Also, there seems to be a message about alliances with outsiders: Damon’s William Garin, good Dafoe’s Sir Ballard (a tutor who made it to Cathay 250 years before Marco Polo), bad and Pascal’s Pero Tovar - who knows? Which way are the winds blowing the air balloons today? The point seems to be: Don’t mess with China because in addition to our Wall we have such a highly disciplined, well-equipped military we’ll kick your asses. In addition to its highly coveted “black powder,” the ancient Chinese invented the air force with a number of hot air balloons (although if they’re so brainy how come they didn’t bother to come up with baskets for passengers to ride in, instead of precarious open air platforms?!). Although the six (half a dozen - and this is what they come up with?!) accredited scribes are Westerners, as mentioned above, like Jackie Chan’s Dragon Blade, Wall appears to embed propaganda for the Chinese military, which is very favorably depicted as being a well-oiled and -trained, extremely efficient fighting force with surprisingly advanced weaponry for 1,000 years ago. To be fair, according to the scribbling credits, the masterminds behind this script, such as it is, include frequent Damon collaborator on the Bourne pix Tony Gilroy, Ed Zwick and Max Brooks. But how many flaming cannonballs can one take? After a while, I stopped ducking, because you could see it all coming from a mile away, and I just felt sorry for Damon and Dafoe, that they were so broke (ethically, if not financially) that they needed the paycheck from this mindless FX-palooza loser. Like the early 3D flick 1954’s Drum of Tahiti, with flaming spears and the like being tossed directly toward the camera lens, Wall functions largely as a platform for its Real 3D, IMAX 3D high tech high-jinks, with Taotie after Taotie and toady after toady seemingly hurled right at the viewer. Most of Wall’s plot - which is not only, repetitive, redundant, recurring and tediously repeats itself over and over and over again - deals with the Westerners joining forces with the Chinese military to defeat the monstrous invaders. Santiago-born Pedro Pascal is added to the mix, presumably to entice Game of Thrones fantasy buffs (he played the HBO series’ Oberyn Martell), plus, methinks, that coveted Chilean demographic.Īn explanatory title at Wall’s beginning (BTW, much of the film is in Chinese with English subtitles, which are heaps of fun to read while wearing 3D goggles) claims that China’s 5,500-mile long Great Wall - the only manmade object large enough for astronauts to see from outer space - was built not only to keep out invading armies, but according to legend, to prevent monsters called “Taoties” from entering China.
Indeed, what might have been an interesting cross-cultural saga is just an excuse for a big budge monster movie, with Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe embarrassing themselves in front of the camera with what is supposed to be “acting” but are really intended to lure Yankee Doodle dollars to the box office and to give this pic a patina of respectability. Mind you, this is about a quarter of a millennium before the Venetian Marco Polo actually traveled to the Middle Kingdom, so you know we’re entering the realm of ahistorical fantasy (or, as Kellyanne Conman put it, “alternative facts”) here. during the Song Dynasty, when Westerners seeking what’s called “Black Powder” - gunpowder - venture forth from Europe to China on horseback. The not-so-great Great Wall is set around 1000 A.D. Put your brains into neutral and the 3D glasses on to watch this vapid but eye-popping big budget picture which, at $135-150 million USD, is reportedly the most expensive movie ever made in what had once upon a time been the People’s Republic of China. The use of Real 3D and IMAX 3D is what The Great Wall is really all about - not a story or, heavens’ forbid, character development - although to be sure, there is a hidden propagandistic message about Beijing’s military might and policies. Aside from some stunning cinematography, special effects and scenery, this U.S.-China co-production lensed, according to, on location in Qinqdao and New Zealand (!) is more about cashing in on the growing international audience of the PRC and USA.
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