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[kswiston]

Edit: Currently at 35% on Rotten Tomatoes with 93 reviews

For those who are unfamiliar with the the film, The Great Wall is directed by Zhang Yimou and stars Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe and Andy Lau. The film was originally conceived by Legendary Pictures, and was written by Tony Gilroy, Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro, Max Brooks, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. This was a joint project between Universal Pictures/Legendary and China Film Group. Carrying a price tag of $150M, it's the most expensive film ever shot in China.

Here's the official synopsis: In the battle for humanity, an elite force makes a heroic stand atop the Great Wall of China to combat an army of monsters. The monster is identified as the Taoti, a beast of great greed from ancient Chinese mythology. A horde of monsters creep up on the wall every 60 years forcing the army to defend it

As you would expect from a film set in Ancient China, the film centers around:

Here's a trailer for you to watch if you missed some of the earlier GAF threads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avF6GHyyk5c

The Great Wall releases December 15th in China, and February 17th in the United States.


And on to the reviews!

The Hollywood Reporter (Rotten review on RT):

Beyond the casting and the ceaseless onslaught of diverse special effects, Zhang and his Hollywood screenwriters have delivered nothing more than a formulaic monster movie — albeit one transposed to a historically undefined China where generals dressed like Terracotta warriors already have mastered anesthetics, air travel and American-accented English.

<snip>

Having saved a soldier in the battle and showcased his archery skills, William is welcomed into the life of the garrison. Initially bent on getting what he wants — some mysterious gunpowder that will earn him a fortune back home — his conscience is soon awakened (this is Matt Damon, after all), and his head turned by Lin (Jing Tian of Special ID), the only female and English-speaking commander at the outpost.

It's hardly a surprise that William chooses to stay even after Tovar — egged on by Ballard (Dafoe), who has been in detention at the camp for 25 years, teaching English to Lin and strategist Wang (Lau) in the process — plots to steal the treasure and leave. And while the "Westerners" are regularly shown up by the physically powerful and invariably principled Chinese warriors, it's hardly a surprise who eventually gets to save the day for China and all mankind.

Variety (rotten review on RT)

Commanding China’s most expensive production, with probably the biggest input from Hollywood talent ever, blockbuster Chinese director Zhang Yimou capably gives period fantasy-action “The Great Wall” the look and feel of a Hollywood blockbuster, but his signature visual dazzle, his gift for depicting delicate relationships and throbbing passions are trampled by dead-serious epic aspirations.

Those who ranted against the project as another case of Hollywood “whitewashing” in which Matt Damon saves China from dragons may have to bite their tongue, for his character, a mercenary soldier who stumbles into an elite corps fighting mythical beasts, spends the course of the film being humbled, out-smarted, and re-educated in Chinese virtues of bravery, selflessness, discipline, and invention. In between the cultural cheerleading, there are some highly watchable war and monster spectacles, though none so original or breathtaking as to stop one from associating them with the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy or its imitators.

<snip>

The only character who hogs the spotlight is Lin Mae (Jing Tian), commander of the Crane Corps, as she’s the one who impresses Garin with the Chinese people’s altruism in fighting not for money, but for the salvation of humankind. Perhaps the sheer amount of English dialogue constrains her performance, but Jing is completely wooden in her exchanges with Damon, even though Lin and Garin are supposed to develop a grudging respect and warmth for each other. Their dynamic feels especially awkward in static close-ups (and hers are numerous), when she’s most expressionless.

It’s heartening that a film with European protagonists doesn’t cave to the controversial “white savior” syndrome seen in movies such as “Forbidden Kingdom.” But Damon’s role as a money-grubbing, lying, and smelly foreign mercenary is dubiously similar to the boozy, uncouth, opportunist mortician Christian Bale played in Zhang’s “The Flowers of War,” and he too is schooled in Chinese values of self-sacrifice by a coterie of “professional” women. Given very little complexity to round out his character, Damon forges a presence in the scenes of physical exertion, but don’t expect any award nominations.

EDIT: A Fresh (3/5) review by the Guardian

Earlier allegations of “whitewashing” seem, in the main, unfounded. The foreigners really don’t cover themselves in glory; they run, steal and trick each other, providing occasional comic relief, while the Chinese demonstrate self-sacrifice and discipline. A dishevelled Garin spends much of the film struggling to comprehend the system the Order embodies, confused and humbled by the language and the culture. His life-saving acts of heroism are returned with just as much aplomb.

Meanwhile the Order does need all hands on deck, because things get gory very quickly. Barely 15 minutes into the film, soldiers are being dismembered by Taotie in a series of high-octane battles. There are plenty of watchable fight scenes, but countless missed opportunities to create suspense. Our first glimpse of the Taotie is an intriguingly enormous green claw discovered by Tovar and Garin, but it is barely minutes before the beast is revealed in all its CGI glory.

