KFOG REVIEW: “THE GREAT WALL” “A CURE FOR WELLNESS” & “A UNITED KINGDOM”

February 17, 2017 thedhk

Another disappointing week at the movies, with some squandered opportunities by mega directors Gore Verbinski and Zhang Yimou.

First off is the “first blockbuster of it’s scale to be filmed entirely in China” – “The Great Wall” which features a horribly accented Matt Damon fighting ugly lizard monsters at the Great Wall of China. If you’re going in expecting “Hero” or “House of Flying Daggers” quality work, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I think it would have broken my heart to see Jet Li in this garbage, so I guess it’s good they cast Matt Damon as the white (literally) knight hero to save the day. See my reaction to that below…

Next up is Gore Verbinski’s return to horror after The Ring. Unfortunately once again, prepare to be disappointed as “A Cure For Wellness” will cure nothing but your wallet of your hard earned money, and a few hours off your life you won’t get back. There was a great movie buried somewhere in it, but it was drowned by a lack of editing and bloated runtime.

Finally a brief shoutout to “A United Kingdom” – starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. It’s the true story of a prince from what would eventually become Botswana, marrying a white British woman, and the fallout from that. Or as I like to call the film “look how far we haven’t come” in terms of our racial prejudice, and governments thinking they can institutionalize racism…..