By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Cena and Laith Nakli
Rating: Very Good.
Doug Liman, director of “The Bourne Identity”, “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Swingers” brings “The Wall”, an action thriller film that is very well made.
Set in 2007 near the end of the war, the movie tells the story of American Soldiers Allen Isaac (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Shane Matthews (John Cena) who are sent to investigate a pipeline construction in Iraq.
While they are on watch, Matthews is shot by a sniper named Juba (Laith Nakli). He also shoots Isaac leaving him in a compromising position.
Isaac seeks shelter in a brick wall that is located in the premises. Juba will want to play a game of cat and mouse with Isaac and now the marine will need to use all his knowledge and wit in order to survive and beat a very determined adversary who will do anything at any cost.
Doug Liman again directed a very well made and paced film with “The Wall”. The level of tension of this film is really high and Liman knew how to play with those levels at every moment.
Liman is a Director who in all his films has taken advantage of this element of tension wisely and here was no different.
One of the things that made this film very interesting was the script written by Dwain Worrell, who captured with dialogue and action the intensity of a marine soldier. I can see the amount of research that was spent in developing this type of characters and of course to live a situation that literally implicates your life.
I also like the fact that there were only three characters in a film and that made it even more interesting because you can see the conflicts on all the characters. Making this type of movies can be really difficult because of the timing and pacing that is required; there can be a tendency of this kind of movies to be really slow since all the film takes place in one location. Here was not the case and one of things that was very smart on part of the filmmakers was that they manage what was need to be said and shown in the screen.
Another element that made it interesting is that is not the typical Hollywood war movie, compared to the latest films of Doug Liman which are in a higher level. This is more a psychological thriller set in a combat zone.
Although the only part I was not that convince was the final scene of the film. I think it wasn´t necessary and I feel that at that point we understood as members of the audience what really happened.
The performance by Aaron Taylor-Johnson is solid. The way how he portrayed with character was real and convincing. We felt for him at the whole movie since he only has a goal and it´s to survive.
Yes, the movie is very violent and graphic and before you watch be totally open and prepared since it does have very graphic scenes.
“The Wall” not only is very that it was very well shot. It was well acted, directed and written. This movie has very good elements of a very good Thriller film and I highly recommend it.