![]() ![]() Matt Damon plays William, a mercenary soldier whose accent suggests he’s from Ireland, or has at least spent a lot of time swigging Guinness in Irish bars. It’s also the most epic project fêted Chinese director Zhang Yimou has taken on since he directed the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, as well as his first English-language film. It is the biggest-ever China-Hollywood co-production, the most expensive film shot entirely in China, and arrives at a time when the global industry is increasingly facing towards the East. The Great Wall opens in the US on Friday February 17th, 2017.As is perhaps fitting for a film based onĪ 13,000-mile-long stone structure, The Great Wall bears a huge weight of expectation. “Sources say Wanda became frustrated with his management and recent projects such as The Great Wall and the currently shooting Pacific Rim 2,” THR wrote.Īll in all, The Great Wall was enjoyable enough, and hopefully audiences will give it a chance. The reasoning reaches far and wide, but one of the most resonating ones comes from The Hollywood Reporter. Anytime a large film house’s CEO resigns, it’s big news, and maybe some readers missed with Thomas Tull of Legendary Pictures stepped down in January of 2017. His presence was not really all that important to the action or the storyline, even though yes, he did help land the final blow on the Taoti Queen.Īnd let’s remember that this is the first release from Legendary after the resignation of their CEO. I can’t help but feel Matt Damon was attached to this project in order to get it pushed into mainstream theaters and in front of your average viewer. SCORE: 2.75 OUT OF 5, viewed in 3D, would see again in standard non 3D. Knowing his previous work however, many fans of his lush style and pretty well rounded storytelling will more than likely be disappointed. While not as exciting as you may think a film built around such strong mythos, director Yimou Zhang does deliver a visual world I wanted to see more of. Their only other weakness is magnets, because meteorite/magnets, makes sense. We get a backstory for the creatures, that a meteorite struck a nearby mountain and the Taoti came shortly thereafter. We find out the creatures are called the Taoti, and General Shao has been working on building up his army to push them back for several years. This is a big deal to the Nameless Order. William and Tovar manage to NOT get eaten by one of the creatures, and end up killing two who have jumped over the wall by themselves. I mean really, the spectacle of watching the battle happen is super enjoyable, and I feel no shame in saying so. There are giant mechanical arms that toss flaming bombardment ordinance, there are archers dressed in red who rain arrows down, there are a troop of women dressed all in blue who fly over the wall on guidewires to stab the creatures in the eyes (seemingly the only way to kill them). The Wall’s defenses are imaginative and pretty awesome to watch unfurl. Commander Lin ( Tian Jing) calls for their death, but luckily for the mercs the creatures chose this time to attack. No one believes William’s story about being ‘traders’, their full armor kinda gives it away, so does his weird accent. They unintentionally run right to The Wall, surrendering their weapons rather than fighting yet another group of hill tribe warriors, and are brought to General Shao ( Hanyu Zhang). Mercenaries William (Matt Damon) and Tovar (Pedro Pascal) encounter one of the green creatures while escaping hill tribes on their search for the mysterious ‘black powder’ men from the West wanted. Turns out, every 60 years, a race of four legged creatures attacks China and an army called The Nameless Order defeats them from on top of The Wall. The Great Wall opens with a bit of history about the wall that it took 1700 years to complete, stretches 5500 miles, and holds secrets the public won’t ever know. Despite the great black-lash of casting Hollywood darling Matt Damon in a film about the Great Wall of China, his presence is far less bothersome than you’d expect. I’m as surprised as anyone, but for a mindless fantasy-war epic, the enjoyment far outweighed the ridiculous spectacle.
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