There’s rarely a dull moment in this ambitious spectacle about a 12th century European mercenary in search of the fabled explosive “black powder that turns air into fire.” Arriving just in time for a long-dreaded siege, our protagonist - played by Matt Damon - ends up learning that trust is good, the Chinese invented tactical bungee jumping and women can be peerless military tacticians. West meets East to entertaining effect in Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall, which posits that fortuitous foreigners can be a big help and that China’s ancient Great Wall was really erected to keep excellent special effects critters with sharp teeth and nasty dispositions from reaching the nation’s capital. It also doesn’t help that he has far more chemistry with Pascal than with Tian, and while The Great Wall didn’t really work for me, I wouldn’t object to seeing Damon and Pascal co-star in more movies together.Dir: Zhang Yimou. On the one hand, I appreciate he didn’t go straight British for a period accent, but at the same time, you’re always aware that Damon is straining for some odd mixture of Scottish and Irish, and it’s incredibly distracting. That being said, Damon makes a bizarre choice with a weird accent that seems completely removed from place and time.
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Rather than the smooth, confident cinematography that lets the action shine, Yimou seems at a loss with what to do when crowding his movie with CGI monsters and actors like Damon and Pescal, who are charming and charismatic, but lack the martial arts skills of someone like Jet Li or Andy Lau. For all of the lavish production and costume design, the movie pales in comparison to Yimou’s past period actioners like Hero and House of Flying Daggers. So it’s a shame that the overall film is so bland and forgettable. Matt Damon may be the lead on the posters, but China is the true star of The Great Wall. China isn’t going anywhere, they play a huge role in international box office, and studios are realizing that Chinese audiences want to see Chinese people play the heroes. China footed the bill for The Great Wall, and although American audiences may not be used to another country getting to lead the way, they may want to get on board. While some may decry this as Chinese propaganda, it’s no more brazen than the American President leading the world in a rallying cry against aliens in Independence Day. Additionally, she’s a worthy fighter in her own right, and ultimately William’s purpose in the story isn’t to save the day, but to learn from Lin. William and Tovar are motivated by greed and self-interest while Lin shows that fighting for others is what’s truly important in life.
Yes, William is special in that he’s really good with a bow, but the film goes out of its way to make sure you know that Lin is the true hero of the story and that William becomes a better man by following her example. After proving themselves in battle, William and Tovar gain the trust of Commander Lin ( Jing Tian), but while Tovar still seeks to gain the black powder, William is intrigued by Lin’s exaltations of honor and sacrifice over personal gain.
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There, they discover that China is under attack by meteor monsters called the Tao Tei. However, they are captured by Chinese soldiers working for “The Nameless Order” and taken to the Great Wall. William (Damon) and Tovar ( Pedro Pascal) are soldiers from Europe who have come to China seeking the fabled “black powder”, an ingredient in a super weapon that could make them rich. And yet, despite the interesting subtext regarding our current geopolitical power dynamic, The Great Wall largely lacks the flair and intimacy of Yimou’s previous action films, and instead plays as a fairly rote blockbuster designed to appeal to everyone and thus appealing to no one. If anything, it’s China who comes out ahead in terms of glory and honor. After seeing Zhang Yimou’s period action film, I’m happy to report that’s not the case. Matt Damon would play the Chosen One of Anglo-Saxon descent who would come to savage China and save the hapless Chinese people from the monsters.
The advertising for The Great Wall made it looks like another white savior story.
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