The Great Wall (2016)
Directed by Zhang Yimou
European mercenaries searching for black powder become embroiled in the defense of the Great Wall of China against a horde of monstrous creatures.
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The Nameless Order combine a level of superhuman discipline and acrobatic combat acumen comparable to Peter Jackson’s elves with flamboyant color coordination by division, reminiscent of the color-coded armies in Akira Kurosawa’s Ran .
The key structure of the story is that of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Man Who Would be King” which was the source of inspiration for various films, the most important of which is the book adaptation with the same name starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine in 1976, while the most recent noteworthy descendant was Avatar in 2009.
The movie is a pale cross between the uber buddy film based on the Rudyard Kipling story "The Man Who Would Be King" and any one of the "Lord of the Rings" movies.
Now he shoots arrows at the screen until we cower behind our popcorn, and assembles a show-stopper of an action sequence that mixes Moby Dick and The Mist, with Damon lost in a fog battling creatures he can't even see.
It is bad in spite of borrowing liberally from the 1950 Henry Hathaway cult classic “The Black Rose” (stream it!).
Nearly every line of dialogue exchanged between William and Tovar is banter so dated it feels lifted out of a ’90s action movie (and not one of the good ones; think “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” – and Damon’s unidentifiable accent is about as convincing in this as Kevin Costner’s was in that).
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Nearly everything here draws its inspiration from other sources, including battle scene aesthetics that borrow heavily from The Two Towers and the muddled, computer-generated critters reminiscent of Starship Troopers.
It’s roughly equivalent to watching the assault-on-Mordor bits of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for 103 minutes.
“The Great Wall” may be DeMille-like, but it’s a lot closer to “Godzilla” than “The Ten Commandments.”
And Zhang Yimou, the director of a disproportionate number of Chinese cinema classics including Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, To Live, even House of Flying Daggers… Zhang Yimou, who with his last movie, 2014’s Coming Home, came close to recapturing the aching lyricism of his early work… Zhang Yimou has now put his name to The Great Wall, a movie that seems like a grim parody of his style.
This Chinese American co-production directed by the great Zhang Yimou ("Raise the Red Lantern," "Coming Home") and written by "Prince of Persia's" Carlo Bernard & Doug Miro and "Michael Clayton's" Tony Gilroy was obviously tailored for global audiences, a Hollywood movie star plunked into 1100 A.D. China to save the day.
All this is a reminder that director Zhang, despite his start with thoughtful films such as “Red Sorghum” and “Raise the Red Lantern,” has devolved into a director known (witness his work on the opening and closing Beijing Olympic ceremonies) for spectacle more than anything else.
Now 66, veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou is the man responsible for the 1991 masterpiece Raise the Red Lantern, which was preceded by the equally strong Red Sorghum (1987) and Ju Dou (1990) and followed by the profoundly moving film, To Live (1994).
A depressing thought considering 2017 is the 30th anniversary of Zhang’s debut film, Red Sorghum , which launched a magnificent run of emotionally opulent dramas including Ju Dou (the first Chinese film ever nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar) and Raise the Red Lantern .
No Golden Bear from the Berlin International Film Festival, a trophy he won for his 1987 directorial debut, Red Sorghum .
Seriously, if you’d wagered me that you could throw a big budget, director Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern,” “Hero,””House of Flying Daggers”), screenwriter Tony “Michael Clayton” Gilroy and Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe at a movie and have it come out this silly, I’d have taken that bet.
After all, doesn't he deserve that bit of leniency from us as he has more than proven his talents with such brilliant films as Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and House of Flying Daggers (2004)?
Its director is Zhang Yimou, who once upon a time was one of China’s greatest filmmakers, responsible for lauded historical dramas like Raise the Red Lantern as well as neo-wuxia action sagas like Hero.
That’s largely what you’d expect from director Zhang Yimou ( Hero , Raise the Red Lantern ), who is more visual artist than storyteller.
Zhang Yimou, the versatile director of splashy martial-arts epics like Hero and House of Flying Daggers , but also human dramas like Raise the Red Lantern and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, is probably incapable of making a movie that isn’t worth looking at.
Director Zhang Yimou has made some of the most ravishingly beautiful films to come out of China, including “Raise the Red Lantern,” “House of Flying Daggers,” and “Hero,” movies that are lavishly sensual in their use of color and light.
For the 1990 romantic drama “Ju Dou,” he used large swaths of colorful cloth to create stunning scenes as he painted a tender tale of tragedy between star-crossed lovers.
Now 66, veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou is the man responsible for the 1991 masterpiece Raise the Red Lantern, which was preceded by the equally strong Red Sorghum (1987) and Ju Dou (1990) and followed by the profoundly moving film, To Live (1994).
