The Great Wall

THE GREAT WALL (12)

D: Zhang Yimou

Universal/China Film Group/Legendary East/Atlas (Thomas Tull, Charles Roven, Jon Jashni & Peter Loehr)

USA/China 🇺🇸 🇨🇳 2016 (released 2017)

Action/Adventure/Fantasy

W: Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro & Tony Gilroy

DP: Stuart Dryburgh & Zhao Xiaoding

Ed: Mary Jo Markey & Craig Wood

Mus: Ramin Djawadi

Matt Damon (William Garin), Jing Tian (Lin Mai), Pedro Pascal (Pero Tovar), Willem Dafoe (Sir Ballard), Andy Lau (Wang), Zhang Hanyu (Shao)

Matt Damon, sporting a ridiculous ponytail, protects Ancient China from terrible CGI dragons. That's pretty much the long and short of this film.

Zhang Yimou was once among China's most highly respected filmmakers, but his English-language productions have not been as impressive as those in his native tongue. 

The film isn't quite as bad as some reviews would suggest, it is entertaining enough to pass time adequately, but Matt Damon is hugely miscast and the visual effects look 20 years old.

4/10