User:LancedSoul/sandbox/The Great Wall

The Great Wall (Chinese: 长城) is a 2016 science fantasy action monster film directed by Zhang Yimou, with a screenplay by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro and Tony Gilroy, from a story by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. An American and Chinese co-production starring Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, and Andy Lau, it was released by China Film Group in China on December 16, 2016, and in the United States on February 17, 2017 by Universal Pictures.

Plot
When a mercenary warrior (Matt Damon) is imprisoned within the Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of the world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront the unimaginable and seemingly unstoppable force.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Because some of the characters, including a main character played by Matt Damon, are white in a film set in medieval China, the film was accused of whitewashing and using the white savior narrative prior to its release. This is easily one of the most controversy of all time.
 * 2) The Chinese Imperial Court is presented at its worst in the movie. The Emperor is a young, spoiled, and cowardly brat who at one point hides behind his throne, then blames the Tao Tei invasion on the Army while it was his court, eager to curry favor, who brought a Tao Tei to the capital to show it off as a toy while the Army badly needed to study it.
 * 3) While most of the film's cinematography is well-made and beautifully depicted, there are a couple of conspicuous shots where the Tao Tie look rather...cartoon-like, blending in poorly with the live-action elements and looking more like video game graphics.
 * 4) The commanders of the siege-engine using Tiger Troop and horse-mounted Deer Troop don't get many quirks or action scenes despite their impressive skills.
 * 5) *Commander Lin's two Crane Troop lieutenants are regrettably underused after a scene where they are seen being friendly with her and amused by Ballard during a meal, plus their Action Girl abilities.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on 234 reviews, and an average rating of 4.90/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "For a Yimou Zhang film featuring Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe battling ancient monsters, The Great Wall is neither as exciting nor as entertainingly bonkers as one might hope.". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 42 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Videos
