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Critics tear down Matt Damon's new blockbuster 'The Great Wall': a 'tedious' 'white savior' movie

Matt Damon plays a mercenary who travels east in search of black powder and instead finds himself battling monsters in "The Great Wall" (in theaters this weekend).

What might have been considered an outlandish blockbuster a decade ago is now looked at more skeptically in 2017. Many see Damon's new movie, an American/Chinese co-production in which he is the lead and surrounded by Asian actors, as Hollywood's latest example of whitewashing.

#ThankYouMattDamon has even gone viral on Twitter, with people sarcastically thanking Damon for everything he's done for Asian culture.

Now critics have chimed in, and it's not just the whitewashing allegations they see as a problem for the movie, which currently has a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Here's what critics are saying about the movie:

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The movie is just dull.

Though the movie was directed by acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou ("House of Flying Daggers"), its plot and action are predictable and extremely watered down, according to the scribes.

As USA Today puts it: "'The Great Wall' would probably be a lot more culturally offensive if it wasn't such a complete trainwreck."

The Chicago Tribune called it: "A monster movie, a white savior movie, and an extremely tedious movie."

There's some cool CGI, but that's not enough to save it.

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As in all of Yimou's work, visual effects are prevalent, but not even beautiful CGI-generated landscapes and huge creature battles will keep you interested.

"There are plenty of fun CGI monster-skewering scenes," Empire said, "but a clunky plot, rigid script, and equally stiff acting make this a crumbling disappointment, if not quite a disaster."

And the dialogue is just plain weird.

There are certain moments in the movie when you don't know if suddenly the actors forgot they were supposed to be playing characters in ancient China. Modern slang is repeatedly used. One character says "b----" and a few say "I heard that!" Pretty sure neither was around in those days.

The Hollywood Reporter sums up the movie this way: "'The Great Wall' is easily the least interesting and involving blockbuster of the respective careers of both its director and star."

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