A short while later, a hole is discovered in the base of the Great Wall, which the Taotie queen has used to lead her hordes to the capital. The Taotie is taken to the capital by the envoy. They manage to capture a living Taotie and prove the hypothesis. During the next attack, the Taotie are numerous enough to cause Lin to resort to using black powder rockets, whose existence had been kept secret from the Westerners until now. This results in his delaying his escape plans, which puts him at odds with Tovar who nevertheless delays his escape plan to assist William, much to Ballard’s chagrin. To test the hypothesis, William suggests that they should capture a Taotie alive and agrees to help. Wang believes that the stone William carried all this time enabled him to slay the Taotie he fought before entering the Wall. Around this time, an envoy from the capital arrives with an ancient scroll which suggests that the monsters are pacified by magnets. The Taoties are slain but Shao, wounded beyond recovery, succumbs to his injuries and dies, leaving Lin to take command of the Nameless Order. Shao and Lin lead the Deer soldiers to investigate, but are ambushed. They attack northern China once every sixty years, an invasion for which the Order has been training for their entire lives.ĭuring the night, two Taoties reach the top of the Wall and silently kill several watchmen. The Chinese believe the Taotie were sent from the gods to punish the Emperor for abusing his authority over the Middle Kingdom and the people. Later, Strategist Wang meets William and explains the situation: The monsters that William fought were Taoties (in the film collectively called the Tao Tei), which are monsters originating from a green meteor that crash-landed onto Gouwu Mountain two thousand years ago. The three foreign mercenaries discuss plans to steal black powder from the storeroom and flee while the soldiers are occupied by battle. Like them, Ballard was also taken prisoner and now has been serving as an English and Latin teacher. Later, William and Tovar meet Sir Ballard, a European who, like them, had ventured east twenty-five years ago in search of black powder. William and Tovar’s battle skills earn the respect of General Shao and Commander Lin, leader of the Crane Troop.

During the battle, William and Tovar are freed by Peng Yong, an unskilled soldier from the Bear Troop and William, in turn, saves him from the attacking monsters. Losses are sustained on both sides before the monsters’ queen recalls her drones. The Nameless Order is divided into five special units: the melee-specialist Bear Troop, the acrobatic-specialist Crane Troop, the archer-specialist Eagle Troop, the siege engine-specialist Tiger Troop, and the horse-mounted Deer Troop. Suddenly, a wave of monsters attack the Great Wall, and the battalions are mobilized. The commanding officers are shocked upon seeing the monster’s severed hand, as the Order believed the invasion was still weeks away. The Nameless Order is a Chinese military order commissioned by the Imperial Court of the Song Dynasty as a special division of the Imperial Army conceived for the sole purpose of repelling a horde of alien monsters (the Taotie 饕餮) who rise every 60 years. The next day, they stumble upon the Great Wall and are taken prisoner by Chinese soldiers of a secretive military sect called the Nameless Order, led by General Shao and Strategist Wang. The two decide to bring the arm with them. Upon escaping they seek refuge in a cave but are then attacked by an unknown monster, leaving only William and Tovar alive, with the former having slashed off the monster’s hand. AD 1010–63), a few miles north of the Great Wall, a mercenary group originally consisting of twenty men searching for black powder are pursued by Khitan bandits, who have already killed some of the men. In the time of the Song dynasty during the reign of the Renzong Emperor (i.e. The film has grossed $329 million worldwide against its $150 million production budget and was deemed a box office disappointment. It was released by China Film Group in China on Decemand in the United States on Februby Universal. Principal photography for the film began on March 30, 2015, in Qingdao, China, and it premiered in Beijing on December 6, 2016. The Chinese-US co-production also stars Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe and Andy Lau. He encounters the Great Wall of China and meets Chinese soldiers who defend against monsters. The Great Wall (Chinese: 长城) is a 2016 monster film directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Matt Damon, who plays a European mercenary in China during the Song dynasty.

2022.09