Review: 'The Great Wall' feels oddly Singaporean
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 104 minutes (~1.75 hours)
“The Great Wall” is a fantasy action adventure film set in ancient China, atop the Great Wall of China. It is in English and Mandarin with subtitles.
It stars Matt Damon (William Garin), Jing Tian (Lin Mae), Pedro Pascal (Pero Tovar), Willem Dafoe (Ballard), Andy Lau (Strategist Wang), Zhang Hanyu (Commander Shao), and Eddie Peng (Commander of the Tiger Troop). It is rated PG-13.
You know “The Great Wall” is all about having a fun adventure atop the Great Wall of China once you see the colour-coded soldiers, complete with flowing capes, defending the wall. In case you’re wondering — nope, nobody takes the black armour here (only primary colours), and none of the monsters are white walkers, they’re more like green runners. It’s not quite tongue-in-cheek, but “The Great Wall” certainly knows how to have fun with the historical material it’s based on.
Highlights
A strong, competent female Asian protagonist
Lin Mae (Jing Tian) is the most outstanding aspect of the film. She’s competent but not invincible and holds her own amongst the predominantly male cast. If there was ever a film that championed equal rights for both genders, this would be it. Sure, she gets saved once or twice — just like every other male character. Nobody ever talks down to her and she’s not there to prove some point about feminism. She’s not “one of the guys”, she’s “one of the characters”. And this attitude is what makes all the difference.
Oddly Singaporean feel thanks to the English-Mandarin dialogue
You’ll feel right at home watching this because they switch between English and Mandarin as organically as Chinese Singaporeans do. Lin Mae and Strategist Wang (Andy Lau) are the two main code-switchers in the film, with everyone else only knowing one language. It feels so Singaporean at times, until you start seeing giant monsters and ornate armour clashing.
Exciting
The film is fast-paced, but it’s not that the plot moves quickly. Rather, it’s a fine balance between action, revelations, and characterisation. There are jump scares, besieged characters, and death-defying leaps, but they’re all used sparingly enough that the excitement never gets repetitive. “The Great Wall” is a carefully polished product from a meticulous director, and it shows.
Letdowns
The scent of the white saviour
Although it’s perfectly plausible in terms of story, it still irks me that the best archer on the Great Wall is William (Matt Damon). Statistically, this shouldn’t be the case. Then you have two white guys mowing down monsters like nobody’s business, while the other Asian soldiers are getting flung away left, right, and centre. It feels subtly racist that the Chinese can’t even handle a monster they’ve been fighting for over 60 years.
Western looking monsters
It’s a question of style, but why do the monsters look so Western? Isn’t it an unspoken rule that monsters will have to conform to the mythology of whichever country they’re sighted in? Granted, given the origin of the monsters, this isn’t entirely without basis. But to have white guys save Chinese folk from Western monsters can be mildly insulting.
“The Great Wall” is great fun despite the white saviour undertones.
Should you watch it at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch it at weekend movie ticket prices? If you can recognise all the cast members, yes.
Score: 3.2/5
“The Great Wall” opens in cinemas:
– 29 December, 2016 (Singapore)
– 29 December, 2016 (Malaysia)
Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He's also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.
