The Great Wall is a moderately decent fantasy action film with some lackluster CG monsters. Apparently, if a movie has a place with a giant wall and monsters there will now be a scene where they climb over each other to reach the the top. Despite that, director Yimou Zhang (Hero and House of Flying Daggers) manages to make a beautiful looking film with some fun moments and a few solid performances.
The Great Wall is an entertaining popcorn movie.
William (Matt Damon) and Tovar (Pedro Pascal) are on a quest to find a mysterious black powder that supposedly lights the sky on fire when their party is attacked by a strange monster. William manages to kill it and keeps its arm as proof of what they saw. They soon find themselves prisoners of the Nameless Order who work in the Great Wall. Commander Lin Mae (Tian Jing) and Strategist Wang (Andy Lau) speak English and are able to give them a bit of a break because of their encounter with the Tao Tei.
Pedro Pascal was the comedy relief of the film and one of the highlights. While the overall war aspect of the film’s tone is serious, Pascal offers to lighten up the intensity in a way that made the film enjoyable. Damon and Pascal had quite a bit of chemistry and were entertaining on-screen together. However, they were essentially super soldiers who were able to do what other soldiers were failing at achieved. An army who had been training for years to fight this monstrous enemy needed these two would-be thieves in order to become victorious.
There is also a hinted at love story between Commander Lin Mae and William, but luckily it plays out in a way that is more satisfying than it could have. That love story is part of the problem with the film, which is having too many storylines. There is the love story, Willem Dafoe’s back story and escape plan, and the emperor’s story, which to be fair ties in with the main story. It’s really not just an issue of too many as much as too many amongst a spectacle that should be enough to sustain a film.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, the film is fun at times yet leaves something to be desired. It’s not going to be a fantasy film that one revisits like Lord of the Rings, but it’s still better than many others. The Great Wall earns the rating Decent Watch.
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