The Great Wall

Zhang Yimou is well-known for his visually stunning filmography which includes Hero, House of Flying Daggers and The Curse of the Golden Flower. He continues his visual expertise with his first film in English, The Great Wall.

William Garin (Matt Damon) and Tovar (Pedro Pascal) are mercenaries in China looking to steal some gunpowder. Their fellow regiments are dead from bandits and monsters. William has the monster's arm to prove the latter. They find the Great Wall and are taken prisoner by its regiment, The Nameless Order.

The aforementioned monster is a Taotie, one of legions which feeds on anything in sight. They rise up every sixty years to try to attack China, hence the Great Wall. They're back now and they're getting smarter. William decides to stay and fight. Meanwhile, Tovar and fellow prisoner Ballard (Willem Dafoe) plot to swipe some gunpowder and scram.

Zhang's visual style is the film's selling point. The Nameless Order is dressed in armor of the brightest hues designed by Mayes C. Rubeo. Their "Crane Unit," led by the main heroine, Lin Mei (Jing Tian), bungee-jump with spears. They have elaborate weaponry such as flaming cannonballs and giant rotating blades. Production Designer John Myhre's digital and practical sets are massive and impressive. The two cinematographers, Zhao Xiaoding and Stuart Dryburgh, contribute to the splendor. It's not hard to see why it cost $150 million.

It took six writers, including Max Brooks and Tony Gilroy, to come up with the story. One might think it's a typical White Savior story that should've died years ago. But that's not really the case. Our hero, William, learns more from the Chinese than they from him. He goes from selfish individual to selfless teammate. He doesn't surpass the Nameless Order. In fact, He and Lin Mei play an equal part defeating the Taotie at the end. The other significant members, Strategist Wang (Andy Lau), General Shao (Zhang Hanyu) and Peng Yong (Lu Han), contribute significantly to the plot.

There are some issues with the story. My biggest gripe is in the first Taotie attack. William and Tovar are held at spear-point by soldiers who should've been defending the Wall. Why not the dungeon? Tovar and Ballard betray William by stealing the gunpowder and leaving him to take the rap. William reconciles with Tovar, but they don't have much chemistry, so it wasn't that believable. The circumstances of their imprisonment reminded me of too many movies/shows with that scenario. And Tovar hints at a sordid past for William that's only vaguely explained.

The Great Wall is a decent film with great visuals. It's never boring as it goes through 104 minutes quite nicely. It's worth seeing on the big screen at least once. It's already gotten me further interested in seeing more Chinese Epics on the big screen.

The Lego Batman Movie

There are a lot of reasons why The Lego Movie is awesome. One reason I didn't mention in my review was its exaggerated take on Batman. And now, the plastic Dark Knight has a movie alongside the real ones. This, of course, is The Lego Batman Movie.

Batman (Will Arnett) begins his movie by stopping The Joker's (Zach Galifianakis) latest scheme. He's still dark and awesome after eighty years; he's also alone and prefers it that way. Especially since his parents were murdered ages ago. He doesn't have time for arch-enemies and lets The Joker know that. That really hurts The Clown Prince.

The Joker gets his revenge by turning himself and his fellow Batman Rogues. His real goal is to get Batman to send him to the other-worldly Phantom Zone. There, he'll get an army of "uber-villains" from outside the DC Universe and escape. That all happens, of course. So Batman has to team with his faithful butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes), new sidekick Robin (Michael Cera), and the new Police Commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) to save the day. Perhaps he'll learn that being part of a family isn't so bad.

The Lego Movie's Phil Lord and Chris Miller left the director's chair to that film's animation co-director/supervisor and co-editor, Chris McKay. The story he works from credits five writers, including Seth Grahame-Smith. It's a story which proves that fun and meaningful can play in the same sandbox. There's much fun with all the in-jokes and Batman's awesome ego. There's also the realization of how unpleasant it is to be and be around a moody loner like Batman. There's much to cheer as Batman learns to reconnect with friends, family and enemies. It's that kind of movie.

Still, this film acknowledges every Batman movie and continuity from the silly to the serious. How does that timeline work? Perhaps I shouldn't think about it too much.

The Lego Batman Movie's Lego-like CGI is as fun and colorful as The Lego Movie. Special mention goes to some of the larger characters, who are sure to be massive undertakings in real life. Wayne Manor also looked great when The Joker took it over in the end. The Phantom Zone was also nice.

The Lego Batman Movie laughs with Batman and not at him. It's also more mature than some "mature" interpretations of the character. It's the best Batman movie without a bloated run-time (104 minutes). It's also an awesome toy commercial as much as its predecessor. It's a perfect warm-up for Lego's next big-screen adventure, The Lego Ninjago Movie. Let's hope Batman's next live appearance in Justice League will match his animated one.