Did Beijing host a World’s Fair in 2016? Summer/Winter Olympics played elsewhere, yes? So why does this overproduced historical Asian Actioner feel like a generic Tall Tale fit for mass consumption at some International EXPO? A bare 90 minutes (sans credit crawl), it’s on the short side. Just the thing for an air-conditioned break after exhausting queues for rides & cultural exhibits. Once edgy, now safe, top-tier director Yimou Zhang offers faceless professionalism on a tale that only tangentially involves China’s Great Wall as Western adventurers Matt Damon & Pedro Pascal get captured trying to steal bags of ‘black powder.’ (Wouldn’t they at least be looking for a gun-powder formula?) Unaware they’ve stepped into an invasion of CGI lizard monsters (well, something like that) out to take over the country. But the boys fight so well they’re adopted as warriors by the Emperor’s forces (specialized male & female units in color coordinated team uniforms under a lovely lady General). Quite the show, too, as if Busby Berkeley took up Chinese period warfare. Commercially, the film weathered backlash for it’s Caucasian hero (even on our Asian poster Damon’s front-and-center, not Commander Tian Jing), but that’s less bothersome than having so many characters conveniently fluent in English. Even more injustice in that while Damon & unreliable BFF Pascal are each about 5'10", Zhang manages his angles to make Damon look about half a foot taller. That’s real star power.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: Yimou Zhang’s HERO/’02 has long been a go-to entry point for the new wave of historical Chinese action/pageant pics. But a favorite here is John Woo’s two-part RED CLIFF, made on his return to Asia from Hollywood filmmaking. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2010/08/chi-bi-red-cliff-2008.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2012/03/chi-baction/i-xia-jue-zhan-tian-xia-red-cliff.html
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