The Wall (2017)
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Two American soldiers find themselves trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a skilled Iraqi sniper in the desert.
The story
At the close of the Iraq War, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Shane Matthews, a sniper, and his spotter, Sergeant Allen Isaac, are sent to investigate a pipeline construction site in the Iraqi desert where contractors and their security detail have all fallen victim to a sniper. The pair wait 22 hours on overwatch before determining the site is clear. Matthews proceeds to investigate but is shot by a famed Iraqi sniper nicknamed "Juba". Isaac tries to rescue the dying Matthews but is also wounded. Alone, Isaac takes cover behind an unsteady wall while the sniper communicates with him over a radio under a false pretense.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
At the close of the Iraq War, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Shane Matthews, a sniper, and his spotter, Sergeant Allen Isaac, are sent to investigate a pipeline construction site in the Iraqi desert where contractors and their security detail have all fallen victim to a sniper. After waiting 22 hours on overwatch, Matthews investigates and is shot by a sniper nicknamed "Juba". Isaac, wounded and with a damaged radio, takes cover behind a wall. The sniper communicates with Isaac over the radio, pretending to be an allied soldier to gather information. Matthews regains consciousness and tries to crawl toward his rifle while Isaac distracts the sniper with small talk. Matthews is eventually spotted and killed by a second shot. Isaac, unable to call for help due to a lost antenna, realizes the sniper used the previous team as a ruse to lure more soldiers. Hearing rescue helicopters, Isaac pushes down the wall and uses Matthews' rifle to try to flush out Juba. Juba misses twice, and Isaac fires his only round, assuming the sniper is neutralized. However, once the helicopters land and pick them up, Juba shoots down both soldiers in rapid succession and calls for another rescue to set a new trap.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 88
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Doug Liman
- Writers
- Dwain Worrell · writer
- Cast and characters
- Aaron Taylor-Johnson · Sergeant Allen "Ize" Isaac; John Cena · Staff Sergeant Shane Matthews; Laith Nakli · Juba (voice)
- Genres
- war thriller; psychological thriller; war drama
- Themes
- survival; deception; warfare
- Tone and mood
- tense; psychological; gritty
- Premise and plot tags
- sniper; military; survival; desert
- Source material / true-story basis
- original spec script
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, grossing $4.5 million against a $3 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 65% · review count: 125; Metacritic · score: 56 · scale: 100 · review count: 26; Common Sense Media · score: 4 · scale: 5; Washington Post · score: 3 · scale: 4
- Production trivia
- Dwain Worrell wrote the screenplay while teaching English in China.; The script appeared in the 2014 Black List of most liked un-produced screenplays.; US Ranger sniper Nicholas Irving was an on-set adviser for the film.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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