The Great Wall / YMMV

Accidental Innuendo: When Lin wants to demonstrate the jumping ropes of the Crane Troops and tells William to try, one female trooper comments in Chinese that men are too heavy. Using Tactful Translation, Lin somehow prefers to tell William "men like him have many things to teach them".
Fridge Brilliance: William was able to injure the first Tao Tei he encountered where almost no one else could—on the ground and in close quarters to boot—because he already had their one weakness on his person: the magnet!
Genius Bonus:
- Tao Teis are mythological monsters symbolising endless greed and gluttony, befitting their portrayal in the movie. Moreover the Taotei also designates a traditional swirling motif in Chinese sculpture which is also present on the Tao Tei's head. It's also the name of a creature from a quartet of monsters called the Four Fiends in Chinese culture, the evil counterparts to the better-known Four Symbols (aka the Four Holy Beasts, comprised of the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Turtle).
- Englishman William claims to have fought the Danes under King Harold, which should help viewers knowledgeable about British history to place the events of the movie somewhere in the 11th century AD.
- The capital of China is depicted as being Bianliang, which is an old name for Kaifeng, the capital of China during the Song Dynasty. This combined with the mention of Harold Godwinson definitely dates this movie to no earlier than 1066 (likely somewhere around the 1100s as William also mentions fighting for the Pope, and Tovar possesses a sword with a noticeable amount of Christian iconography).
Inferred Holocaust: Downplayed; The Chinese capital has been invaded by the Tao Tei, but the probable massacre that ensued, while briefly mentioned to have happened, isn't shown onscreen or discussed in details. The heroes' victory is treated as complete even though many soldiers and god knows many civilians died in the process. Of course, they did just avert The End of the World as We Know It, so those thousands of casualties could be considered a fair trade since every single Tao Tei is now dead.
Just Here for Godzilla:
- Game of Thrones fans only watch this movie because this is Pedro Pascal’s first Hollywood movie that featured him as one of the main stars.
- And of course the bungee jumpers fighting alien swarms, in what is likely the film's most epic scene.
Memetic Mutation:
- With regards to the film, it's very common to make jokes about Donald Trump due to his insistence on building a wall of his own.
- #ThankYouMattDamon which trended on Twitter by Asian-Americans who poke a lot of fun on Matt Damon by thanking him for being the Mighty Whitey. This calmed down when the movie came out and it became clear that the advertising had been misleading and that Damon's character wasn't a Mighty Whitey.
- The Nameless Order frequently get referred to as "Chinese Power Rangers" due to their color-coded troops.
- As the Tao Tie are commanded by their queen comparisons to Ugandan Knuckles tend to pop up here and there.
Narm:
- Quite a few, notably when when William tries to discuss whale hunting to the Chinese generals, then has to explain what a whale is, describing it as "...a water beast, a hundred times the size of a Tao Tei", in a comically awkward manner.
- There's also the unintentionally silly 'pop!' sound each time a Tao Tie gets shot or stabbed in the eye.
Nightmare Fuel: Pretty much everything about the Tao Tei, a numberless horde of lizardlike monsters that are straight-up aliens, crashing to Earth in a large meteorite and whose only instinct is to devour everything they come across. Even the Nameless Order's discipline, huge array of weapons, and the advantage of the Wall doesn't really help, because each Tao Tei can take on a whole squad of soldiers by itself, and in each battle with the Tao Tei we see dozens of soldiers grabbed in their teeth and dogpiled on, getting ripped to shreds. Then, eventually the Queen decides to dig under the Wall. If she hadn't been killed, the entire world might have been consumed by them.
Overshadowed by Controversy: In the United States, there was quite a bit of controversy over the fact that a movie set in ancient China starred Matt Damon, with accusations of whitewashing and casting discrimination coming from Asian-American critics... Even though Damon's character was specifically written to be European, the vast majority of the film's cast is Chinese and the characters who aren't were originally written that way, and the movie had most of its creative input come from Chinese filmmakers as opposed to Americans imposing some kind of mandated Race Lift on their characters. A lot of this reaction came from the first trailer, which did not make any of that clear at all. In the meantime, Chinese audiences didn't seem to be that concerned about it. This calmed down a bit when the film was released, and it turns out the character is not any kind of White Savior, and his role is mostly just to gawk at how awesome the Chinese characters are.
So Okay, It's Average: The common view by most Chinese moviegoers about the movie according to Chinese movie review sites Douban and Maoyan. However, the Chinese Government didn't like that and they criticized the sites and accused them of being unpatriotic and harming the Chinese movie industry, leading to Maoyan to remove their professional score of the movie.
Special Effects Failure: While most of the film's cinematography is well-made and beautifully depicted, there are a couple of conspicuous shots where the Tao Tie look rather...cartoon-like, blending in poorly with the live-action elements and looking more like video game graphics.
Spiritual Adaptation: This movie is close enough to be a joint Asian-Hollywood live-action adaptation of Attack on Titan minus the shape-shifting abilities and Ancient Conspiracy and replace the smiling naked giants with green alien lizards.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- The commanders of the siege-engine using Tiger Troop and horse-mounted Deer Troop don't get many quirks or action scenes despite their impressive skills.
- Commander Lin's two Crane Troop lieutenants are regrettably underused after a scene where they are seen being friendly with her and amused by Ballard during a meal, plus their Action Girl abilities.
Visual Effects of Awesome:
- The chase through the stained-glass tower near the end of the film is gorgeous.
- Pretty much the first battle in its entirety, featuring brightly-colored soldiers, flaming catapults, bungee-jumping spearwomen, and massive waves of iridescent jade-like aliens, all set to an epic soundtrack and beating drums.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?:
- Some viewers insist on referring to the Taotie as "Mongols".
- In the climax, the Tao Tie circle their queen similar to the pilgrimage in Mecca, and later attack a pair of twin towers. Given America's current political climate and the fact the Tao Tie are to be kept out by "building a wall"...

YMMV / The Great Wall

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