But the arc of the story is for Tian to inspire Damon to finally find something worth fighting for other than money and food, and to be the person to turn the tide in a seemingly unwinnable battle. The counter-argument is that Damon’s character is not the savior but a foil to the superior honor and morality of his Chinese counterpart, chiefly represented by Jing Tian as the translator/second highest in command. Thus, there are indeed multiples scenes where Chinese characters fret over their next military move before Damon offers a suggestion and they all go, “Yes! We’ll do that!” However, Damon’s unrivaled skills as an archer as well as his decades of battle experience in all manners of war throughout the entire known world quickly proves invaluable. Due to what they have seen, they are told they can never leave since the rest of the world cannot know China’s big secret (i.e., that they accidentally unleashed monsters into the world).
They end up as prisoners on The Great Wall, and observe first hand as the soldiers there fight off an invading army of dragon-like creatures called Taoitei. In the film, Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal play European mercenaries in search of a new weapon in China called black powder. Most troubling is the fact that the Chinese, both visually and narratively, are often represented as their own kind of indistinguishable horde - shields to be raised, bodies to be killed, etc. While the Chinese clearly demonstrate impressive technological might, the narrative revolves around Damon’s character: His actions, bravery, and ingenuity are what propel the plot forward. Now that it’s here, some critics (such as The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday) think the white savior criticism has been overblown whereas others (such as Vulture’s E.
The great wall movie reviews free#
How offensive is the white savior narrative? Does Matt Damon free the slaves while also dancing with the wolves, falling in love with blue people and writing a book about how bad she felt as a young white woman in the Deep South watching her peers thoroughly mistreat the African-American help?Įver since its first trailer premiered last July, The Great Wall has been the subject of considerable ridicule on this side of Atlantic for its white savior narrative whereas people in China couldn’t have cared less (in fact, many over there had to have the concept of “whitewashing” explained to them). In lieu of writing a traditional review, I thought I’d instead discuss the film in a Q&A format, pondering the answers to 7 questions you might have based on The Great Wall‘s often unflattering press coverage:ġ. Personally, though, I was surprised to find The Great Wall fairly watchable, spectacle you don’t mind looking at thanks to director Zhang Yimou’s swirling camera and inventive action choreography. The whole thing will probably be regarded by many as mindless, “so bad it’s good” fun while being feared by others as a far-too-accurate window into our potential future of unabashedly silly China-U.S. Oh, plus, Matt Damon’s around shooting CGI arrows and speaking in one of the strangest movie accents (Is it Irish? Spanish? Just a gruffer version of his normal speaking voice? All of those at once?) I’ve ever heard. For around half of its running time, The Great Wall plays like a more colorful version of The Battle of Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, but then it gives way to a muddled third act relying on the ole “kill the queen, kill the army” sci-fi trope.
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