The Wall

An obvious change of pace for Doug Liman, The Wall follows Iraq-stationed American soldiers Allen Isaac (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Shane Matthews (John Cena) as they’re pinned behind a crumbling wall by an enemy sniper – with the film predominantly detailing the battle of wills that ensues between the men. The palpable thinness of the premise isn’t, at the outset, as problematic as one might’ve feared, as filmmaker Liman and scripter Dwain Worrell deliver an engaging opening stretch that effectively establishes the central characters and their increasingly perilous situation – with the movie benefiting from an impressively suspenseful sequence in which the two protagonists first become aware of the aforementioned sniper’s presence. It’s only as The Wall ambles into its somewhat uneventful midsection that it begins to lose its grip on the viewer, and it’s clear, too, that Taylor-Johnson’s solid yet charisma-free performance contributes heavily to the movie’s progressively uninvolving vibe (eg the actor is never quite able to transform Isaac into a wholeheartedly sympathetic figure). The most obvious problem with the Phone Booth-like second act is an almost total absence of tension, as Worrell, for the most part, emphasizes the ideological conversations that ensue between Isaac and his newfound nemesis – with the majority of this stuff, coming out of the mouths of characters that are practically ciphers, fine but far from engrossing. And although things pick up in the comparatively action-packed climax, The Wall has long-since confirmed its place as an endeavor that, even at 81 minutes, simply can’t sustain a feature-length running time.

** out of ****