Critic Reviews for The Great Wall on Moviebuff.com

The film is an excuse to showcase the expertise of ancient China when it comes to warfare, to the "barbarian" West

Shalini Langer, Indian Express

If you seek something deeper, beyond the spectacle of fantasy war movie tropes, this one’s quite forgettable

Renuka Vyavahare, The Times of India

The Great Wall provides unrelenting action, which at times is shockingly enjoyable, while it distracts from the lack of plot

Ariella Blum Lemberg, Hypable

It’s not hollywood whitewashing, it’s just an awful movie

Eric Kohn, Indiewire

The Great Wall feels like a half hearted attempt to cater to the two biggest movie markets in the world

Anupama Chopra, Film Companion

The POM are perfectly capable of headlining their own movie, provided it's loud, fast, and lacks heart

Alex Welch, IGN

The Great Wall is simply a safety-first exercise for Zhang, Damon and their financiers in consolidating their respective first moves outside their usual terrain

Clarence Tsui, The Hollywood Reporter

Matt Damon’s fantasy epic is a Chinese Game of Thrones

Rohan Naahar, Hindustan Times

The sad end story of The Great Wall is that pretty much everyone involved with the project, given previously established talent, is capable of so much more

Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend

The Great Wall is a stupidly awesome eyeful

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club

If you enjoy cinema with crazy action and mind-blowing stunts, you should not miss this one

Delnaz Divecha, BookMyShow

Matt Damon stars in a laborious historical fantasy, doing battle with CGI monsters in order to steal gunpowder from Imperial China

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Monsters intrude on a culture clash in 'Great Wall'

Jake Coyle, Yahoo News

Matt Damon Battles Monsters, Blockbuster-Audience Boredom

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"The Great Wall" is unlike any American blockbuster you've seen, a conservative movie with action set pieces that are actually inventive and thrilling enough to be worthwhile

Simon Abrams, Roger Ebert

The narrative is clumsy, and the monster scenes are ridiculous, but not ridiculous enough to be funny, just ridiculous enough to be boring

Mick LaSalle, SFGate

Matt Damon doesn't save China in this capably directed but generic fantasy spectacle

Maggie Lee, Variety

This is the worst film of Matt Damon, Zhang Yimou's careers

Mihir Fadnavis, First Post

'The Great Wall' not so great

Adann Kenn Alexxandar, The Valdosta Daily Times

The Great Wall provides an interesting look at what could be the future of international cinema, but it doesn’t make much of a stand on its own

Matt Goldberg, Collider

The country’s most expensive co-production to date is a visual treat, complete with a grizzled Matt Damon, but don’t expect any complex plotting

Simran Hans, The Guardian

The Great Wall is an acceptable watch if you’re bent on seeing something this weekend, but have exhausted all other option

Chris Bumbray, JoBlo.com

The Great Wall has some exhilarating action sequences. On the basis of these setpieces alone, the movie is well worth the price of admission

Rachit Gupta, Filmfare

Zhang Yimou’s CGI epic again demonstrates the downside of movies tailored to a “global audience”

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic

Damon has made ambitious movies that didn’t work out before but this is, bar none, the most absurd role and unfortunate movie choice of his career

Barry Wurst, Maui Time

The Great Wall is a fun popcorn flick that should entertain monster movie fans with its unique Chinese setting and epic battles

Scott Chitwood, ComingSoon.net