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The Great Wall (2017) – Film Synopsis & More Information

A historical fiction, thriller, adventure, and action thriller titled The Great Wall was released in 2016 and was directed by Zhang Yimou. Its screenplay was written by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro, and Tony Gilroy and was based on a story by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz. In this joint American-Chinese production, Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, and Andy Lau all appear as the main actors who star in the film. The movie began shooting on March 30, 2015, in Qingdao, China. It had its world launch on December 6, 2016, in Beijing. It was released by China Film Group in China on December 16, by Universal Pictures in the United States on February 17, and by United International Pictures in Japan on April 14.

the great wall film synopsis
The Great Wall film synopsis

The movie is fantastic as proven by the various accolades it received from critics, including the New Zealand Cinematographers Society Award in 2017, the Golden Trailer Award in 2017, the Chinese American Film Festival in 2017, and Huabiao Film Award in 2018. These awards and recognitions simply demonstrate how excellent the movie is given the level of success it attained on a global scale as well as the positive reviews it received from viewers regarding how compelling the movie is in providing a thrilling adventure experience mixed with some historical perspective.

Box Office

The movie was also one of the most expensive Chinese films ever made. The movie had a good box office result where the film’s budget was approximately $150 million, and the movie’s box office took in more than $67.4 million in its first weekend, which ultimately grew to a box office total of $334.9 million. However, it was reported in March 2017 that the movie was anticipated to lose roughly $75 million due to its unsatisfactory cinema reception, as it had received mediocre reactions in most of the major markets, such as the United States and Canada. All of the four studios suffered losses, but Universal Pictures, which contributed roughly 25% of the $150 million cost of production, lost nearly $10 million. The losses will be equal for the remaining investors, Legendary Entertainment, China Film Group, and Le Vision. The studio will suffer an even greater loss because nearly more than $80 million in global marketing costs were funded by Universal Pictures. Overall, despite its high box office statistics, the movie still failed to recoup its costs from investors and producers, but this has no impact on the quality of the film, which is exceptional in many ways and can provide audiences with lots of excellent entertainment experience.

Film Synopsis (Spoiler)

The story of The Great Wall revolves around William (Matt Damon), a European mercenary warrior, and Tovar (Pedro Pascal), who go across China in search of the rumored “Black Powder.” In the middle of the desert, where they had stopped for a break from their journey, a creature was seen hunting into the night. William managed to cut off its hand & letting the body fall from a cliff, demonstrating his impressive skills while fighting with the huge beast, and later decided to bring the hand with them. They continued their journey somewhere and later realized they were very close to the Great Wall, which led to their capture by the formidable military force (Nameless Order), under the command of General Shao (Zhang Hanyu).

After being held captive, they were both judged in court to determine whether they should be allowed to live or not after learning some secrets. Following that, a surprise attack took place, and they were put to the test when a horde of creatures known as Taoties like the beast William killed had already come back to attack the Chinese. Both William and Tovar participated in the unforeseen battle and successfully exhibited good skills by killing a Taotie and preventing the death of a soldier which successfully pleased Commander Lin Me (Jing Tian) and General Shao, who ultimately paired up and joined the Nameless Order.

Following the battle, two Taoties reach the highest point of the Wall, whereupon General Shao is slaughtered, putting Commander Lin in the authority of the Nameless Order. Afterward, a representative from the capital shows there bearing a historical scroll that claims the beasts may be subdued by magnets. William had a challenging journey ahead of him, as we’ve seen in the later scenes as well as the other characters like Ballard (Willem Dafoe) who is killed by bandits after being abducted, Tovar who is taken prisoner, and The Taotie final attack in the capital city. In light of the circumstance, William and General Lin worked together successfully to employ magnetic stones and black powder rockets on the queen, killing her and paralyzing the remainder of the horde. This was a success for them as the threat had been eliminated, which made a positive ending for the film.

The Great Wall – Trailer

Excellent Cinematography, CGI, & Visual Effects

The action sequences in the movie also demonstrate a sense of detail, authenticity, and meaning that is unique in execution because of the outstanding photography and breathtaking visual effects. Given that it requires big requirements to concentrate on the clashing tactics of two opposing armies, we can observe the fantastic effects, such as how the army of Taoties, functions as a unit. Despite being computer-generated visuals, it nevertheless does a remarkable job of making it look more realistic. Another would be the Nameless Order fight scenes which have good-looking visual appeals combined with a few well-directed action sequences, are also put up in the movie, and they are fascinatingly substantial and artistically superb fight scenes that all contribute to the spectacular style of the film. Overall, it has excellent imagery, animation, visual effects, and cinematography, and because it has a large budget, we can anticipate an excellent atmosphere of environments that are ideal for the plot’s characters, battle scenes, and CGI that turns something look like a reality due to its top quality ideas, budget, and effort put into the show.

Final Thoughts

The overall view of the movie is that it’s good in many aspects, including the exhilarating, adventurous, and thrilling action scenes it offers viewers. These favorable qualities resulted from various causes, among which were the well-written characters who carried the program and a good storyline outline that made it possible for the show to blend perfectly. It also has excellent photography, spectacular special effects, and excellent use of computer-generated imagery, and the story’s characters and battle scenes were perfectly executed to provide a fantastic result throughout the movie.  Knowing that the movie has a large budget and is even one of the most expensive Chinese movies ever allows us to understand that it is not just any low-budget movie; it is actually anticipated to be great. Despite being a financial failure due to the marketing loss, it is still good as seen by the level of popularity it attained and the accolades it won, making it a show that viewers should watch because it not only provides them with top-notch entertainment but also with some amount of historical outlook and perspective.

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