THE GREAT WALL Review

It was funny, as when The Great Wall was to initially be released back in November or December of 2016 (which it still was in China) I imagined it to be Matt Damon's bid for the current Oscar season. Then, we finally caught our first glimpse of the film in late July just in time for Matt Damon's Jason Bourne to return to theaters. From that trailer alone it was clear this wasn't going to be the awards contender I imagined it to be based on the cast and other credentials, but rather that this was going to be something of an homage to the big budget action pictures of yesteryear. That it could potentially be one of those epics where ancient times were explored and mysteries explained via an entertaining interpretation was interesting and irrefutably intriguing. At the very least, the idea was this might be a good bit of fun and/or an inventive distraction that starred one of today's last-standing movie stars making the kind of movie only a true movie star could make. While all of that potential is still present on screen as the actual film unfolds what is not present is the sense of fun nor is the necessary entertainment factor that should seemingly come along with it. Rather, The Great Wall becomes something of a slog at only an hour and forty-five minutes with the film dedicating a majority of its runtime to a subplot that should have been abandoned the moment these mysterious creatures, for which the wall was built to keep out, finally rear their ugly heads and wreak havoc. Instead, the three-man screenwriting team decide to give these creatures a convoluted backstory and point of motivation that is exactly the opposite of motivating-meaning it deters us not only from caring about these creatures, much less their victims, but does nothing to instill an investment in anything that is happening. If anything at all, it only motivates us to look at our watches more often. And thus, it is the script where The Great Wall fails most consistently as director Yimou Zhang (Hero, House of Flying Daggers) certainly has the visual sense to accomplish what the screenplay requires and despite Damon's accent being in and out the cast largely made up of Chinese performers handle the drama and particularly the action well enough-it simply might have been more compelling had they better drama to work with.

Teaser Trailer for THE GREAT WALL Starring Matt Damon

With Jason Bourne opening this weekend it only made sense that Universal would also release the trailer for their next Matt Damon-led tentpole in The Great Wall. If it seems like you've been hearing or reading about this movie for some time that is likely because you have. At least five years ago there were talks of Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai) directing the film and a number of other actors (inlcuding Henry Cavill) starring in the lead role. As it has finally come to fruition though Universal has cast Damon in the lead and partnered with Legendary who are more or less a standalone entertainment company based in Hong Kong that have positioned themselves to produce films that are as commercially viable in China as they are worldwide (think Warcraft). In partnering with Legendary the studios have also brought in Hero and House of Flying Daggers director Zhang Yimou to helm the project and as far as visuals go this thing looks to be quite impressive. Though it is striking to see as white and as American a male as Matt Damon walking through hordes of Chinese soldiers in his Asian-inspired armor, one has to be curious exactly what the story is here especially given the plot summary only states that it is a mystery centered around the construction of the Great Wall of China. What we see in this first teaser though divulges the film will not necessarily be a strict drama that highlights one characters personal story concerning the construction of the wall as that's what I assumed it might be given it starred Damon and was originally set to be released this fall. Instead, we see that the great wall was built not only to keep out nomadic groups from the Chinese Empire, but apparently gigantic monsters as well. While the jury will be out on the story until after the movie comes out the visuals alone are enough to get me in a theater to experience this thing on the big screen. The Great Wall also stars Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Hanyu Zhang, Eddie Peng, Lu Han, Kenny Lin, Junkai Wang, Zheng Kai, Cheney Chen, Xuan Huang, Andy Lau, and will now open on February 17, 2017.