<snip>

By its end, The Great Wall leaves you with the feeling that it must be a metaphor – after all, the Taotie were, according to legend, brought down by their own greed – but hazy about what exactly the moral is. Is it a warning over rampant Chinese consumerism? A caution against marauding foreigners and invading foreign values? A reminder about the power of collectivism over individualism? Or is it really just a good old romp between goodies and baddies?

While the plot is straightforward and twists largely non-existent, The Great Wall succeeds as a no-nonsense visual extravaganza with plenty of adventure, and has been generally well-received by domestic audiences. Whether it has done enough to differentiate itself and achieve mainstream international success remains to be seen.

Rotten Tomatoes also lists a fresh review taken from the Irish Times. Unfortunately, the review was for a documentary called "The Great Wall" and has nothing to do with this title.

Douban User Review Average: 5.8/10 (10 050 votes)

 

[Bruce Springsteen]

I thought the trailer looked great and look forward to seeing this

 

[Lifejumper]

Great reviews!

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

I might watch this for the spectacle of it.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Ironically this feels less like whitewashed casting and more like Chinese backer money extraneously hiring a Hollywood star for no reason, like those stories about American celebrities being paid $1 million to attend parties for dictators or whatever.

 

[Window]

Zhang is a great director so it's disappointing to see this didn't turn out so well. He's been able to deliver on well crafted spectacle before.

 

[kswiston]

$24M in China from previews and opening day. The film should have a decent Chinese gross (at least $100M), but I dont think that it will come close to justifying its pricetag worldwide.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

Yeah this had warning signs all over the place

 

[andythinkpad]

Just tell me hiw does it compare to Last Samurai (in term of entertainment value and progressiveness)

 

[ebullientprism]

So its not great but watchable? Like most monster/CGI movies these days then.

I might give it a look if it releases here. I always enjoy those.

 

[The Jackdog]

Great reviews!

are we reading the same reviews?

 

[iosefe]

Ironically this feels less like whitewashed casting and more like Chinese backer money extraneously hiring a Hollywood star for no reason, like those stories about American celebrities being paid $1 million to attend parties for dictators or whatever.

I thought that was exactly what this was?

They wanted to create interest here in The west so they got Matt Damon

 

[HStallion]

I still think they should have gone with my Attack on Titan style of this movie where its all the Chinese cats defending their wall from giant flesh eating naked Matt Damon's

 

[Arkeband]

I thought the most expensive Chinese movie is one that still hasn't finished editing yet - Empires of the Deep?

Have to admit, every time I hear of this film, it reminds me of this crazy story

https://magazine.atavist.com/sunk

^ this

 

[Elandyll]

Have to admit, every time I hear of this film, it reminds me of this crazy story

https://magazine.atavist.com/sunk

 

[Aegus]

Matt Damon is the actor equivalent of white men being hired to sit in on chinese business meetings in a suit isn't he?

 

[Acinixys]

Should have called it

Dragon Bourne

 

[kswiston]

I thought the most expensive Chinese movie is one that still hasn't finished editing yet - Empires of the Deep?



^ this

I guess I could have added "in release". There are a few more expensive films in production there currently.

 

[Shiggy]

I just went to watch it in cinema. It's a terrible movie. The "story" is ridiculously bad, so were the CG effects and environments.



Some examples:
These alien things attack the Wall the first time. Why do the warriors do bungee jumping to attack them when they could just throw their Spears from the Wall? With the bungee jumping, the aliens got to catch them.

Then during the second attack on the Wall, why was the Wall itself suddenly upgraded? They were able to move the Wall up, which then revealed blades which cut aliens which were climbing the Wall.

And then in the end, why was the palace area not protected at all when compared to the Wall? What did the aliens even really try to achieve?

Of course, as always, in the end the White guy had to save them all. Matt Damon's voice actor didn't do the best job though.



I went in with really low expectations, If I wanted to say something positive it would be that I didn't notice anything negative about the soundtrack (I don't recall anything about it to be fair).


Avoid this movie! I only went because my friends wanted to go and because it got high ratings...

 

[kswiston]

A Fresh (3/5) review by the Guardian (added to the OP)

Earlier allegations of “whitewashing” seem, in the main, unfounded. The foreigners really don’t cover themselves in glory; they run, steal and trick each other, providing occasional comic relief, while the Chinese demonstrate self-sacrifice and discipline. A dishevelled Garin spends much of the film struggling to comprehend the system the Order embodies, confused and humbled by the language and the culture. His life-saving acts of heroism are returned with just as much aplomb.

