Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Great Wall 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 30, 2017

The Great Wall isn't revisionist history, it's just dumb fantasy. The film, which posits that China's Great Wall -- one of the seven wonders of the world -- was not built to keep invading humans out but rather invading monsters out, offers nearly nonstop human vs monster mayhem centered around China's hallmark landmark. The scaly green foes, who send their queen into the middle of every battle and protect her with a reptilian-type Testudo Formation, attack en masse and are repelled by defenders along the wall. They're also vulnerable to...magnets. It's an exercise in imagination and creativity, but the movie proper offers anything but. Made up of the same old, same old in terms of acrobatic action scenes and nonsensical scenarios, Director Zhang Yimou's (Coming Home) film can't escape its vacuous story, even with its barrage of visuals meant to blind more forgiving audiences from the emptiness around them.

William Garin (Matt Damon) leads a band of mercenaries who have entered Chinese territory in search of the mythical "black powder" (gunpowder). In their pursuits, they are attacked by an unseen creature. William severs its hand. They are soon thereafter taken prisoner by Chinese forces and held within the Great Wall. There, their tale of defeating the monster is met with doubt and derision, but William's story is ultimately proven correct. But no sooner is his story validated does the wall come under attack from an army of those same creatures. Under orders of General Lin (Jing Tian), William and his companion Pero Tovar (Pedro Pascal) are to be kept away from battle, but William's skill ultimately helps turn the tide. Soon, he finds himself a central figure in China's battle against the scaly, monstrous army.

It's impossible to watch The Great Wall and not think of Starship Troopers. Unfortunately, this film lacks the same kind of biting social commentary as found in Paul Verhoeven's man-versus-monster War movie. Instead, The Great Wall is simply an excuse to show off a bunch of recycled "cool factor" moments and scenarios all over the screen. The movie banks on its unfeasible spectacle to entertain, the same kind of slow motion, showboat antics that, no matter how hard they try, cannot hide the movie's structural weaknesses. The wall has archers, OK. It comes armed with multiple catapults. Makes sense. And then there are...bungie jumpers. People who stand out on a small ledge and bungie off the side of the wall to strike enemies with a spear, a spear they, of course, receive with precision, acrobatic unison from back at the wall. Maybe it's just a jaded reviewer talking, but it's just slicked-up nonsense that detracts from an already weak story with one of the most try-hard bits of nonsense ever committed to film. Build a moat, drop hot oil, use that gunpowder more effectively, but take the story seriously enough and disregard the pointless circus acts next time, please.

Sadly, the groan-inducing bits don't stop there. Gems of dialogue like "What god made those things?" followed by "None that we know" litter the movie. The pseudo romance angle that never really goes anywhere seems to only take up space where much more grit might have worked better, something more like Reign of Fire and less like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with monsters. Matt Damon, whose character is named William, is a regular William Tell with the bow, a man capable of shooting three arrows, one to deflect a dish and two more to hold it upright against a pillar in a bit of bow-and-arrow trickery that only CGI could accomplish. Damon's performance is stilted, tired, lacking any sort of tangible depth or emotion, one of the most empty of his career. On the plus side, the movie does look gorgeous. Costuming is intricate, CGI blends perfectly with real life, battle scenes are sprawling and involved, and several moments, including a sequence in the fog midway through the film, are quite engrossing. The movie just can't help but to favor spectacle over grit, and it pushes so hard it loses its way and never recovers, right on through to its colorful stained glass window finale.

