Theatrical artifice shoots down realism in war drama 'The Wall'

The Iraqi school-teacher-turned-sniper in Doug Liman's military suspense-thriller “The Wall” hates American soldiers so much, he concocts a cruel and unusual method for dispatching them: He decides to talk them to death.

Liman, mostly known for directing Matt Damon into an action star with the original “The Bourne Identity,” takes what could be a one-set, real-time stage play (from debuting screenwriter Dwain Worrell) and blows it out into a raw, crackling tale of survival.

For a while.

In 2007, two U.S. soldiers get pinned down in the Iraqi desert by a sharpshooter so skilled, he can place a bullet exactly where he wants.

His first bullet hits Staff Sgt. Shane Matthews (John Cena) in the lower body, crippling him. He's trapped out in the open at a remote location where several military contractors have been killed.

Matthew's partner, Sgt. Allen Isaac (“Nocturnal Animals” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson), tries to help, but the sniper fires a bullet into his right leg near the knee.

Isaac takes cover behind a crumbling wall of stacked stones that we later learn used to be a school before the American forces moved in.

Liman puts us through an emotional ringer during this part of “The Wall.” Isaac, panicked, disoriented and in severe pain, patches up his wound after graphically removing the bullet from his leg with his military knife.

It's an Eek! Don't look! moment.

Isaac can't tell if Matthews is alive. He has no idea where the sniper might be. He has no radio. The antenna has been shot off. He has no water. A bullet struck his canteen.

Later, we learn that the sniper really is that good. He placed every bullet exactly where he intended it to go.

“The Wall” begins with a taut, simple, stripped-down premise of soldiers trying to survive.

Then, Liman's powerful narrative tank jumps its tracks the moment a mysterious voice on Isaac's two-way radio reveals himself to be the sniper. And he wants to talk.

“I want to know about you,” the voice says, about to implement a verbal cliché. “We're not so unalike, you and I.”

The sniper, who could possibly be an infamous sharpshooter named Juba (voiced by Laith Nakli), forces Aaron to tell his life story and talk about his guilt over the recent death of a fellow soldier.

What? Is the sniper that lonely? Is his toying with his prey? Has he read too many Samuel Beckett plays?

The abrupt introduction of this chatty theatrical artifice disrupts the drama's gritty realism. Now, it really does feel like a one-set, real-time stage play.

Unlike Clint Eastwood's military sharpshooter drama “American Sniper,” in which an unseen enemy is highly skilled and stealthy, “The Wall” gives us a villain gifted with nearly supernatural powers of accuracy.

With Cena down for the count, Taylor-Johnson carries the movie almost single-handedly, building Aaron's intensity up to a shrill crescendo that even he can no longer climb over.

He's just another brick in “The Wall.”

“The Wall”

★ ★ ½

<b>Starring:</b> Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena

<b>Directed by:</b> Doug Liman

<b>Other:</b> A Roadside Attractions release. Rated R for language, violence. 81 minutes