Director Zhang Yimou's fantasy-tinged action epic stars Matt Damon as William Garin, a European mercenary in China during the Song Dynasty. Taken prisoner by an elite group of Chinese soldiers, Garin and his compatriot Pero Tovar soon find themselves aiding their captors in their desperate struggle to defend the Great Wall from the Tao Tei, monstrous creatures that launch an attack once every 60 years.