The Great Wall stars Matt Damon and is yet another example of whitewashing in Hollywood films. It was one of my biggest takeaways from the film, though only one of many aspects of the film and plot that I struggled to come to terms with. Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal portray William and Tovar, two westerners that lack honour and creed, and in search of a myth, discover entirely new eastern legends that they inexplicably are the only ones capable of providing solutions for. That, in itself,f was quite a sin. To provide a backstory that dates back over 1700 years from the time period of the film, that has the Chinese soldiers successfully doing a task until hours after the Europeans arrive just reeks of lazy writing; an obvious attempt to make western audiences empathize with it purely because of the Caucasian ethnicity of the actors involved. Personally, I would have preferred an entirely eastern cast.
The film includes a lot of CGI, and sadly the budget of the film wasn't quite enough. Many of the environments come off unrealistic and grainy, and the threats in the film are immense in quantity, size, and strength. The speed of movement, numbers, and the overall ferocity of the threats in the film make it very hard to get truly invested in the film; the odds are insurmountable, and there is no real subtle hints or subtext. You notice things and people that will be relevant later in the plot, but there is no way that the viewer has any chance of figuring it out. It all has to be spelt out with narratives and storytelling. So you just sit back and watch the carnage, waiting for the next step.
That being said, as an action film, there are many parts that I enjoyed. The defence mechanisms set up in the wall were a great touch; sieges have been pretty overdone in film battles, so there were some nice original designs and adaptations to existing ideas, that kept up the excitement. While many of the different coloured Chinese squads helped to differentiate between tasks easily, you couldn't help but laugh at the lack of realism at most of the ideas (specifically the acrobatic specialist Crane troop).
There were several points in the film that managed to elicit a laugh from the audience, generally Pedro Pascal being the source. As well as laughs, the film managed to fit in a few scares, which maintained their shock value regardless of the predictability of the actions. Despite the mix of action, theatrics, laughs, and shocks, the film laboured towards the end; the European mercenary subplot, really halting the plot progression.
There was a lot of potential with the film. I loved the Chinese fighting styles, and the cultural aspects used in the film. I would have preferred a much more manageable threat, however, as there really was no reason why the monsters wouldn't win in the first wave. I really wanted to see these differing Chinese units fighting a proper battle, rather than each colour having a single method of attack. The European stars had better action scenes, better choreography and a variety of fighting styles. With a more manageable threat, perhaps greater attention could have been taken with the CGI.
A film that would be fun to watch, but not a film I would want to think about. Simply two teams fighting with as many explosions added as possible. The Great Wall? Not quite. It was a reasonable wall.
Originally posted on: http://djin.nz/Kr7467