Two mercenaries arrive at the great wall of China, hoping to find the black powder, but instead become involved with the defence of the wall against a horde of creatures...
There's something about fantasy films that I just find appealing. I put it down to playing the likes of Dungeons & Dragons when younger. Like most film genres you get good films and bad. For every Lord Of The Rings trilogy, you get a Krull. Some, like the not good and yet somehow awesome Hawk The Slayer can become guilty pleasure.
The Great Wall is another that falls into that category.
The plot as surmised above is simple enough. But what elevates the film is the decisions made by the brilliant Yimou Zhang, the director of such films as Hero, House Of Flying Daggers or the underrated and largely forgotten film, the brilliant The Flowers Of War. He is a director who knows how to use visuals well and does so here. The inspired use of colours with regards the uniforms of the wall's defenders to designate the various squads helps keep track of who is where during the action. The use of CGI for the creatures is pretty good. And Zhang knows how to stage his action scenes and they are done very well indeed.
Matt Damon heads the cast and is pretty good, even if his accent is all over the place at times. There has been talk and stories in some quarters of how the film has Damon's character, William, saving the day. I feel this is unfair. While he is heavily involved, he's not the film's hero for me. That is Commander Lin Mae, very well played by Tian Jing. Pedro Pascal plays Tavor, William's friend and fellow mercenary. He too handles the action well and is good. There is a smaller role for Willem Dafoe, who does well with limited screen time. The supporting cast including Andy Lau are good too.
The score from Ramin Djawadi is pretty good, the film is well designed and shot and is never dull.
And yet, the film never quite hits the target. For all the good things in the film, it lacks the spark to make it a great one. I think it's down to one simple flaw; that there are no surprises in the film (okay there is one, the lack of a romance). The story hits every cliched beat you might expect. Also, while most of the CGI is well done, there are moments towards the end that don't work so well, especially in the balloon sequence towards the end.
But despite the flaws the film has, I did enjoy The Great Wall. It has been regarded as a big box office failure in the US, it has been more successful worldwide. I can't understand why really. When you put this film up against most big action films it's certainly better than a lot of the bigger US films of similar scale.
If you can still catch it in a cinema, go see it. It might not be a great film, but I think you will enjoy watching it.
Rating - 3/5
The Great Wall is another that falls into that category.
The plot as surmised above is simple enough. But what elevates the film is the decisions made by the brilliant Yimou Zhang, the director of such films as Hero, House Of Flying Daggers or the underrated and largely forgotten film, the brilliant The Flowers Of War. He is a director who knows how to use visuals well and does so here. The inspired use of colours with regards the uniforms of the wall's defenders to designate the various squads helps keep track of who is where during the action. The use of CGI for the creatures is pretty good. And Zhang knows how to stage his action scenes and they are done very well indeed.
Matt Damon heads the cast and is pretty good, even if his accent is all over the place at times. There has been talk and stories in some quarters of how the film has Damon's character, William, saving the day. I feel this is unfair. While he is heavily involved, he's not the film's hero for me. That is Commander Lin Mae, very well played by Tian Jing. Pedro Pascal plays Tavor, William's friend and fellow mercenary. He too handles the action well and is good. There is a smaller role for Willem Dafoe, who does well with limited screen time. The supporting cast including Andy Lau are good too.
The score from Ramin Djawadi is pretty good, the film is well designed and shot and is never dull.
And yet, the film never quite hits the target. For all the good things in the film, it lacks the spark to make it a great one. I think it's down to one simple flaw; that there are no surprises in the film (okay there is one, the lack of a romance). The story hits every cliched beat you might expect. Also, while most of the CGI is well done, there are moments towards the end that don't work so well, especially in the balloon sequence towards the end.
But despite the flaws the film has, I did enjoy The Great Wall. It has been regarded as a big box office failure in the US, it has been more successful worldwide. I can't understand why really. When you put this film up against most big action films it's certainly better than a lot of the bigger US films of similar scale.
If you can still catch it in a cinema, go see it. It might not be a great film, but I think you will enjoy watching it.
Rating - 3/5
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