I'll be honest, I thought that this movie will be very bad. Came out in the month where movies expected to be blessed with negative reviews, it was no surprise that I thought it would be one of those ill-fated movies.
In the end, I've underestimated it.
"The Great Wall" follows William (Matt Damon), a mercenary who tries to obtain the "Black Powder", a deadly explosive, only to get caught in a battle against monsters that awakens every 60 years. For those who doubt that it will be good, mark my words: Don't underestimate this movie. The movie was a surprise all the way to finish. The acting was great, The visuals were amazing, the cinematography was breathtaking, and the action were incredible. Matt Damon as always gives a fine performance as the hero (Heck, even his Mandarin, although only a word, is very good). Andy Lau were also great as Strategist Wang in his first Hollywod movie. The biggest surprise was the female lead played by Jing Tian, she's really good and surprisingly, pretty fluent in English. William Dafoe (I not expect him to be in this movie) is also very great. Lu Han (Yes EXO-L's! It's EXO's Luhan!) is a scene stealer. Although he has a small role, He's very good at acting and truly one of my favorite characters in the movie. My criticism was it's plot. It's basic idea is like Independence Day with Chinese culture mix. Although it actually worked very well, but *SPOILER ALERT!!!* Kill the queen or we all die?", come on writers, you can do better than this. Another one is the length. A 100 minute movie isn't enough for a story with this kind of scale. If only the studio made it like 2 hours, it would be better for more character development and understanding the story.
Additionally, I don't understand all the negative reviews, especially from Chinese audiences. I'm a Chinese-Indonesian, and I absolutely love this movie. I saw criticism about the main lead being American. I'm telling you, there are 5 main leads in the movie, and *SPOILER ALERT!!!* 3 of them are Chinese, Plus most of the focus IMO are directed to the Chinese main characters. Another one is that the movie isn't based on the legend of The Great Wall. This is a fantasy movie, so of course it's not! The film even mentioned it in the beginning!!! To me, these negative reviews are purely hate for this movie. I think that most of them haven't seen the movie and simply hate it for no reason.
Overall it was a surprisingly good movie, and arguably one of the greater movies in January. If you want to see a fantasy movie, this is a perfect movie for you
In the end, I've underestimated it.
"The Great Wall" follows William (Matt Damon), a mercenary who tries to obtain the "Black Powder", a deadly explosive, only to get caught in a battle against monsters that awakens every 60 years. For those who doubt that it will be good, mark my words: Don't underestimate this movie. The movie was a surprise all the way to finish. The acting was great, The visuals were amazing, the cinematography was breathtaking, and the action were incredible. Matt Damon as always gives a fine performance as the hero (Heck, even his Mandarin, although only a word, is very good). Andy Lau were also great as Strategist Wang in his first Hollywod movie. The biggest surprise was the female lead played by Jing Tian, she's really good and surprisingly, pretty fluent in English. William Dafoe (I not expect him to be in this movie) is also very great. Lu Han (Yes EXO-L's! It's EXO's Luhan!) is a scene stealer. Although he has a small role, He's very good at acting and truly one of my favorite characters in the movie. My criticism was it's plot. It's basic idea is like Independence Day with Chinese culture mix. Although it actually worked very well, but *SPOILER ALERT!!!* Kill the queen or we all die?", come on writers, you can do better than this. Another one is the length. A 100 minute movie isn't enough for a story with this kind of scale. If only the studio made it like 2 hours, it would be better for more character development and understanding the story.
Additionally, I don't understand all the negative reviews, especially from Chinese audiences. I'm a Chinese-Indonesian, and I absolutely love this movie. I saw criticism about the main lead being American. I'm telling you, there are 5 main leads in the movie, and *SPOILER ALERT!!!* 3 of them are Chinese, Plus most of the focus IMO are directed to the Chinese main characters. Another one is that the movie isn't based on the legend of The Great Wall. This is a fantasy movie, so of course it's not! The film even mentioned it in the beginning!!! To me, these negative reviews are purely hate for this movie. I think that most of them haven't seen the movie and simply hate it for no reason.
Overall it was a surprisingly good movie, and arguably one of the greater movies in January. If you want to see a fantasy movie, this is a perfect movie for you