I like war movies. I thoroughly enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow and can't wait for the sequel. I also enjoyed the Bourne Identity films. When I saw Doug Liman was directing The Wall, I figured it would be a theater must-see. I was traveling quite a bit when this film was in theaters, so I did not get to see it until last night. It is currently streaming for free on Amazon Prime. But I wouldn't necessarily recommend that you go looking for it. I was disappointed with this film.
Isaac (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Matthews (John Cena) are snipers. They are deployed to a pipeline construction site where an entire construction crew has been massacred by insurgents. After establishing an overwatch position for nearly a full day, the pair decide to walk down toward the construction site to investigate further. Matthews walks down while Isaac provides cover. When Matthews is hit with a sniper round, Isaac runs down from his concealed position to assist. Isaac is also hit by a sniper round, sending him for cover behind a wall, the remnants of an old school. While trying to radio for help, Isaac ends up in a conversation with the Ghost, an Iraqi sniper who has him pinned down. Isaac must keep his head together to figure out how to extract himself from a deadly situation. Meanwhile, his conversations with the Ghost elicit some truths that Isaac has been hiding.
In a word, The Wall was a bit boring. It is a simple enough concept. A pinned down soldier is forced to deal with his inner demons. We learn more about the character as he struggles with an internal conflict while trying to extricate himself from a dangerous situation. Matthews is largely forgotten, as he lays dying yards beyond the wall. Isaac, meanwhile, resolves to locate the sniper in hopes of taking him out. His thought process is disjointed in a way that doesn't feel like the stress of war. His training should have kicked in from the outset. Instead, it feels like a contrived mess of thoughts that are never fully ferreted out. Aside from the fact that he should have bled out in the time that elapsed, the story just failed to find any toehold of credibility.
Instead of enjoying the film, I was asking myself why only two soldiers were deployed to investigate a major massacre? How did they get to their position? What was the plan for them to get back? Why no support troops nearby? Why didn't the overwatch maintain their position and call in armored vehicles to do the actual investigation? And the dialogue...yikes. I just didn't get it. The writing was horrible. I checked Writer Dwain Worrell's creds on IMDb. I was not at all surprised to see that the other films he wrote were stinkers. Both scored in the low 4 range, where I am going to place The Wall.
John Cena was an afterthought in this film. Not that I am overly impressed with him as an actor. I am not. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a decent actor. He was okay in this film. If they had to pick between these two actors for one to carry the film, they picked the right one. But the hokey dialogue and unrealistic situation gave him little to work with. This was meant to be a character driven story. We get to see the guy struggle with his own demons. But it didn't work. The characters still came across as flat and tepid. Whatever potential this film had was lost on the dialogue and poor character development. Had those points been better I may have been able to get past the fact that two guys were deployed to investigate a massacre.
The Wall is rated R. The MPAA likely relied on the war violence for this rating. We see numerous dead bodies scattered around the construction site as well as witnessing a few people getting shot. Sometimes multiple times. The gore factor is pretty low, but death is a prevalent theme. Language was another factor interspersed throughout the film. Not any more violent than most video games. If you have kids that play shooter games then this film is tame.
I don't non-recommend very many films. But I could not find enough redeeming factors to allow me to recommend The Wall. The cinematography was okay. It had a polished look. The scenery provided a nice backdrop for the story. But the story was lacking in every element. The characters were flat, the pacing was slow and choppy, the ending was weak, and the situation was not logical. I was bored at times and really just wanted to know how the story ended, only to be disappointed with the ending. This film had modest potential, it was never going to be a great film. But it could have been decent. It just wasn't. 4.5/10.
