Basically, this is a Chinese version of World War Z with mythical beasts as the antagonist rather than zombies. I describe it as such because it reminds me of what the Israel scene in WWZ would have looked like if extended to 90 minutes.

Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal play a couple of European mercenaries who have travelled to China in search of black powder, a mysterious and legendary weapon nobody outside of China has seen. During their journey, their party of mercenaries is set upon and destroyed by an unseen enemy. Damon's character, William, manages to sever one of the creatures claws and kill it without ever catching a glimpse. He carries the claw with him in hopes of finding an answer to what it was that attacked his party. When he and Tovar (Pascal) suddenly find themselves at the foot of the Great Wall, they're captured and brought before the General and his aides de camp who command the tens of thousands of troops manning the Wall. The only reason they're not executed outright is the claw William has on him. It belongs to a creature the Chinese have fought for centuries and the purpose behind which the Wall was built. Every 60 years, the creatures attack and to everyone's dismay, their next predicted assault is beginning earlier than expected...

I enjoyed the movie for its spectacular visuals, which anyone who's seen a Chinese film can attest is always fantastic. Additionally, the way the machinations on the Wall are portrayed and the techniques used to fight, both human and monster, are very interesting to see in action.

As a monster movie, I enjoyed this way more than Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. It's got the usual tropes but the movie flows well and the story is very straightforward. There are no jump scares, the sound editing is carefully managed, and--again--the visuals are great.

It'll make for a great rental when it becomes available.

I saw the previews for this one and wondered who Matt Damon owed money to... Maybe he got a sports betting habit no one knows about... Who knows.

This one looked like pure, unadulterated crap to me... But as you say, probably more of a fantasy/visual film, as opposed to anything that makes sense.

On my way to work this am was listening to talk radio, they said it's the most expensive film ever made in China. They also mentioned it took a giant crap in the box office race, finishing behind Lego's Batman and Sade at Fiddy, Part Deaux.

i heard the fighting was excellent but the script was shit. Alot of explaining of explaining of explaining like the audience was dumb. Netflix for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Deqlyn:
i heard the fighting was excellent but the script was shit. Alot of explaining of explaining of explaining like the audience was dumb. Netflix for me.

wonder if we can get it in chinese, with sub-titles? that way, the explaining seems more ok...

Damon has been on the tube lately wanting me to kick in some cash for water projects in Africa.
Gotta have a cool drink while polishing your RPG!
I will wait for his new flick on Netflix.

$150M production. Earned $15M its opening weekend in states.

And $244M in China.

I'll wait til there's literally nothing else on tv and I can't sleep.

Screw Matt Damon

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

And $244M in China.

Was attendance compulsory?

quote:

Originally posted by nukeandpave:

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

And $244M in China.

Was attendance compulsory?

LOL

It's a Chinese tale (like Mulan, Hidden Tiger, etc). It's cultural for them.

Is this another poor brown/asian/islander/(fill in non white) can't save themselves, but the almighty white man comes in and single handedly saves the entire race, while simultaneously boning the hottest native female kind of movie?

Or, since this is a chinese film, is this a case of the chinese teaching the foolish white man ancient secrets that show the true path to enlightenment.

Just trying to set my expectations. I'm a sucker for chinese action flicks.

quote:

Just trying to set my expectations. I'm a sucker for chinese action flicks.

This ain't it. I saw it today...I was bored and had nothing else to do.....It is a really bad movie. Damon must have lost a bet with Affleck on whose movie was going to be better, the latest Bourne or The Accountant. When the ENTIRE premise of a movie is so it can be seen in 3D, it is going to be bad. NO actual display of martial arts, there was some wire-fu but only in the context of furthering the 3D aspect. The whole time I was in there I kept thinking that the Chinese armor looked a lot like the the Elven Armor from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings painted over (somebody got a deal and decided to make a movie) Yeah, the Chinese Warriors of the Nameless Order guarding the Great Wall had some inventions and contraptions.I think they should have had more since they had been fighting this war every 60 years for over 900 years.

You would be much better off watching one of the old Shaw Brother movies on Netflix or Amazon Video.

PS. no boning, he didn't even kiss the hot Chinese girl.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jsbcody,

quote:

Originally posted by jsbcody:


PS. no boning, he didn't even kiss the hot Chinese girl.

Wait. No boning? Well I'm out.

I know I'm LATE to the Party on this one but just saw it. To say it's VISUALLY STUNNING is to put it mildly.

I've certainly seen FAR WORSE flicks, at least this one was interesting.

The ending as well as a few other situations in the film were poorly set up, or defined though. Happened to catch a video on YouTube that explained the weird endings on movies...explained the ending on this one.

All about the magnet!

finally saw this today. Pretty, the colors reminded me of MTG. actually now that i think of it, the whole Army reminded me of a Kor ally army deck.

I enjoyed the movie too. It was a white man's chinese movie. Which is pretty strange for me. They embellished it with expensive colors and cgi. Besides the technological embelishments, there weren't any lags between lip movements and the voice overs.

I thought the movie was several years late in trying to capitalize on the crouching tiger, hidden dragon movie as that train has come and went.