Review – The Wall
The Wall is a very simple, yet effective movie. It revolves around two American solders (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena) in Iraq who, while scouting out the scene of a violent incident, become the target of an expert Iraqi sniper. With both men wounded and with limited resources, they must outsmart the sniper while trying not to get killed in the process.
Majority of the movie is Taylor-Johnson’s character Isaac conversing with the sniper over his radio behind a flimsy wall while Cena’s Matthews lays on the other side of the wall in clear site of the sniper. Through the conversations with the sniper, we learn more about Isaac as a character, as he reveals an incident about his past that altered who he is as a solider. For being thrown right into the middle of this situation and not expanding beyond it, the movie does a pretty good job of fleshing out the only major character that it has.
A movie like this relies heavily on the performances and we get some good ones here. This is an Aaron Taylor-Johnson showcase. He drives this movie in every way. He makes this movie emotional, intense, and compelling. There is never a moment you weren’t rooting for Isaac to get out of this situation and when the tension kicks up, it really kicks. I wish there was more of Cena. He starts the movie off really well but then becomes a plot device after he gets wounded. And the voice work of Laith Nakli as the sniper is terrific. He’s smart and terrifying and you never know what he is going to do next. You know his finger is on the trigger and we are just waiting for him to fire.
Director Doug Liman does some interesting work here. The movie comes in at under an hour and a half, which is the perfect runtime. It never feels to long, yet gets the job done. The intensity is kept up for most of the movie, though there were a few moments where it lets up, which some people will appreciate, but I wanted the tension to never stop. I also wish the movie had a score to it. I know that no score was added to keep the movie more realistic, and that would have worked if the movie was done with less editing and done more in the single-take, mockumentary style. But with all the editing done throughout the movie, it took away from that “being there” authenticity, so a score would have kept stretching the tension just a little more. These smalls flaws are mostly forgiven by the film’s ending, which is absolutely insane. You will not see it coming and it twists the movie in an unexpected, shocking way. Liman continues to diversify his filmography and prove his excellence as a director.
This is a relatively shorter review, because the movie is so small and so simple that I could give away the entire movie in a few sentences. The Wall is a cool, little thriller with an outstanding performance by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, some slick direction by Doug Liman, and a wild, unexpected ending.
MY RATING – 3/4
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