Meanwhile the Order does need all hands on deck, because things get gory very quickly. Barely 15 minutes into the film, soldiers are being dismembered by Taotie in a series of high-octane battles. There are plenty of watchable fight scenes, but countless missed opportunities to create suspense. Our first glimpse of the Taotie is an intriguingly enormous green claw discovered by Tovar and Garin, but it is barely minutes before the beast is revealed in all its CGI glory.

<snip>

By its end, The Great Wall leaves you with the feeling that it must be a metaphor – after all, the Taotie were, according to legend, brought down by their own greed – but hazy about what exactly the moral is. Is it a warning over rampant Chinese consumerism? A caution against marauding foreigners and invading foreign values? A reminder about the power of collectivism over individualism? Or is it really just a good old romp between goodies and baddies?

While the plot is straightforward and twists largely non-existent, The Great Wall succeeds as a no-nonsense visual extravaganza with plenty of adventure, and has been generally well-received by domestic audiences. Whether it has done enough to differentiate itself and achieve mainstream international success remains to be seen.

 

[Rymuth]

Finished. This was very watchable, certainly more than Assassins Bore.

Couple of notes

- very colorful movie. A lot things catch your gaze

- Matt Damon had an Irish accent that was very heavy in one scene and completely gone the next

- Felt like watching two movies. The Chinese segments had freeflowing camera but whenever the focus came on Matt Damon, it's all close ups with way too much zoom in like they're saying "oh hey can you believe it's Matt Damon??"

- 3rd act was a stumble. Really wished they

Spoiler

remained defending the wall

- like a previous poster said, the Blue Armored division was nonsensical. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the army has color coded divisions (Red = archers, Purple = shield bearers) it all made sense...everything except for the Blue Division. They bungee jump down and stab the beasts one at a time. Far too much manpower is devoted to working the bungee cords for an attack that kills one at a time...you really need to see it in person to gufffaw at its uselessness. Felt like China desperately wanted its own AoT

 

[Messofanego]

Finished. This was very watchable, certainly more than Assassins Bore.

Couple of notes

- very colorful movie. A lot things catch your gaze

- Matt Damon had an Irish accent that was very heavy in one scene and completely gone the next

- Felt like watching two movies. The Chinese segments had freeflowing camera but whenever the focus came on Matt Damon, it's all close ups with way too much zoom in like they're saying "oh hey can you believe it's Matt Damon??"

- 3rd act was a stumble. Really wished they

Spoiler

remained defending the wall

- like a previous poster said, the Blue Armored division was nonsensical. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the army has color coded divisions (Red = archers, Purple = shield bearers) it all made sense...everything except for the Blue Division. They bungee jump down and stab the beasts one at a time. Far too much manpower is devoted to working the bungee cords for an attack that kills one at a time...you really need to see it in person to gufffaw at its uselessness. Felt like China desperately wanted its own AoT

Maybe it's just product placement for bungee companies. I hear they're quite popular in China, especially with the Macau Tower. I mean, the whole movie looks more like a business deal, so why not? lol

 

[SomedayTheFire]

matt damon having an irish accent even for a hot minute means i will never ever watch this film.

 

[Messofanego]

matt damon having an irish accent even for a hot minute means i will never ever watch this film.

He's just tapping into his Bostonian roots.

 

[boiled goose]

So Chinese cultural Cheerleading and lotr Ripoff sequences.

No thanks.

 

[HiResDes]

So is this a future dystopian film set during the collapse of America in the Trump Era?

 

[Deleted member 22576]

I'm in theater for this right now and absolutely nobody is here.

 

[MrBS]

I saw this one tonight and enjoyed it. As harmless action goes it got the job done. Great looking movie too. So colourful!

 

[Parahan]

With this and that Jackie chan movie I imagine this is how it gets made. The producers sit at the table with the writers and a long list of things statistically proven to appeal to China + one other nation demo and dictate them to be shoehorned. Then send the script to managers of famous actors along with checks that would make anyone whore out their integrity and taste.

 

[shira]

With this and that Jackie chan movie I imagine this is how it gets made. The producers sit at the table with the writers and a long list of things statistically proven to appeal to China + one other nation demo and dictate them to be shoehorned. Then send the script to managers of famous actors along with checks that would make anyone whore out their integrity and taste.

This does not bode well for dark skinned actors.

As progressive as we claim to be in the West, China is gonna China.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

It's weird to see such an apparent misstep from Zhang Yimou.
Did his other movies review well in the US?
It might be a while before I get to see it but I'm still intrigued by this film.

 

[old manatee]

 

[hampig]

Have to admit, every time I hear of this film, it reminds me of this crazy story

https://magazine.atavist.com/sunk

That was a great read, thanks.

 

[Trojita]

To be fair this is a Chinese movie. Having a white guy is actually diverse

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Lots of fun! Super rad movie!

 

[Beaulieu]

kind of liked it too
especially the army with all the different colors