La Grande Muraille

Matt Damon, given his predicament and the backlash of being a white person cast in a move that was based in China, still gave a great performance. The plot was nothing special, but I throughly enjoyed the concept. The cinematography was beautifully shot and the colors throughout the movie make it very pleasing to the eyes. Without the camera work, this would not be a good movie. I think this movie is still worth a watch.

This film tells the story of two Western men who goes to China in search of gunpowder. They enter the Middle Kingdom with the foot of a beast they have killed, hoping to make a bargain with the Chinese for gunpowder. Instead, they get into a big adventure with monstrous beasts that nothing could have prepared them for.

I was really skeptical about "The Great Wall", because the last film I watched that was made for the Chinese market was horrible. "The Great Wall", on the other hand, pleasantly surprised me because it surpassed my expectations with flying colours. The plot is tight, thrilling and well paced. I am so happy to see Chinese actors and actresses taking positive roles. Even the Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau is only having a supporting role in this film! In addition, I was not expecting Jing Tian's English to be as good as that. She had a mostly non speaking role in "Kong Skull Island", so I thought it was because of the language barrier. The battle scenes against the beasts are plentiful, and the scenes are thrilling and draws me in like a magnet. I cannot wait to see what happens next. The grand finale is breathtaking, both visually and literally. I enjoyed it a lot.

The story is really nothing special, it's just an excuse for the action. The action is ok, they had a lot of money to spend and it shows. Acting was perfectly ok, no great perfomances here. Even the monsters were ok, nothing awesome but enough. But it was entertaining enough.

OK. It is not an Academy award winner. It does not aspire to be. It is a two hour-roller-coaster popcorn flick. Decent CGI, acceptable acting, OK props, OK story. This story won't stay with me as a memorable piece of art. But I enjoyed it for what ir is, and had a good time. Go in with that level of expectations and you wont be disappointed! Value for money.

If you don't have any expectations, this film might surprise you a bit. I really liked the special effects, even if I started laughing when I first saw the antagonists.

Most scenes between battles were quite awkward, full of clichés. Yet, once the battle begins, any cliché this film might have is really fun to watch and not at all annoying.

What I hated the most was the unfortunate English accent... used during the Song dynasty (960-1279).

Overall, the plot is quite linear and simple and is centered around one important moment. Character development was welcoming, but not impressive and definitely not unexpected. The best part was not fulfilling the love sub-plot, even though I half expected this and I would have been really disappointed if it had happened.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable film with better 3D effects than I expected and many other films, so give it a try. But be open minded and admire what is to be admired.