THE GREAT WALL
The most underrated film of 2017 was easily Zhang
Yimou's monster adventure film “The Great Wall”. Personally I
was stunned how this great film was essentially ignored by the film
going public, and those that did see it, responded negatively towards
it. In fact the negativity towards this film started early, when the
first trailers came out, as the film was accused of “white washing”
a Chinese story due to the fact Matt Damon was part of the cast and
featured heavily in the trailers. People moaned about the fact that
it looked like the story was going to be about how China needed an
American to save the day, but for anyone who bothered to actually see
“The Great Wall”, they would know that this just isn't true.
Yes, Matt Damon's character is a heroic one who does help the Chinese
defeat the monsters climbing the wall, but he is one of many with the
true hero of the film being Commander Lin Mae, played by Chinese
actress Tian Jiang.
Zhang Yimou is a grade A film maker, honing his craft
early in his career by creating a number of emotional dramas, often
starring Gong Li, such as “Raise the Red Lantern”. However he is
just as adept at creating a blockbuster sized epic, while still
retaining his attention to detail and character. In fact I would go
so far as to say that when it comes to creating cinematic spectacle
of an epic scope, he leaves the Hollywood pretenders to shame.
The beauty within “The Great Wall” is something to
behold. His use of colour, is first and foremost, a breathtaking
sight. The way he has designed each group of soldiers via a colour
coded system is brilliant and makes total sense. Watching the
soldiers strutting together before battle, each in their different
coloured armour.......well, it makes the hair on your arms stand
straight. And speaking of the armour (not to mention the weapons
too), the attention to detail is astounding. You can tell that so
much time and effort has been put into making these costumes and
props, but it was worth it because you notice it. In fact when I
came out of the cinema, I turned to my wife (who also adored the
film) and said “that must have cost a fortune to make”, and it
turns out that “The Great Wall” is the most expensive Chinese
film ever made, but believe me, it is all on the screen. Before I
lose my train of thought on the colour, I also have to mention
another scene where our heroes are walking down this tunnel only to
hit a wall, with coloured light bursting from everywhere. It catches
the eye, and you wonder where this colour has come from, and it takes
a while but you find out that above them is a tower filled with
stained glass. Simply beautiful, and it makes you wonder why
Hollywood directors do not use colour this effectively more often.
Yimou has never been afraid to fill his films with colour.
Another thing that Zhang Yimou knows how to do is
construct and shoot an action scene. This is a film filled with
hundreds and thousands of monsters attacking numerous soldiers, and
yet you always know exactly what is going on every moment of these
battles. He places the camera in the perfect position and never over
edits these scenes. He also finds the optimum moments to use slow
motion, with my favourite being when Matt Damon slides as he fires an
arrow into the mouth of an incoming monster. It is one of those hero
shots that I usually roll my eyes at in movies, but in this instance,
I thought “Man, this is cool!!”. Another “cool” moment I
have to mention is when the female warriors, all dressed in blue
armour and attached to bungy cords, jump from their platforms to
spear the monsters attacking below. Awesome stuff!
Now I am sure that some people are crying out “What
about the substandard CGI in this film???”. Well, yes, I have to
agree that not all of the CGI looks perfect, but Zhang Yimou's skills
at being a director just make it work. It is easy to look past it
because he has made a fun adventure yarn.
I should mention that the optimum way to watch “The
Great Wall” is on the big screen with the sound just pounding, as
it adds so much more to the experience. Due to the stunning wide
screen cinematography, the film just deserves to be seen on the
biggest screen possible, and when it comes to the sound, well there
is a moment in the battles where drums are being played by some of
the soldiers so as to create a rhythm for the attack, and the
pounding of these drums just mesmerises you.
I honestly could talk a lot more about this film (and I
will later as, “The Great Wall” shows up in my Top 20) but I will
end it here and say just give “The Great Wall” a chance. I
promise you that it will exceed your expectations. Then get the word
out about how great it is because right now it is the most underrated
film of 2017.
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