The biggest disadvantage of "The Great Wall" is that its story originated from a foreigner's fantasy: the Great Wall was actually built to defend against alien monsters! No matter how Chinese-like names are given to this monster, it cannot change its awkward Western imagination. This leads to The Great Wall's story being fundamentally an old colonial narrative. Foreigners don't realize that the "Great Wall" is not just a long, tall and thick wall, it also contains the national spirit of unity. The actual Great Wall may also incorporate the absurdity of history, but as a historical relic, it can only be a positive symbol of the national spirit. The Great Wall is great because of this spirit. However, the foreigner's fantasy cares about the spectacle of fantasy and monsters. So, the "Great Wall" we see in this movie is just a corpse, and the Chinese soldiers on it are also acting like walking dead. Most of the elements that enliven this story are brought by foreign devils: foreign devils know how to kill monsters, foreign devils know how to catch monsters, and foreign devils have the ability to kill monsters. All the director did was pile up a lot of Chinese elements, but those elements had nothing to do with the Great Wall! The director doesn't seem to care that the spirit of the Great Wall becomes very insignificant in front of foreigners. He seems to think that if a foreigner comes to star and drive the audience, it will sell better. There's nothing to blame for making movies to make money, but there are some limitations that are best not broken.
In fact, the director does not seem to lose the bottom line as he wants to do. His participation has alleviated the colonialism of the film to a certain extent. In the usual Western colonial story, there is a love line. Foreigners not only want to become heroes in other countries, but also conquer the women of that country. Although there is such a love line in "The Great Wall", it is not so straightforward in the end. However, such a small change is not enough to change the Western narrative character of the film.
According to the foreigner's narrative method and foreigner's emotion, "The Great Wall" is a passing film. But the heroism of Western narratives is too much, there is really no need to steal another Great Wall. Moreover, it seems that fantasy historical films are difficult to be recognized by most audiences, but "The Great Wall" has to ignore the national spirit again. "The Great Wall" seems to be prepared to show a little fighting spirit, and it seems to use the narrow bureaucracy and the emperor's mental retardation to set off the tragic and solemn warriors. Perhaps it is simply trying to show the absurdity of bureaucracy. But in any case, such a plot becomes superfluous in the face of the heroic wisdom of the foreign protagonist. Because, the warriors guarding are very lack of fighting spirit, and the rest is just pretentiousness and obedience. You can not have it both ways. The bravery and wisdom of foreigners make "The Great Wall" a fantasy film that has lost its national spirit and has very little relationship with history.
"The Great Wall" is really not very good, so that such a story, of course, should not appear at all, and should only continue to be a foreigner's fantasy. However, it actually appeared. Movie capitalism is so headstrong, money can make alien monsters push the Great Wall.
——Ontological Laughter, 2017-01-02.
View more about The Great Wall reviews
