Thoughts on "The Great Wall"

I haven't gone to see a shameless monster flick in a while - and this looked like it would be a fun one.

It was - with even a little more depth of characterization than I was expecting. For those who haven't seen it, be warned: The Chinese dialogue is subtitled not dubbed. I know some people have issues with that. I personally prefer it. There was one oops where a bit of the English dialogue was subtitled, so I suspect they were also saving money by doing only one soundtrack for the domestic Chinese release and the international release.

(The movie was a partnership between a Chinese director and some people from Hollywood).

Issues:

One very bad bit of horse action at the start. I talked about that on my horse blog.

Boobplates. Please, stop with the boobplates. And these didn't even look like they were actually where boobs are supposed to be, ya know.

I wasn't sure about the actual monster design from a feasibility/evolutionary standpoint.

Doors in the bottom of the Great Wall that open by moving blocks. No. Sorry, but no.

Good bits:

Tian Jing. I want to see so much more of her! Brilliantly talented, attractive...and I just IMDB'd her.

Seems I will be seeing more of her - she's in Pacific Rim: Uprising! Woot! I don't think it's a huge part, but...this lady deserves all the work she can get.

Lu Han - what a talented actor. Hard to believe he's actually a singer.

Amazing visuals and aesthetics.

Oh, and for those of you wondering how they got a fantasy movie past the Chinese censors and their current kick of "not promoting superstition." They didn't.

Believe it or not, "The Great Wall" is actually...science fiction.