Review of The Great Wall (2016) by Mahbubali92 — 20 Feb 2017

"Professional" critics are worthless, this was everything I wanted in a fantasy action movie. The visuals were absolutely stunning and highly original, the action was intense and dramatic, and the character work was simple and effective. While Hollywood always seems to need at least 140 minutes to get through a basic plot, this one trips along with fleet, efficient editing and comes roaring to the finish in a tight 100 minutes. Kept me fully engaged and invested for practically the whole runtime, and definitely feels like something I'll go back and revisit someday too.

I will admit I was worried going in that the CGI monsters would look cheesy, but they were actually fantastic and the movie does a great job of building them up to be legitimately terrifying enemies. The contrast between the graceful athleticism of the defenders and the bestial savagery of the monsters had me flashing back to the battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers.

The Great Wall is an excellent, groundbreaking action movie, and a welcome arrival for people who are tired of everything being either a superhero movie, a 6th sequel, or both.