The Great Wall (2016)
Decent popcorn munching blockbuster. The 100 min running time meant it never dragged but the downside was there wasn't much in the way of characterization other than for Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal's mercenary's.
In a way this impacted on the film as a whole because i never fully invested in the other characters and was basically waiting for the next action set piece and it never really got better than the first assault on the Great Wall. The film looked terrific throughout with innovative action sequences (The use of Chinese lanterns in the finale was class) worthy of director Zhang Yimou's classic Chinese films Hero and House of Flying Daggers as were drumming sequences when soldiers were called to arms.
This isn't to say i didn't enjoy the film. I did, but it's no classic. Interestingly it was co-written by The Last Samurai's director and writer Edward Zwick. Whilst The Great Wall has similarities with that film - Westerner integrates into Asian society to combat outside threat - it's nowhere near as good.
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