A depressing thought considering 2017 is the 30th anniversary of Zhang’s debut film, Red Sorghum , which launched a magnificent run of emotionally opulent dramas including Ju Dou (the first Chinese film ever nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar) and Raise the Red Lantern .
Sets, props and costumes are glorious, the primary colors of the regiments and the stained glass of the Imperial Palace Pagodas reminding us of Yimou's own "Ju Dou."
Over the course of a couple of decades, director Zhang has gone from a dissenting chronicler of social oppression (in movies like Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern) to beloved people’s artist chronicling the glories of the State (in movies like Hero); he has an almost supernatural eye for composition and light, as well as a keen sense of rhythm.
No Academy Awards nomination for foreign-language feature, like he earned for Ju Dou (199), Raise the Red Lantern (1991), and Hero (2002).
It isn’t that Zhang can’t handle spectacle; “Hero” certainly demonstrated he can—as did his handling of the Beijing Olympic ceremonies in 2008.
Seriously, if you’d wagered me that you could throw a big budget, director Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern,” “Hero,””House of Flying Daggers”), screenwriter Tony “Michael Clayton” Gilroy and Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe at a movie and have it come out this silly, I’d have taken that bet.
Zhang Yimou is a Chinese filmmaker whose work which includes the magnificent Hero , House of Flying Daggers, and Curse of the Golden Flower is known for its visual sumptuousness and bold use of bright colors.
The Great Wall is great – as in big – with star-power (Matt Damon and Jing Tian), firepower (it’s directed by Zhang Yimou, who brought us Hero, and House of Flying Daggers), and visual force (it’s in 3D/IMAX).
Each crowd shot in this film is remarkable, but not because director Zhang Yimou ("Hero," " House of Flying Daggers ") and his assistant directors know how to direct extras.
Zhang’s bold use of color schemes and lustrous lighting, notably in “Curse of the Golden Flower” or “Hero” are subdued by “Memoirs of a Geisha” production designer John Myhre’s stately contributions, which avoid chinoiserie in favor of subtle Chinese period details that most viewers will overlook in the flurry of action.
There’s a visual loopiness here that’s more Hollywoodized than we’ve seen before from director Zhang Yimou — I adore his glorious House of Flying Daggers; not so much his Curse of the Golden Flower, though it is visually wild — but is still tense and exciting in a way that feels fresh and engaging.
Zhang Yimou is a Chinese filmmaker whose work which includes the magnificent Hero , House of Flying Daggers , and Curse of the Golden Flower is known for its visual sumptuousness and bold use of bright colors.
Then, with films like “Hero,” “The House of Flying Dragons” and “Curse of the Golden Flower,” he folded his skill for shooting fabric into rapturous action sequences that displayed marital arts in ways equally brutal and beautiful.
Eye-poppingly gorgeous in every vibrant frame, the $150M feature is Yimou's biggest and a visual marvel not unlike House of Flying Daggers and Curse of the Golden Flower, which looked like rainbows come to life.
The final battle scene finds William and Lin inside a stained-glass chapel drenched in rainbows of light, reminiscent of the colorful palace in Curse of the Golden Flower .
Asian cinema gained a lot of merit even in the domain of epic productions with memorable classics like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “House of Flying Daggers”; another masterpiece by Zhang Yimou.
Now, I think I would have loved The Great Wall just as much if it starred the great Andy Lau ( House of Flying Daggers , Infernal Affairs ) as the central character instead of shuffling him off to a supporting role (where he is still great), and if the whole thing was subtitled instead of just a few bits here and there.
Seriously, if you’d wagered me that you could throw a big budget, director Zhang Yimou (“Raise the Red Lantern,” “Hero,””House of Flying Daggers”), screenwriter Tony “Michael Clayton” Gilroy and Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe at a movie and have it come out this silly, I’d have taken that bet.
Zhang Yimou is a Chinese filmmaker whose work which includes the magnificent Hero , House of Flying Daggers, and Curse of the Golden Flower is known for its visual sumptuousness and bold use of bright colors.
Each crowd shot in this film is remarkable, but not because director Zhang Yimou ("Hero," " House of Flying Daggers ") and his assistant directors know how to direct extras.
After all, doesn't he deserve that bit of leniency from us as he has more than proven his talents with such brilliant films as Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and House of Flying Daggers (2004)?
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It has the monster feel of Pitch Black combined with the epic battles of The Lord of the Rings and a healthy dose of Chinese culture thrown in for good measure.
Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs, the Hong Kong movie that inspired The Departed) is a major star in China and a terrific actor, but you’d never know it watching him look grim as Strategist Wang.
The Chinese army officially known as the Nameless Order is led by the noble Gen. Shao (Hanyu Zhang) and his chief strategist Wang (Andy Lau, “Infernal Affairs”).