cafe67 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 (edited) Saw this today , I like those big production Chinese movies so for me this was a definate good stuffs - big production Chinese movie, lots of real soldiers rather than cgi , the first opening battles scenes are amazing in detail and beautifully filmed . Banging soundtrack lots of drumming n stuff, but also some nice vocal/chant stuff. Acting is okay to good, the Chinese stars do well and all look suitability stern and Ernest. MD does his best. The cgi is mostly pretty good, I'd say some serious computer power here. The story is pretty straght forward. bad stuff - some of the dialogue is a little dodgy , there is that Chinese propaganda "be all you can for your country and make sacrifices for the same" under lying in the dialogue. Gets a little flakey in parts towards the end. The editing is a little choppy it seems short for a Chinese big production so I wonder if an directors cut DVDs/Blu-Ray is on the cards. Generally tho a good movie if you are fan especially if you liked the big battles from LotR and hobbit, red hill , even starship troopers. 3.9 stars Edited February 24, 2017 by cafe67 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jliang70 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 When you see it was directed by Zhang YImou, you know the movie is rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe67 Posted February 24, 2017 Author Share Posted February 24, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Jliang70 said: When you see it was directed by Zhang YImou, you know the movie is rubbish. Why is that? I thought the movie was good or is he considered the Michael Bay of China ? Edited February 24, 2017 by cafe67 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jliang70 Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 14 hours ago, cafe67 said: Why is that? I thought the movie was good or is he considered the Michael Bay of China ? The reason I don't like his movies was very simple, most of his movies these days reflect a desire to please western movie viewers, just look at the Great Wall, it was built some three thousand years ago to defend China from Hungs, Mongols, Khitans, Jurgens and Manchus, there are literally millions of story can be told of the Great Wall that reflect its thousand years of history, cultural impacts of the wall and the human story around the wall. I don't know why Zhang needed to gather a group of western screen play writers making up a story like the one in this 'Great Wall' movie. For someone who has deep rooted understand of Chinese culture Zhang he should be ashamed making this type of movie, he needs to tell a chinese story not one but taylor made for western audience. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blybo Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 33 minutes ago, Jliang70 said: The reason I don't like his movies was very simple, most of his movies these days reflect a desire to please western movie viewers, just look at the Great Wall, it was built some three thousand years ago to defend China from Hungs, Mongols, Khitans, Jurgens and Manchus, there are literally millions of story can be told of the Great Wall that reflect its thousand years of history, cultural impacts of the wall and the human story around the wall. I don't know why Zhang needed to gather a group of western screen play writers making up a story like the one in this 'Great Wall' movie. For someone who has deep rooted understand of Chinese culture Zhang he should be ashamed making this type of movie, he needs to tell a chinese story not one but taylor made for western audience. ... which would probably not be popular in mainstream western society. It's a blockbuster, not an arthouse movie. I thought the trailer looked pretty cheesey despite an obviously huge budget. I think I'll wait till it's in the JB, 2 for $20 tables. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PositivelyMusicallyGeared Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 I will wait until SBS gets to it. I am patient. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe67 Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 On 25 February 2017 at 11:28 AM, blybo said: ... which would probably not be popular in mainstream western society. It's a blockbuster, not an arthouse movie. I thought the trailer looked pretty cheesey despite an obviously huge budget. I think I'll wait till it's in the JB, 2 for $20 tables. It is bigger and better than what the trailer would show/imply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphy Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 On 25/02/2017 at 1:50 PM, Jliang70 said: For someone who has deep rooted understand of Chinese culture Zhang he should be ashamed making this type of movie, he needs to tell a chinese story not one but taylor made for western audience. Seems to me that this movie was trying to get the western audience interested, the studios don't really care where the money comes in from, it appears to have flopped in that regard. It's on my low priority list to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MultiplexMan Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 (edited) I watched this and was not overly impressed by any part of it. The CGI and settings were not new. There was detail that defied any logic. SPOILER ALERT Spoiler - defense against a massed (swarming) enemy does not require precision counters. Women bungy jumping with two lances in hand?! Really? Perhaps boiling oil and area denial tactics? - hot air balloons with an extremely high failure rate as Plan Z? How about use those smoke signals (drums, mirrors,...) and alert a garrison closer to the capital? - If the Tao Tei scouts can scale the wall at night without detection, why not a Tao Tei commando unit? It would have been "game over" ever so quickly. - If you have gun powder weapons, why not use them against the initial swarm? Perhaps ballista or catapult with powder charged grapeshot ordinance? - The Tao Tei take recover the dead as they recycle the flesh. Taint the carcasses? I love a ripping yarn but at least try to tell a plausible tale. Edited July 18, 2017 by MultiplexMan Spoiler alert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted to music Posted August 4, 2017 Share Posted August 4, 2017 (edited) WTF is Matt Damien doing in a Chinese movie like this? my daughter asked Movies are meant to be enjoyed, loose yourself for a few ours in a fantasy world, defy logic scenes are there to tell tale.... Loved this movie, it all fits in at the end, I like these typical westernised Influence Chinese films, love the saturated colours too. "why did the Chinese build the Great Wall?" Or to answer my daughter's question.... To keep very scary rabbits out! Edited August 6, 2017 by Addicted to music 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darth vader Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 On 25/02/2017 at 2:28 PM, blybo said: ... which would probably not be popular in mainstream western society. It's a blockbuster, not an arthouse movie. I thought the trailer looked pretty cheesey despite an obviously huge budget. I think I'll wait till it's in the JB, 2 for $20 tables. I ponied up and lashed out, it was down to $16 last week. Wasnt a bad movie I thought. Good bit of eye candy, story was a bit wishy washy. Story wise for me, a good movie has a good ending. Many end with no real ending. This one was ok in that respect I thought. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusty48 Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 Well Zhang made Raise the Red Lantern with the delicious Gong Li (where is she now?), one of my all time faves, so he can be forgiven for chasing a dollar or three. Jliang70, makes me wonder what you must think about Ridley Scott and his recent efforts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyse1 Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 That is a great movie there were a lot of great Chinese films at that time themed around colour from memory A lot featured Gong Li were they all made buy Zhang because nonsense like The Wall is a long way down from them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sime Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 (edited) I enjoyed this one also, sounded stupidly good too. I will get this on 4K once I get my new Telly. Also watch the ghost in the shell today, now that was crap. Edited September 4, 2017 by Sime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe67 Posted September 5, 2017 Author Share Posted September 5, 2017 On 3 September 2017 at 7:17 AM, keyse1 said: That is a great movie there were a lot of great Chinese films at that time themed around colour from memory A lot featured Gong Li were they all made buy Zhang because nonsense like The Wall is a long way down from them Hero with Jet Li , was colour themed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted to music Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 the house of flying daggers is my favourite movie of all times. I love that echo game scene. Superb colour and sound, great to watch. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swervyn Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 5 hours ago, Addicted to music said: the house of flying daggers is my favourite movie of all times. I love that echo game scene. Superb colour and sound, great to watch. just watched this (again) last week for the umpteenth time! Am a big fan of subbed kung fooey films 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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