Credit: Universal Pictures

Matt Damon seems to be riding one of the most enviable stretches of his career, with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey putting him back at the centre of a giant cinematic event and a brand new partnership with Netflix! Looks like the wind is very much in his sails.

But just then, because the streaming gods apparently have a sense of humour, some Netflix viewers thought this might be the perfect time to send what we might call the “Damon disaster” back up the chart. Remember the 2016 fantasy-action film The Great Wall? No? We don’t think even Matt Damon does.

And even if he does, he can afford this embarrassment because his career has far more trophies than, well, bruises. In fact, we can count numbers in hands: Good Will Hunting, Bourne, The Martian, Oppenheimer, the man, has spent decades working in films people wanted to see. But The Great Wall is different. This one wasn’t easy to shrug off because the whole thing was simply too big to ignore.

Guess who directed it? It’s almost fascinating that Zhang Yimou was the man behind it. Yes, the filmmaker behind Hero and House of Flying Daggers, a director who knows how to make armies fill a frame. Released in China in 2016 and the US in 2017, The Great Wall cost about $150 million and became one of the biggest Chinese-American co-productions of its era.

The story? Right, this is where things get a little… well, brace yourself. Damon plays William Garin, a European mercenary who reaches China with Pero Tovar (Pedro Pascal), because they are hunting for black powder. They are captured by the Nameless Order at the Wall, where William discovers its secret purpose: holding back the Taotie, swarming monsters that return every sixty years.

From there, William joins Commander Lin Mae (Jing Tian) in defending the Wall as the Taotie launch another attack. The battle scenes work much better than William’s sudden change of heart, which never feels all that convincing.

As for the cast, they deserved a sturdier script. Jing Tian brings some authority to Commander Lin Mae, while Pascal seems to understand that somebody has to have a bit of fun here. Andy Lau and Willem Dafoe are in the mix too. Damon even trained with archer Lajos Kassai, although what most people remember is that wandering accent, which seems to start in Ireland and lose its bearings halfway through.

Then came the box-office hangover, and this is where the numbers stop looking good. The film made about $335million worldwide, but against a $150m production budget, plus marketing and cinema cuts, reports put the loss at roughly $75m. North America produced only about $45 million. Critics were not exactly rushing to defend it either.

So why is it climbing Netflix now? Damon is back in the spotlight, and people love poking around famous disasters for which The Great Wall seems an irresistible target. And before you wonder, no, it has not turned into a lost masterpiece. However, if you’re done watching Matt Damon hits and want to meander a little, this one is a good one-time watch.