Mr. Movie review: ‘The Great Wall’ beautifully done, but predictable horror movie

The Great Wall isn’t great. Part of the problem is having to buy the premise that the Great Wall of China was built to keep the country safe from monsters. The film opens saying that’s one of the legends of its origin. Don’t bother to do a Google search. It’s not there.

Not that you’ll care.

This one is fun, though.

Matt Damon stars as a soldier of fortune headed with some pals to China to get black powder. Just before arriving, they are attacked by a monster. Two survive, get to China’s wall about the time the hoard of monsters arrive and join the battle. The courage and resourcefulness of the two survivors impresses the Nameless Order created to protect the nation.

Damon isn’t bad as an action hero and his cast mates are pretty good too. However, you could probably write how this one turns out yourself. What makes it worth catching is director Yimou Zhang (Hero, Raise the Red Lantern). No one makes more beautiful movies. And this one is gorgeous. The highly choreographed cinematography is splashed with brilliant hues and colors.

Zhang is also a master of effects, and though his monsters aren’t that imaginative, he manages to make them real enough to make a predictable plot palatable.

This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie review: ‘The Great Wall’ beautifully done, but predictable horror movie."