Before The Odyssey drops, it is time to give Matt Damon's chaotic fantasy epic another chance
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
With Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey generating renewed interest in Matt Damon's career, critics are encouraging fans to revisit the underrated 2016 fantasy epic The Great Wall, which also stars Pedro Pascal and is currently streaming free on Tubi.
As movie fans dive back through the filmography of Matt Damon while awaiting Christopher Nolan's upcoming epic, most people naturally gravitate toward prestige hits like The Martian, Interstellar, or the Bourne series. Yet, one of his most visually striking and wildly entertaining efforts is often left off the list entirely. Directed by visionary filmmaker Zhang Yimou, The Great Wall arrived in 2016 as a massive international co-production, and it features an unexpected trio of stars with Damon, Pedro Pascal, and Willem Dafoe sharing the screen.
At the time of its release, the film was largely overshadowed by industry debates surrounding Hollywood co-productions and casting choices, which meant audiences missed out on a gleefully pulpy fantasy adventure. The story drops Damon and Pascal into a centuries-old war along China's iconic landmark, pitting elite defenders against swarms of mythical monsters known as Taotie. Long before Pascal became the definitive face of prestige television through The Last of Us and The Mandalorian, he was playing off Damon with effortless charm as a cynical mercenary swept up in a spectacle much larger than himself.
What makes the movie worth revisiting today is the singular visual direction from Zhang, who treats grand scale action with the precision of classical theater rather than modern shaky-cam chaos. It is a bold, colorful blockbuster from an era of Hollywood filmmaking that was still willing to take massive financial swings on original high-concept ideas. For players and film fans looking for a fun cinematic distraction between queue times or raid nights, the film is currently streaming for free on Tubi, as highlighted in a recent retrospective piece by Polygon.
Tags: Movies, Streaming, Entertainment, Culture, Polygon
Original article: Polygon