Zhang Yimou's 2016 fantasy blockbuster "The Great Wall" follows William, a mercenary played by Matt Damon, who stumbles onto the Great Wall of China and finds himself caught up in a war between a color-coded Chinese army and a horde of intelligent monsters driven by greed. It's the most unexpected film in any serious director's catalog—and Pete and Andy both came out of it more entertained than the trailers gave them any right to expect.
Andy Nelson and Pete Wright dig into what Zhang actually brought to a $150 million Sino-American co-production—the stained-glass tower, the bungee-jumping crane soldiers, the creature design built from traditional Chinese art—and whether the whitewashing criticism that followed the trailer holds up against the finished film, as the concluding episode of their Zhang Yimou series on The Next Reel on TruStory FM. Full episode resources and transcript here.
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