The Great Wall of China is one of the greatest man made achievements in human history and it’s ripe for exploration in film. The mysterious element of something so monstrous can be used at many different angles and genres, and yet we get stuck with The Great Wall. Though the premise is hardly a dull idea, the
results are incredibly lackluster, without anything as engaging or wild, as it
probably should’ve been.
The Great Wall screams of a concept
rather than an actual film and it shows in the production design and the
battles. It’s a clearly more spectacle than story and when the battles are
happening the film works in terms of entertainment. There is still no
attachment to the characters or real stakes involved but the fights themselves
are interesting. The film really misses the mark on what could’ve been a world
that could’ve built up its own lore up rather than being just a surface level
affair.
I usually like to
talk about the characters in a film and the performances behind them, but there
really aren’t characters here. The lead, Matt Damon, has a character that’s
apparently shifts his entire persona to be a hero but we never see him be
anything other than that. Damon also uses an accent that is sometimes there and
sometimes isn’t, a strange choice throughout. If nothing else Pedro Pascal has
good chemistry with Damon and gets a lot of good comedic moments, but again his
character decisions fluctuate in weird ways. Willem Dafoe has a completely
useless character though his performance is fine and while Tian Jing has an
interesting backstory there is no exploration of this at all, just hints of
storylines that never really go anywhere.
As I said before,
the battles actually work, besides some iffy CGI from time to time, and are
exciting while you’re in them. Due to the complete lack of building a story,
the cool moments and different strategies and weapons used to kill the monsters
are able to shine through. However, in a completely illogical turn of events,
the entire anti-climatic third act takes place away from the wall, the entire
setting for the film prior to this.
Overall, The Great Wall doesn’t deliver on what
could’ve been if nothing else a fun popcorn film. But outside of some cool
battle elements and a few comedic moments, the film can’t offer much else. The
characters are non-existent and get lost in the visual spectacle of the
battles. Despite not being quite as bad as I expected, The Great Wall is
far from good let alone great.
So what did you think of the The Great Wall? Have you seen it and what is your favorite completely fantastical portrayal of history? Share, subscribe, comment below, and as always return to I Am Sam for weekly reviews.
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