Kong: Skull Island and Pacific Rim: Uprising so you’re gonna have to see more of her regardless.
It’s not usual that I compliment this aspect in films, but the costuming in this film is great. I really like the costumes of these warriors. Though the colors bear so much resemblance to the Power Rangers, its heavily detailed with shiny metal that looks like actual metal. The armor reminds me of the armor you see of characters from games such as Soulcalibur and Warcraft.
THE BAD: Amongst this cast of Chinese warriors who are badass in each of their own rights, there is no reason for Matt Damon to be here. It’s not because of his character or him being Matt Damon for it's for his unenthusiastic performance throughout.You see him putting his least into this role especially when you know he was nominated for an Oscar for the 2015 “comedy” The Martian. Just because you’re in a film that has a cast of Chinese actors doesn’t mean you don’t have to try. He pulls a total Keanu Reeves in 47 Ronin where he’s the only white warrior who’s performance is so bad everyone has to hold him up. Good thing Damon’s performance isn’t the worst performance in this movie.
What’s surprising is that the actor worse than him is his useless friend played by Pedro Pascal. I love Pascal in other things I see him in, but his character is incredibly underwritten is affected his performance. He’s supposed to be the comic relief with his dialogue but his delivery is so deadpan you just wanna slap him and scream, “EMOTE!” A lot of his actions are continually funny to some scenes of humor, but he serves little to no purpose to this film other than making Matt Damon look cool. When he’s fighting one of the creatures he becomes a matador out of nowhere. He uses a red flag from the wall and uses it like a cape to attract the creatures like they’re a bull.
Just because he’s a Hispanic guy, doesn’t mean you have to have Pedro Pascal’s character as a Hispanic stereotype where every other line he says ends in "amigo." Both Pascal and Damon are useless as hell. When they are tied up together while the wall is under siege, they start doing commentary on the action. YOU KNOW, FOR THE DUMMIES THAT CAN’T READ SUBTITLES! Both of them are so deadpan, at times it feels like they're doing their best Beavis and Butthead impersonation. The movie could've gone better if they would cast an Asian actor. Donnie Yen is slightly older than Damon but has a lot in him to be this character who is a badass. The film establishes that he is a foreigner from the west looking to trade, but you could've had any other person to portray these characters.
The most annoying thing about this film’s direction is its use of 3D. The Great Wall utilizes 3D the same way Robert Rodriguez utilized 3D in the 2000s. Remember when there was a surge in 3D movies where they became mainstream starting in 2009 and 2010? Well, this 3D goes back to 2003 when Spy Kids 3D came out where it wasn’t used as a new experience but more of a gimmick. The majority of the action sequences are either bows and arrows or lizard creatures roaring at you while breaking the 3D barrier. It's just the film obnoxiously going “HEY LOOK AT ME! WE’RE 3D! WE’RE 3D!” There’s no other way to see this but in 3D which is not a compliment, because if you watch this in the 2D format, you will find a lot of the sequences extremely tacky. The CG doesn’t make it any better either.
Out of everything, the film doesn’t do for me is its use of CG. For Industrial Lights and Magic, the studio that won the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 2007 for The Golden Compass, their CG work for this feels like they took 10 steps back to 2007 because the CG work for these lizard creatures are rather wonky. The designs of them are great, but it's the way they move that throws it off. They don’t really look like effects that came out of a Final Fantasy PS3 game but more of effects that belong on the SyFy channel while interacting with actors on an obvious green screen.
LAST STATEMENT: At the end of the day despite its miscasting and its poor effects, The Great Wall is the longest cutscene to a PS3 game you were never eager to play.
Rating: 1.5/5 | 38%
Super Scene: Bungee jumping off The Great Wall (minus the useless commentary)
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Jing Tian | Any Non-Asian Performers. YES That Includes you Willem Dafoe |
| Production Design | Really Bad CG |
| Costume Design | Dumbed Down Commentary |
| Variety of Action | |
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