The Great Wall 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

This one really shines on UHD. For as good as the movie looks on 1080p Blu-ray, this 2160p/HDR-enhanced presentation of The Great Wall, sourced from a 4K digital intermediate, is much better. Color depth and density are noticeably improved right of the bat. The clay- and beige-colored earthy terrains seen early in the film offer a quick tell-tale sign of the upgrade. Saturation is much improved, and there's significantly more punch and vibrancy and nuance to the colors without betraying the essential appearance of each shade or the basic textural integrity of any given scene or location. Here, it's easy to see that terrain sharpness and detail, even at distance, are much greater on the UHD as well. Black levels are a little brighter, but here offering, at times, an opportunity to reveal more detail. The dark, blue and gray-dominant scene inside the wall in chapter two isn't as dense on the Blu-ray, but the trade-off is much more visible detail on the dark armor. The finer points and most intricate lines and creases shine on the UHD. They're very complex on the Blu-ray, too, but this takes things to another level, and that's not to even mention the tangible increase in minute depth between the protruding decorations and the furthest pieces of background material. For this one, however, it ultimately comes back around to the color. The increase in depth and tonal accuracy is stunning. Every shade benefits, from the most dazzling blues to the most barren, earthy hue. Detail enjoys a fair uptick in sharpness and definition but the color makes this UHD what it is, definitely one of the best on the market and a reference point for HDR excellence.

The Great Wall 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Great Wall's UHD release features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, and it's a good one. For much of the film, overhead elements are more complimentary than they are obvious, but several moments, and two standout, take place later in the movie. In one scene, Matt Damon's character yells "above you!" and, sure enough, the sound seems to emanate from the ceiling. In another, the creatures seem to scurry right above the heroes; the top layer is filled with their various maneuverings, making for one of the most intense and direct overhead elements yet in an Atmos soundtrack. Otherwise, the top end serves to support the rest of the track. Chaotic battle scenes spring to life with countless examples of whoosh, swish, zip, and zoom. Arrows pierce every inch of the stage. Enflamed projectiles sling through the listening area. Every speaker is engaged, and the top layer adds space to the excitement. Both multidirectional and discrete effects litter the stage in every battle scene, and Universal's track is pinpoint and very fun. Music is well defined, stretching the stage in every direction and making full, but not overbearing, use of the surround channels. Coverage and clarity are complete. Dialogue is firm, well positioned in the front-center, and both detailed and well prioritized. Reverberation is exacting as allowed. This is a tremendous, first-class listen from Universal.

The Great Wall 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Great Wall contains deleted and extended scenes and half a dozen brief featurettes, all on the included Blu-ray disc. No extras appear on the UHD disc. A UV/iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p, 6:49 total runtime): Commander Lin Enters the Great Hall, Guards Take Tovar to the Barracks, Ballard Takes Tovar Inside the Wall, Extended Scheming in Ballard's Suite, Extended Funeral Sequence, Tovar and Ballard Wait for William, Lin Mae Arrives at the West Tower, and Extended Emperor Sequence.
• Matt Damon in China (1080p, 2:45): The actor briefly discusses actors, sets, and preparations for the part.
• Working with Director Zhang Yimou (1080p, 3:06): Cast and crew talk up the director.
• The Great Wall: Visual Effects (1080p, 3:06): A quick rundown of making several of the film's key visuals.
• Man vs. Monster (1080p, 9:22 total runtime): A closer look at the film's three key battles.
• Weapons of War (1080p, 3:17): A quick examination of how the wall becomes a weapon.
• Designing a Spectacular World (1080p, 3:34): Inspiration for key set pieces.

The Great Wall 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Great Wall is more sophomoric than it is serious. True, not every film can be a dark, gritty, unbearable slice of (make-believe) wartime devastation, but this one just feels too contrived, over-the-top, dependent more on empty and needless spectacle than story. Of course, when the story is "monsters attacking China's Great Wall," there's not much to go on there, anyway. It should find favor with a forgiving audience, and it is decent time killing entertainment. It does its thing very well, but don't just leave the brain at the door, leave it tucked away in a safety deposit box, just to be sure. Universal's UHD release of The Great Wall is a showcase for HDR and the improvements the format brings over Blu-ray without sacrificing the image's base integrity. Detailing is stronger, too, but unlike the colors it's more a step forward than it is a leap. The Atmos audio is equally splendid. Supplements are mostly fluffy filler. Recommended.