The Great Wall

First of all this is a movie about fighting monsters - not a fact based historical epic. So don't take it that seriously and you'll have an okay time. The great wall is the center of a fight against some invading dragon dinosaur like creatures.

There have been criticisms of having a white hero in the lead role. But it's just a monster movie so take it easy. There should have been more of the "saving" done by Chinese characters but to be fair they did make the white people look scruffy and the Chinese ones pretty/handsome. Matt Damon does look kind of short and puffy here compared to the Chinese cast. Liked Pedro Pascal the excellent detective Pena from Narcos as Matt's partner in crime. Tian Jing is a feisty enough female commander. So all is fair race wise in this war.

Overall there is a good balance between East and West. A Western screenplay by Max Brooks keeps things going quickly without the irritating self sacrifice and slow dialog of the recent Jackie Chan Adrien Brody movie. Director Zhang Yimou is known for extravaganzas and sometimes the action does look circus acrobat like. But it's not too bad - the excessive slow motion deaths and explosions that plague some Chinese movies isn't such a problem here.