The Great Wall(2017)

Plot Summary

• In the time of the Song dynasty during the reign of the Renzong Emperor (i.e. AD 1010-63), a few miles north of the Great Wall, a mercenary group originally consisting of twenty men searching for black powder are pursued by Khitan bandits, who have already killed some of the men. Upon escaping they seek refuge in a cave but are then attacked by an unknown monster, leaving only William (Matt Damon) and Tovar (Pedro Pascal) alive, with the former having slashed off the monster's hand. The two decide to bring the arm with them. The next day, they stumble upon the Great Wall and are taken prisoner by Chinese soldiers of a secretive military sect called the Nameless Order, led by General Shao (Zhang Hanyu) and Strategist Wang (Andy Lau).The Nameless Order is a Chinese military order commissioned by the Imperial Court of the Song Dynasty as a special division of the Imperial Army conceived for the sole purpose of repelling a horde of alien monsters (the Taotie) who rise every 60 years. The commanding officers are shocked upon seeing the monster's severed hand, as the Order believed the invasion was still weeks away. Suddenly, a wave of monsters attack the Great Wall, and the battalions are mobilized. The Nameless Order is divided into five special units: the melee-specialist Bear Troop, the acrobatic-specialist Crane Troop, the archer-specialist Eagle Troop, the siege engine-specialist Tiger Troop, and the horse-mounted Deer Troop. Losses are sustained on both sides before the monsters' queen recalls her drones. During the battle, William and Tovar are freed by Peng Yong, an unskilled soldier from the Bear Troop and William, in turn, saves him from the attacking monsters. William and Tovar's battle skills earn the respect of General Shao and Commander Lin (Jing Tian), leader of the Crane Troop.Later, William and Tovar meet Sir Ballard (Willem Dafoe), a European who, like them, had ventured east twenty-five years ago in search of black powder. Like them, Ballard was also taken prisoner and now has been serving as an English and Latin teacher. The three foreign mercenaries discuss plans to steal black powder from the storeroom and flee while the soldiers are occupied by battle. Later, Strategist Wang meets William and explains the situation: The monsters that William fought were Taoties (in the film collectively called the Tao Tei), which are monsters originating from a green meteor that crash-landed onto Gouwu Mountain two thousand years ago. The Chinese believe the Taotie were sent from the gods to punish the Emperor for abusing his authority over the Middle Kingdom and the people. They attack northern China once every sixty years, an invasion for which the Order has been training for their entire lives.During the night, two Taoties reach the top of the Wall and silently kill several watchmen. Shao and Lin lead the Deer soldiers to investigate, but are ambushed. The Taoties are slain but Shao, wounded beyond recovery, succumbs to his injuries and dies, leaving Lin to take command of the Nameless Order. Around this time, an envoy from the capital arrives with an ancient scroll which suggests that the monsters are pacified by magnets. Wang believes that the stone William carried all this time enabled him to slay the Taotie he fought before entering the Wall. To test the theory, William suggests that they should capture a Taotie alive and agrees to help. This results in his delaying his escape plans, which puts him at odds with Tovar who nevertheless delays his escape plan to assist William, much to Ballard's chagrin. During the next attack, the Taotie are numerous enough to cause Lin to resort to using black powder rockets, whose existence had been kept secret from the Westerners until now. They manage to capture a living Taotie and prove the theory. The Taotie is taken to the capital by the envoy.A short while later, a hole is discovered in the base of the Great Wall, which the Taotie queen has used to lead her hordes to the capital. While Lin investigates, Tovar and Ballard try to escape and knock William unconscious for resisting. William is then arrested by the Chinese soldiers, and despite being saved by a statement from Peng Yong, William eventually is locked up in the Wall. Some distance away, Ballard betrays and abandons Tovar, but is himself captured by the Khitans, who inadvertently destroy themselves and Ballard after carelessly igniting the powder. Tovar reclaims the horses but is recaptured by the Deer Troop. At the capital the envoy decides to show their theory to the Song emperor, but the Taotie wakes up and signals to the Taotie queen.Knowing that the horde is nearing the capital, Lin orders the use of unstable hot-air balloons, to follow the Taotie. Before setting out for Bianliang, the capital, Lin passes word to set William free, with Wang telling him to tell the outside world about the danger about to come, but William decides to stay and boards the last balloon with Peng and Wang. They arrive just in time to see Lin's balloon crash-landing in the now destroyed capital, and save her from being devoured. They land safely in the Emperor's palace, where Wang proposes an idea to kill the queen by tying explosives to the captured Taotie from earlier and giving the Taotie meat to be delivered to the queen. While transporting, a horde of Taotie breach the sewers. Peng Yong sacrifices himself to save the others.With the Taotie released, Lin, William and Wang climb a tower to shoot a black powder rocket to detonate the explosives. Wang is killed while moving to the upper floors. Two of William's arrows are deflected by the Taoties, but Lin's spear breaches the defenses after William throws the magnet into the horde. The queen is destroyed, and the rest of the horde is frozen solid. With the horde destroyed, William is given an offer, during which he forgoes the powder and instead frees Tovar, much to Tovar's annoyance. The two, guided by cavalry, begin their journey back to Europe as Lin, now the General, watches over them from the wall. William says that he wants to go back, but jokes with Tovar, saying he doesn't trust him going alone.

