THE WALL – Rated R – 1 hr 21 mins

THE WALL – Rated R – 1 hr 21 mins  

Starring Aaron Taylor Johnson, John Cena and Laith Nakli 

Leave it Doug Liman, you know, the Director who brought Jason Bourne to life, then gave us the world’s BEST married assassins EVER in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and even taught us all, and Tom Cruise too, how to live on The Edge of Tomorrow –to bring us a tale set deep in the midst of the Afghan War, with one sniper, two solders and one subpar barrier between them all…this is THE WALL!

Sent to secure a contractor base amidst the desert in Afghanistan, we meet Solder Matthews (John Cena) and his comrade Issac (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

When Matthews and Isaac’s are taken down from seemingly out of nowhere, Isaac’s seeks refuge behind a dilapidated wall, as he attempts to signal for help to get him and his Matthews back to safety.

When his attempts via the airwaves are finally answered, Isaac soon finds that the responder to his calls for help, may not be his American counterparts after all…but rather the Afghani sniper in their midst…toying with Isaac and his emotions, as this enemy plots to rid this earth of two more American servicemen…

I give THE WALL a rating between MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN and WAIT AND CATCH THIS FILM ON DVD: Talk about being on the edge of your seat the entire time, THE WALL brings to life the cruel and tragic world of modern day warfare, and from a birds eye view. Taylor-Johnson’s performance is extraordinary, as the eagle eye protector Isaac, and way beyond what we have experienced from him before on the big screen as Quicksilver in THE AVENGERS, or in any of the KICK ASS Films. Cena’s performance is note worthy too, although not as significant in length as I had hoped it would be going in. This intense and far-too-real portrayal of what our solders must endure since terrorism reared its ugly head, may be too close for comfort for many viewers, regardless of your age, or your love for war genre films. Liman manages to create another extremely authentic, emotionally draining and totally distressing film, showing how the tables have turned for our serviceman since we entered the desert, as our boys they try to circumvent their way though this mission, which seems to ultimately be HELL ON EARTH!

Kathy Kaiser