"Is that the best you've got?"
This expensive collision of Hollywood and China is provoking controversy for the oddest of reasons, largely by people who do not appear to have seen the film. Essentially, it is a big-budget huge-scale mythic fantasy with Matt Damon (stoic, charming) and Pedro Pascal (a good comedic foil) in the fish-out-of water characters who are seeking gunpowder but find themselves embroiled in the centuries-old battle to repel rampaging monsters - hence the building of The Great Wall Of China. Visually it is inventive and clearly fits into the Far East fantasy cinema tradition, nearly every shot is incredibly dense and vivid (a perfect showcase for IMAX 3D), although the creatures themselves are hardly original and look very similar to those in the Kong Skull Island trailer. As the greedy, self-absorbed Westerners learn about trust, sacrifice and honour from their new Chinese comrades, there is a good balance between monster-bashing spectacle and effective performance work from a generally strong cast. The Great Wall has proved to be an interesting experiment that has created a fairly enjoyable if surprisingly slight epic fantasy romp.
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