Netflix viewers shocked as controversial box office flop lands in top 10 most-watched movies – despite 35% Rotten Tomatoes score
A failed and ‘misguided’ monster movie from 2017 is currently number six in the list of most watched films on Netflix.
The film called The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon, is an American and Chinese co-production that premiered in Asia in 2016.
Damon plays a mercenary who discovers a variety of secrets while imprisoned within the Great Wall of China.
The film also stars Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, Andy Lau and Kenny Lin.
The Great Wall has been streaming on Netflix since May 1 and has earned nearly $335 million at the box office worldwide, despite its 35 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the $150 million budget, Deadline said the disappointing performance cost Legendary and Universal $75 million.
The 2017 film The Great Wall starring Matt Damon is currently the sixth most watched film on Netflix. It became available to stream on May 1
The film is about two European mercenaries who survive a monster attack just miles from the Great Wall of China, only to be imprisoned by an unnamed order.
The Great Wall was filmed in New Zealand and Quindao, China in 2015.
It tells the story of two European mercenaries named William (Damon) and Tovar (Pascal) who are the survivors of a monster attack while searching for gunpowder near the Great Wall of China.
The warriors are captured by an unnamed order led by General Zao (Hanyu Zhang) and strategist Wang (Lau).
The nameless order was founded to fight Tao Tie, a mythological creature that attacks once every 60 years.
A man named Sir Ballad (Dafoe) frees William and Tovar, and the warriors eventually gain the respect of the order after putting their fighting skills to good use.
The battle is brutal and the film’s plot thickens as time passes, along with the deaths of thousands of people and CGI creatures.
So who will make it out alive? How many monsters survive? Will the warriors get their gunpowder? Viewers just have to stream and see for themselves.
The Great Wall was a critical flop, and it was also a dud in the eyes of audiences that gave the film a 42 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
One reason behind the audience score may have been the controversy behind the film before its theatrical release in the US.
Pedro Pascal portrays Pero Tovar, a Spanish mercenary who is imprisoned along with Damon’s character, William Garin
The two mercenaries gain the respect of the members of the nameless order led by General Shao (Zhang Hanyu) and strategist Wang (Andy Lau).
Garin and Tovar were able to gain respect from the nameless order by showing off their impressive fighting skills after being freed by Sir Ballard (Willem Dafoe)
Some critics called Damon’s casting “whitewashing” due to their belief that his role should have gone to someone of Chinese descent.
Damon emphasized at a press conference in Beijing that William’s role was “always intended to be European.”
Hustlers star Constance Wu caused a stir after she tweeted: “We need to stop perpetuating the racist myth that only a (sic) white man can save the world” following the release of the film’s trailer.
“Once people see that it’s a monster movie and that it’s a historical fantasy, and I didn’t take away a role from a Chinese actor… then the movie hasn’t been changed by me in any way,” Damon said during the press conference.
Interestingly enough, many of the negative reviews from critics were not focused on the “whitewashing” accusations, but on the film as a whole.
The main monster in the film is Tao Tie, a mythological creature that attacks once every 60 years. The creatures arrived in China via a meteorite
“What a bummer that all the Chinese master Zhang Yimou and Hollywood star Matt Damon come up with is a B-level creature film with delusions of grandeur,” wrote Peter Travers of the Rolling stone.
Alissa Wilkinson, a critic for Vox, also wrote one harsh review towards the film which she did not find entertaining.
‘It is large. It’s dazzling. It’s about China. And it is certainly about a legend,” she wrote.
“It doesn’t have a single thought in its head either, but it does have armies of toothy monsters.”
X-users (formerly Twitter) weren’t too happy with the movie either, with a few members even bringing up politics.
‘The great wall. A real piece of Chinese propaganda film starring Matt Damon, now available on Netflix. It’s good to laugh’ one person tweeted.
However, not everyone had bad things to say about the film.
The Great Wall earned almost $335 million on a $150 million budget and was considered a box office bomb due to its theatrical run in the US. It also received bad reviews
Social media users are divided over the film. Many X users (formerly Twitter) called the film “so good,” while others trashed The Great Wall for its casting and perceived political message
X-users weren’t specific in their tweets about what they liked about the movie, but many of them called The Great Wall “so good.”
Critics also praised the film’s fight sequences.
“A well-acted action film that doesn’t waste much time on set-up or explanation before plunging headlong into a drawn-out, elaborately orchestrated battle against a horde of hideous creatures,” wrote CNN’s Brian Lowry.
David Edelstein out Vulture called the film ‘a hoot and a half’ and criticized Bilge Ebiri The Village Voice even called The Great Wall ‘absolutely dazzling’.
“The Great Wall is unlike any American blockbuster you’ve ever seen, a conservative film with action scenes that are actually inventive and exciting enough to be worth your time,” says a reviewer from RogertEbert.com wrote.