The Great Wall (C or 2/4 stars)
Directed by Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) - who orchestrated the opening & closing ceremonies of Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games - 'The Great Wall' is an action/fantasy epic that tells us of a 12th century Chinese legend. Riding on horseback through the Gobi desert, Irish mercenary William (Matt Damon) & his sidekick Tovar (Pedro Pascal) evade nomads in the rugged-but-gorgeous steppes while searching for 'black (gun) powder'; which will change the future of war. When they're taken prisoner by The Nameless Order, led by General Shao & attractive female Commander Lin (Jing Tian), they discover that the Great Wall was not necessarily built to protect from foreign invaders {such as them}. Instead, it is a fortress against hordes of voracious, dinosaur/alien-like monsters – the mythical Tao Tei – that attack humans every 60 years.
The pageantry/choreography of the 1st battle scene is off-the-charts amazing. The formations of the military garrison are color-coded: crimson archers with crossbows, and a vivid blue Crane Corps of spear-wielding, female aerialists, bungee-jumping down the Great Wall to stab said monsters ... SO cool. Commander Lin is suspicious of William & Tovar's motives, but decides that they are needed to help fight the otherworldly monsters. Meanwhile, lurking within the Great Wall corridors is another Western captive, Ballard (Willem Dafoe), who helps Tovar plan an escape - and hopefully with some black powder in tow. Chaos ensues, culminating in a dazzling-if-preposterous conclusion involving hot-air balloons in the capital city of Bianliang.
'The Great Wall' is frustrating because after a spectacular opening 30 minutes, the rest of the film slows to a crawl, and the high-octane finale goes too over-the-top {CGI overload}. But I relished those 1st 30 minutes. The landscape cinematography is astoundingly beautiful. Our cinematic introduction to the Great Wall is eye-popping. The initial encounter btwn. William & the Chinese military leader is great. The set designs & costumes are staggeringly sumptuous. The sequence involving the encroaching monsters is suspenseful. The monsters, themselves, are scary as all get-out. Any time the drums are pounded by the Chinese warriors, my pulse raced, and I was reminded of Yimou's fabulous Opening/Closing ceremonies work at the '08 Summer Olympics in Beijing. And the choreographed action was riveting -- eyes glued to the screen. Succinctly put, I was eating all of this UP.
But then matters settle down and both the narrative & the action came to a halt. The early energy dissipated. The script became hokey pretty quick {some 6 screenwriters -- never a good sign}. And as mentioned before, the dazzling hot-air balloon sequence in Bianling - while impressive to see - made little sense & overwhelmed the senses; even though I realize we were operating in full-blown action FANTASY mode {Zhang Yimou threw everything onto the screen + the kitchen sink}. I also wasn't wild about the clipped final scenes. There is a character betrayal/re-acceptance that I did not "buy". And I just felt like the film did not live up to the early magnificence. Matt Damon is fine in the lead role {man-bun and all, haha}; he IS an action star nowadays. I appreciate that Zhang Yimou avoids stereotyping: the white characters are portrayed as fairly barbaric, while the Chinese are honorable; and you can never go wrong with a fearless, badass female leader. Not a "bad" movie -- I just wish the last hour had the mastery of the 1st 30 minutes.
The pageantry/choreography of the 1st battle scene is off-the-charts amazing. The formations of the military garrison are color-coded: crimson archers with crossbows, and a vivid blue Crane Corps of spear-wielding, female aerialists, bungee-jumping down the Great Wall to stab said monsters ... SO cool. Commander Lin is suspicious of William & Tovar's motives, but decides that they are needed to help fight the otherworldly monsters. Meanwhile, lurking within the Great Wall corridors is another Western captive, Ballard (Willem Dafoe), who helps Tovar plan an escape - and hopefully with some black powder in tow. Chaos ensues, culminating in a dazzling-if-preposterous conclusion involving hot-air balloons in the capital city of Bianliang.
'The Great Wall' is frustrating because after a spectacular opening 30 minutes, the rest of the film slows to a crawl, and the high-octane finale goes too over-the-top {CGI overload}. But I relished those 1st 30 minutes. The landscape cinematography is astoundingly beautiful. Our cinematic introduction to the Great Wall is eye-popping. The initial encounter btwn. William & the Chinese military leader is great. The set designs & costumes are staggeringly sumptuous. The sequence involving the encroaching monsters is suspenseful. The monsters, themselves, are scary as all get-out. Any time the drums are pounded by the Chinese warriors, my pulse raced, and I was reminded of Yimou's fabulous Opening/Closing ceremonies work at the '08 Summer Olympics in Beijing. And the choreographed action was riveting -- eyes glued to the screen. Succinctly put, I was eating all of this UP.
But then matters settle down and both the narrative & the action came to a halt. The early energy dissipated. The script became hokey pretty quick {some 6 screenwriters -- never a good sign}. And as mentioned before, the dazzling hot-air balloon sequence in Bianling - while impressive to see - made little sense & overwhelmed the senses; even though I realize we were operating in full-blown action FANTASY mode {Zhang Yimou threw everything onto the screen + the kitchen sink}. I also wasn't wild about the clipped final scenes. There is a character betrayal/re-acceptance that I did not "buy". And I just felt like the film did not live up to the early magnificence. Matt Damon is fine in the lead role {man-bun and all, haha}; he IS an action star nowadays. I appreciate that Zhang Yimou avoids stereotyping: the white characters are portrayed as fairly barbaric, while the Chinese are honorable; and you can never go wrong with a fearless, badass female leader. Not a "bad" movie -- I just wish the last hour had the mastery of the 1st 30 minutes.