Last night's film was The Great Wall, this may have seemed like a good idea at the time. A good director with a strong history, Chinese Zhang Yi-Mou made such classics as the beautiful Hero and the wonderful House of Flying Daggers. And The Great Wall may follow in their footsteps of being very good looking, but gets nowhere near their quality, it is largely braindead. It is a good example of an unrealised vision.
There are a few problems with it. The cliché ridden story is very simply and predictably written with shallow expository dialogue. Plot points come and go with seemingly no heft and bearing on the story. It says at the start of the film this is legend, so to excuse itself of some of the less believable developments. For instance the vast armies are experienced, brave and hugely skillful, but it seems not intelligent, a wandering westerner, Matt Damon, can turn up and command them using logic. The plot and characters seemed poorly developed - characters weren't likeable or relatable, and certain emotional moments didn't work due to lack of engagement. Unfortunately it wasn't a good role for Damon (his ally, played by Pedro Pascal, was more memorable) and none of the other characters really had much to do. There just wasn't much to be genuinely interested in.
For an all out action film about huge, highly skilled armies fighting mythical reptilian monsters, it is actually quite dull and should have been so much more. Ironically, as is often the case with modern CGI spectacle, less would have been more. Why do films do that? Focus so much on the spectacle, and a veneer of deep meaning, but neglect the basic storytelling. Unfortunately I believe the answer 9 out of 10 times is.. the almighty dollar.
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