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THE GREAT WALL (2017) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

THE GREAT WALL (2017) movie

Genre | Fantasy

Classification | M

Running time | 103 minutes

Released | 16 February 2017

cast

Matt Damon ... William
Tian Jing ... Commander Lin Mae
Willem Dafoe ... Ballard
Andy Lau ... Strategist Wang
Pedro Pascal ... Tovar
Hanyu Zhang ... General Shao

director

Zhang Yimou

writer

Carlo Bernard ... (screenplay) &
Doug Miro ... (screenplay) and
Tony Gilroy ... (screenplay)

Max Brooks ... (story) and
Edward Zwick ... (story) &
Marshall Herskovitz ... (story)

cinematographer

Stuart Dryburgh ... director of photography
Xiaoding Zhao ... director of photography

music

Ramin Djawadi

film editor

Mary Jo Markey
Craig Wood

box office result

Worldwide $334,933,831

Australia $5,614,227

North America $45,540,830

the best dialogue

William: I've been left for dead twice... it was bad luck.
Ballard: For who ?
William: The people who left me!

William: We are honored, to be honored.
Tovar: Is that the best you've got ?

Commander Lin Mae: Why are you here?
William: We came to trade.
Commander Lin Mae: You lie. You are thieves!

things to spend money on ...

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THE GREAT WALL (2017) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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Posters

THE GREAT WALL (2017) STORY SYNOPSIS

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 GREAT WALL (2017) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty | Review date 15 February 2017
Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐

Despite every effort to distinguish The Great Wall as a historic entry into the Fantasy genre, with its Chinese production and financial backing, it’s the fingerprints of Legendary Pictures’ Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni that are all over Zhang Yimou’s monster-mash; where Matt Damon seems more confused than any of the Bourne films, and being unable to explain away awkward story gaps by way of amnesia! Zhang has delivered a movie that is bright, flashy and moving at great speed without ever really explaining what’s going on. For starters, why are Matt Damon’s William and Pedro Pascal’s Tovar out in the middle of the Chinese nowhere in the first place? Sure, they’re looking for the “Black Powder”; otherwise known to contemporary audiences as gun powder, invented around the 9th century by the Chinese. History books suggest that Marco Polo travelled to China toward the end of the 13th century; so, in what timeframe does The Great Wall take place? Who the hell knows… It’s only a movie! (I’m assuming the Song Dynasty, but I’m probably wrong…)

The victory of style over substance isn’t unique to The Great Wall and it’s a calling card of Messrs Tull and Jashni’s producing resume. As many hits as what they’ve had, they’ve also had their fair share of disappointments. It’s hard to forget that films like Seventh Son, Dracula Untold and Sucker Punch papered-over massive story issues with average stories dressed as “mythology”.. While casual movie-goers may not notice the epicentre for The Great Wall’s problems, more astute viewers will only need to glance at the film’s writing credits to understand the problem at hand. Six writers are credited. Yes, that’s right, you read correctly. Six (Max Brooks, Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick, Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro & Tony Gilroy). Star Wars fans will recognise Gilroy’s name from his screenplay credit for Rogue One, but also the uncredited directing work he did with reshoots to help get the film into shape for theatrical release. Only those closely associated with the The Great Wall’s production will know how many writers really worked on the film, but, when six get a credit, there’s a whole lot more who did rewrites and polishes to bash the story into something that could be filmed. With this many fingers on the keys, it’s not easy to stay focussed on the sentence at hand!

Despite the effort expended to deliver a compelling story (but falling short), The Great Wall, like so many Fantasy genre films, can’t escape the weight of computer-generated effects to translate the words into visuals. There is no shortage of green screen activity and, on more than one occasion, the actors are clearly at a loss to convey anything close to a genuine reaction or emotion to sell what’s going on elsewhere. The film’s computer-generated antagonists - the Taotie - are a fundamental part of the film’s problem. For the most part, they’re a generic adversary whose threat has been assigned some kind of quasi-religious, alien-origin backstory to help personalise the peril they represent for the good folks charged with China’s protection on the Great Wall. Only toward the end of the film is an effort made to be more specific with the threat the creatures pose, but, by this stage, the CG onslaught has all but exhausted any underlying thematic benefit the Taotie could have provided.

Performances are also an issue throughout the film. Besides Matt Damon, Jing Tian, as Lin Mae, and Pedro Pascal’s Tovar are the film’s most likeable characters, but they are very one-dimensional. The same goes for star Damon. Even after having spent 103 minutes with these characters, once the credits roll they are all easily forgotten. Andy Lau, as Wang, is the most convincing character in the story, but he is secondary for the most part and is used as a plot-device during the film’s climax. Perhaps one of 2017’s great questions for Planet Earth will be “What the fuck was Willem Dafoe doing in this movie?” (If anyone has that answer, please email the Screen Fantastique website!) When it’s all done and dusted, not even Matt Damon is a big enough star to overcome the film’s deficiencies and, unlike other classic Fantasy fare from Asia, The Great Wall just manages to tip the scales in its favour as ever-so-slightly above average. The irony is that the artistry of what makes Asian Fantasy genre films great is absent from The Great Wall and it’s the Hollywood Studio mentality that bares responsibility!