The Great Wall

Year: 2017

Genre: Action

Directed: Yimou Zhang

Stars: Matt Damon, Tian Jing, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau, Hanyu Zhang, Lu Han, Kenny Lin, Eddie Peng, Xuan Huang, Ryan Zheng, Karry Wang, Vicky Yu, Bing Liu

Production: Universal Pictures

Well the writing is clearly on the wall with this one. Proudly declared in this enthralling and sumptuous siege movie is a pretty fundamental economic message. A message which up until now, has only been hinted at in films as variant as Transformers: Age of the Markie Mark (2014) and xXx: The Return of Xtra Cash (2017). It’s been an entire generation since we started seeing “Made in China” carved into a large swath of our clothing, electronics and other such products. Now it seems we’re starting to send them something back in earnest. If you happen to be confused about what that something is, it’s okay it’s not for you anyway. Heck it’s not even about you anymore.

The Great Wall stars Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal as craven European mercenaries seeking the fabled black powder which rumor has it, “can ignite the air.” When we first meet our small band of mercenaries, their numbers have dwindled due to fatigue, disease and the engagement of small barbarian war parties. Close to making a final stand against oncoming hordes, the Europeans stumble onto a deadly siege 60 years in the making; pitting Song Dynasty armies and the able Commander Lin (Jing) against a hungry swarm of alien creatures.

The main question asked in the front of the film is whether Damon’s William character will use his mad archery skills to serve a worthy cause larger than himself, or continue on the path of shallow, personal enrichment and greed. “You and I are very different,” the Commander says in a moment of defensive parlay. Both she and William are soldiers, born and bred, but Lin it seems has a moral compass that somehow makes her irreproachable. To further hammer the point home, the aliens bleed green, are faked out by a literal compass and ravenously consume everything in their path at the behest of an ugly looking queen.

Damon is for the sake of drinking everything in (and box office draw), our ostensible lead. We see nearly everything from his point of view and his character growth is clearly the most obvious. Yet the tale of William and his cynical partner Tovar (Pascal) is one that at times feels ancillary to the intrigue along the 5,500 mile wall. They’re basically the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of China; they make snarky remarks, are treated as honored guests, are oblivious to the tragedy around them and don’t really do anything of consequence. Coupled with the duo always sporting drab colors and you got yourself a couple of leads that all but fade into the background while minor characters just seem to pop out.

Of course if anyone was going to bring an interesting color palette into this, it’d be director Yimou Zhang. Once again the veteran director of Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004) is bring his resplendent A-game, injecting his sets with multihued designs, costuming and concepts. In the film’s big climax, Lin and William scale a stain glass spire that has beams of light coming in seemingly from all sides. There’s no reason for this of course, but there’s no denying how absolutely breathtaking it looks.

By-in-large, the visuals are what saves The Great Wall from being a total waste of time. That and internalizing the lessons learned from a movie that casts a much wider net as far as audiences are concerned, while fishing in shallower waters when it comes to content. The Great Wall is not a smart movie, nor is it a particularly unique one. But if you’re willing to accept Damon dawning China-red armor and being part of a cheerleading squad for Beijing then I say 祝你好运.

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Final Grade: C-