Storyline

• When a mercenary warrior (Matt Damon) is imprisoned within the Great Wall, he discovers the mystery behind one of the greatest wonders of the world. As wave after wave of marauding beasts besiege the massive structure, his quest for fortune turns into a journey toward heroism as he joins a huge army of elite warriors to confront the unimaginable and seemingly unstoppable force. — Watch_Movies Two days ride north of the Great Wall, sometime during the Song Dynasty, William Garin and Pero Tovar--survivors of a small mercenary group searching for gunpowder--narrowly escape an attack by a team of nomadic bandits. Without delay, the two friends seek refuge inside a seemingly safe cave; however, the following day will find them in shackles, standing before Commander Lin Mei and Strategist Wang who prepare for an all-out monster invasion within the following hours. Sooner or later, William and Pero will get caught in the middle of a war against a surprisingly intelligent Beast-Queen and her invincible army--a final confrontation for freedom and the fate of the entire human race. Can Commander Lin Mei and William stop the assault before it's too late? — Nick Riganas A European group of mercenaries search for black powder in China; however they are attacked by bandits and a monster and only William and his comrade Tovar survive. While escaping with the hand of the monster, they stumble upon the Great Wall and are captured by General Shao, Commander Lin Mae, Strategist Wang and their army. They are imprisoned in the Great Wall and meet the European Ballard, also a mercenary looking for black powder who has been imprisoned in the Great Wall for twenty-five years. Soon they learn that the soldiers are trained specifically to fight monsters called Taotie that attack the humans every sixty years. They are the last outpost protecting the capital. When they suffer attack from the horde of Taoties, William and Tovar also fight helping General Shao and winning his approval. When the Taotie Queen retrieves the horde, they know that they will soon be massively attacked by the Taoties and their only chance is to kill the Queen. Will the humans survive? — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil In the distant past, a group of European mercenaries are in the Far East in search of the mythical black powder that turns "air into fire", it the source of their future wealth in bringing it back to Europe. They are attacked by an unknown creature, with William, one of the mercenaries, able to kill the creature. Two of the mercenaries, William and Tovar, are captured by the local army, called the Nameless Order, who house them within the confines of the Great Wall. The Nameless Order informs them that the creature is called a Tao Tei, as a species who attack once every sixty years, this one specimen killed by William signifying their imminent attack. Tao Tei's survival is predicated on the soldier creatures gathering food to bring back to the Queen as nourishment. Although not stated to them explicitly, William and Tovar learn from Ballard, another westerner at the Wall, that they will be treated well but are not allowed ever to leave in the Nameless Order protecting the secrets of the Wall, Ballard who, like them, was a mercenary in search of black powder, he captured twenty-five years ago. As the Tao Tei initiate their attack, the Nameless Order executes their strategic defense, with most of their measures based on their position of the fortress that is the Great Wall. In viewing what is happening, William and Tovar begin to diverge in their thoughts: Tovar, with Ballard, sees the current turmoil as the perfect opportunity to escape stealing as much of the black powder that the Nameless Order has that they can carry, while William, seeing a new purpose in life in learning about trust from Commander Lin Mae, wants to stay and fight with the Nameless Order, it not a certainty that any of them being able to survive regardless of the path they take. This divergence places William and Tovar at odds with each other in carrying out their chosen paths. — Huggo