DESPITE a yawn-inducing opening 'chase', The Great Wall is a riot of colour, action and wonderful nonsense, writes Jason Day.

A 'Jason Bourne meets Game of Thrones' fantasy which sees Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal's mercenary medieval soldiers holed up in the titular ancient barrier to help the Chinese 'Rainbow Army' battle beasties who want to literally consume mankind.

One of the co-writers is the man behind the critically acclaimed Michael Clayton, which might explain the flashes of ingenuity in the script and why, despite being utterly daft, this is still a surprisingly fun and brisk spectacle.

Damon and Pascal make an entertaining duo, although the less said about Willem Defoe's 'English' prisoner the better.

But its the costume design and photography that take centre stage: uniformly pleasing to the eye, there are some stand-out set-pieces including a sky lantern funeral and a final battle in a kaleidoscopic pagoda.