Film

The Great Wall

Name: The Great Wall
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Released: 2016
Cast: Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau, Pedro Pascal

Military action

A Matthew Damon-led action-fantasy about a mercenary caught in ancient China's war against an otherworldly swarm. It's a spectacular but tonally confused collision of Hollywood bombast and martial-arts cinema, aesthetically gorgeous and narratively uneven. For those who want their action maximalist and their monster battles colorful, whatever the cost.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy big, bright monster spectacle where the pleasure is in gleaming armour, clanging battle formations and a wall that becomes a machine for killing, rather than in anything subtle.

Skip it if you want a grounded war story or find the dialogue of a blockbuster hard to forgive, since the script leans on earnest speeches and a fairly thin set of characters around its star.

What it asks of you: Just under two hours of steady, large-scale action with few quiet breaks, so you need to be happy to sit with a loud, colourful film that rarely slows down to think.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Great Gatsby2013

Baz Luhrmann's maximalist visual excess applied to literary material, with similar spectacle-over-coherence energy and a charismatic lead playing a man out of place in an alien world.

But Deeply divisive about whether its visual ambition excuses narrative simplification, and the pacing can feel bloated rather than epic.

The Mummy1999

Tom Cruise's predecessor as the globe-trotting action hero, with monsters, ancient threats, and the same earnest adventure-serial tone beneath the CGI chaos.

But The action can feel dated now, and it leans hard into tone-shifts between comedy and spectacle that don't always land.

Pacific Rim2013

Guillermo del Toro's collision of humans and gigantic monsters in coordinated visual sequences, prioritizing scale and mythic weight over narrative tightness.

But The plot is skeletal, character development is minimal, and it can feel like watching someone else play with toys for two hours.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Great Wall

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Curse of the Golden Flower2006

Same director pursuing his essential visual language with more narrative discipline and emotional weight.

Zhang Yimou's (The Great Wall's director) earlier masterpiece: a Chinese period epic about a fortress under siege, with synchronized martial-arts choreography as balletic spectacle and color-coordinated armies. This is what his vision can achieve with stronger material.

But It's much slower, more operatic than action-forward, and the familial tragedy at its heart is deeply sad rather than thrilling.

Blade of the Immortal2017

Takashi Miike's samurai-versus-horde spectacle with similar themes of an outsider defending a place against waves of attackers, gorgeously composed and deliberately operatic.

But It's more violent and nihilistic than The Great Wall, and the pacing is deliberately slow in ways that can feel glacial.

Gods of Egypt2016

Another 2016 spectacle film with similar DNA: ancient mythology, large-scale action, a Western lead navigating a non-Western setting, and production design as the real star.

But It was widely mocked for its casting and narrative confusion, and many found the tone muddled between camp and sincerity.

Snow White and the Huntsman2012

A dark-fantasy action film that similarly reimagines fairy-tale material as military spectacle, with coordinated armies and magical creatures rendered in expensive CGI.

But The tonal whiplash between intimate character moments and bombastic battle sequences can feel jarring, and it takes itself too seriously for comfort.

Stardust2007

Fantasy adventure with charm and visual flair, following a hero through a magical realm toward a climactic battle, leaning into the adventure-serial tone without losing humor.

But It's much smaller in scale and more whimsical, which some find precious rather than satisfying.

The 13th Warrior1999

John McTiernan's adaptation about a foreigner integrated into an ancient society to fight a monstrous horde, with similar themes of outsider-becomes-hero and CGI-heavy creature combat.

But It's genuinely messy—reshot, recut, narratively confused—and the monsters haven't aged well, but it's entertainingly strange.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets2017

Luc Besson's commitment to visual world-building and scale regardless of narrative sense, with similar energy: technically impressive, thinly plotted, and unashamed about prioritizing spectacle.

But It's even more narratively incoherent than The Great Wall, and the chemistry between leads is notably thin.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets poster

Shadow2018

The director making a Chinese historical film his own way after the Hollywood compromise, showing what he prioritizes when given total control.

Zhang Yimou's return after a long gap: a monochromatic Chinese martial-arts film about military strategy and defense, playing with color (or the absence of it) as deliberately as The Great Wall did. Slower, stranger, magnificent.

But It's a deliberate, painterly film that many find emotionally cold, and the palette takes adjustment. It's also quite difficult to follow without knowledge of Three Kingdoms lore.