Zhang Yimou directs Matt Damon, Jing Tian and Andy Lau in this fantasy epic where the Great Wall of China faces a barrage of hungry mega lizards. 

An undemanding romp which owes as much to old westerns as it does to say Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings or Yimou’s own House of Flying Daggers. I’ll admit I dozed and napped in the early stretch but what I woke up to was visually exciting and pulse quickening. Large scale action sequences of increasing stakes where the objectives are well defined and accomplished. Proper old school, big screen, popcorn storytelling. So the character roster comes straight out a toy tub, Jing Tian still shines as the tough young General who has to marshall a cast of thousands and figure out what to do with Damon’s untrustworthy older warrior (think Glenn Ford in 3:10 to Yuma). There is some stunningly colourful imagery unlike anything you’ve seen throughout; from the battalion’s shimmering armour, to two valkyrie like soldiers pumping the bellow of a makeshift hot air balloon as Tian makes a graceful escape or even the closing chase through a stained glass pagoda that paints its survivors in ripples of day glow hues. The Great Wall won’t change your life but there are far worse ways to kill a Sunday afternoon.

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