The Great Wall (simplified Chinese: 长城; traditional Chinese: 長城) is a 2016 monster film directed by Zhang Yimou, with a screenplay by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro and Tony Gilroy, from a story by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz.

The Nameless Order exists to combat Tao Tei, alien monsters that arrived from a meteorite and attack once every sixty years.

During the battle, Garin and Tovar are freed by Ballard, an Englishman who came east twenty-five years earlier and has been prevented from leaving.

Garin and Tovar display amazing battle skills, saving the life of young warrior named Peng Yong and slaying two monsters, which earns them the Order's respect.

Wang believes the magnetic stone Garin carries enabled him to slay the Tao Tei he encountered.

While Lin investigates, Tovar and Ballard steal black powder and escape, knocking Garin unconscious for trying to stop them.

Lin orders the use of hot-air balloons to rush to warn the capital and sets Garin free before embarking.

[13] During the filmmaking, the director said the most impressive part for him was the presence of so many translators to handle communication, as he assembled an international crew for the filming.

"Bridge of Fate" was composed and produced by Wang Leehom, with lyrics written by Vincent Fang, a longtime collaborator of singer-songwriter Jay Chou.

Wang sang pop, while Tan performed a traditional Qinqiang – a folk Chinese opera style from Shaanxi Province.

[20] Chinese pop diva Jane Zhang released another new English song, Battle Field, and its promotional music video, for The Great Wall on November 22, 2016.

The song was composed by King Logan and Maroon 5's keyboardist PJ Morton and written by Josiah "JoJo" Martin and Jane Zhang.

The Great Wall, funded by Legendary, China Film Group, and Universal Pictures was an attempt at a joint production between Chinese and American talent.

The rest of the investors, Legendary Entertainment, China Film Group and Le Vision Pictures, had an equal loss.

Universal also covered almost all of the film's global marketing expenses of more than $80 million, so the studio incurred an even heavier loss.

[29] In March 2018, Deadline Hollywood calculated the film lost the studio $74.5 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.

The website's critical consensus reads, "For a Yimou Zhang film featuring Matt Damon and Willem Dafoe battling ancient monsters, The Great Wall is neither as exciting nor as entertainingly bonkers as one might hope.

Club, gave the film a B− on an A to F scale, saying: "There is no logical reason for the film to climax in a tower of stained glass that paints Lin Mae and William in psychedelic Suspiria lighting, but boy does it look gorgeous in 3-D."[36] Simon Abrams, a contributor for RogerEbert.com, gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, summarizing: "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.

"[37] Clarence Tsui, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, gave the film a negative review, saying: "The Great Wall is easily the least interesting and involving blockbuster of the respective careers of both its director and star.

[41][42][43] Ann Hornaday, chief film critic for The Washington Post, wrote that "early concerns about Damon playing a 'white savior' in the film turn out to be unfounded: his character, a mercenary soldier, is heroic, but also clearly a foil for the superior principles and courage of his Chinese allies.

"[45] Deadline Hollywood noted that audience surveys by PostTrak indicated that Asians were turning out to see the film and constituted its second largest demographic group at 26% (behind Caucasians at 43%).

"[47] The film's largest investor, the Wanda Group (co-owner of Legendary Pictures) has a good relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.

[48][49] On December 28, 2016, the Communist Party's official media outlet People's Daily published an article on its website severely criticizing Douban and Maoyan for doing harm to the Chinese movie industry with their bad reviews.

The editorial board responded that the second article published later was the newspaper's opinion on the matter, People's Daily overseas edition restated this the next day.