1700 Years to Build. 5500 Miles Long. What Were The citizens of China trying to keep out, with “The Great Wall”? Set in 15th century China, The movie tells the story of two English mercenaries (Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal) hell bent on seeking a mystical black powder that withholds its own secrets. The duo who happen upon the hurried construction of the massive wall search for answers for the purpose of the immense structure. As night falls, the warriors realize that the haste and urgency in building the wall isn’t just to keep out the Mongols, but something completely inhuman and more dangerous that is anything but human. Together, the two cultures team up to survive the day against this ruthless barrage that brings the legends of Asian culture to life. The Great Wall is directed by visionary director Zhang Yimou, and is rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy action and violence.

From an aesthetics point of view, The Great Wall more than stands tall to its immense 150 million dollar budget. This is very much a gorgeous take on Asian culture and folklore that translates seamlessly throughout the many varieties of costume designs and backgrounds that ignite the creative touch in presentation from the mind of Yimou and his very definition of the term epic. There was never a point when I never felt fully immersed in the very vibrant colors and CGI work that felt very rich and luxurious in rendering capabilities. Not all of it is perfect, but the monsters that make up the movie actually move and respond with a physical presence because of the attention to detail that went into the action responses that went into the very elaborate set designs that make up our story. As usual, these monsters feel more believable from a distance, as opposed to the up close technology that just hasn’t perfected the palate of live action transitions yet. The 3D capabilities on a film like this are endless however, as there’s many times of gimmick pageantry to feed to the audience not afraid to spend the extra dollar for a more thrilling experience. Between arrows, flaming cannonballs, and POV base jumpers, Yimou’s presentation offers plenty to feast upon to make this movie at least a visual highlight.

Unfortunately, the positives all but reside within the visuals, because this movie’s screenplay is one of the most jarringly difficult sits that I’ve been through in some time. Over the course of dipping myself in very layered and exuberantly rich artistic merit, the screenplay to this movie constantly removed me from the element of suspension with some truly hauntingly bad dialogue to match the flimsy degree of logic that goes into this setting in time. Expecting a movie like this to be two hours feels commonplace anymore, but to get a quick sit of 92 minutes all but guarantees the hollow point material that resides. One of my biggest pet peeves in movies is when a film’s final resolution feels obvious and simplistic because of the obvious foreshadowing being presented early on. With the ending of this movie, I couldn’t help but struggle with how this army of thousands never came up with an idea like this considering they hold all of the cards in this game. This movie treats conflict with such a lack of importance, and that obvious handicap shows frequently as this movie feels desperate to give us something more in addition to the fight scenes. Some movies are just simply that; war movies, so the attempt to force our characters to abide by Americanized cliches shows more damage and disrespect to the story, further alienating it from its origins.

The editing also feels jumpy and often times confined because of its brief run time. There’s very little character development or backstory immediately in the first act of this movie, so we’re essentially coming into this world with these characters with no understanding of their motivations or moral compasses, and this is made even worse when certain scenes feel like they were sliced by a Hollywood studio thirsty to add in some last minute elements that were frankly unnecessary. The most intrigue that I got from the screenplay was when they let everything play out on the battle field. Without those scenes, this movie feels very cut-and-dry, and even mostly predictable to where the story was headed. Rushed, impatient and most of all flimsy, The Great Wall feels more concerned with the spectacle instead of understanding the brick-by-brick ground work to what makes the Asian war genre so enticing.

Matt Damon leads a supporting cast of relative unknowns to American culture, but it’s in those supporting characters where I felt the performances ranged the strongest. Jing Tian in particularly presents a strong female character who is usually demeaned for the damsel role, but here holds the movie’s resistance in the palm of her hands. Tian has the look of the next Zhang Ziyi, and a lot of that is because of exceptional stunt work that packed a violent punch in such a small frame. As for Damon himself, I honestly didn’t think that his performance was anything memorable or justified as being picked for this particular role. Damon is a fantastic actor, but I think Hollywood is at that point where they are trying to make him into something that he most definitely is not. As William Garin, Damon’s release feels very hollow and dry. He’s not a character that is anything more than one-dimensional, so I found it difficult to absorb Damon’s delivery in this kind of setting. Willem Dafoe is completely wasted with very little to do for his arc. Considering he is in the movie for about a half hour, Dafoe’s Ballard feels like a missed opportunity for the very origin and importance of the Black Powder. It’s great that a film so wrapped in its Asian history can reflect that on-screen, but the lack of excitement from Damon and Dafoe leave more to be desired on the argument against Hollywood Whitewashing.

The Great Wall’s size lies in its near flawless execution of visual fireworks sure to catch the attention of those who take it in its ambitiously wonderuos feats. Where it crumbles under the pressure is in voided character charisma, as well as predictable expositional arcs that feel too rushed to keep everything from collapsing. Zhang Yimou’s latest dazzles in spectacle, but fizzles out in technical incompetence, limiting the audience with an experience that fails to capture the history and legend of its prominent structure.

5/10