The Wandering Earth

Having raked in over $600m at the box office, The Wandering Earth is yet another massive blockbuster from China. However, like so many enormous Chinese blockbusters in recent years, it's all style and no substance, with excessive emphasis on special effects and incoherent fantasy that really impedes any attempts to craft a more elegant or majestic space opera.

And that's where I want to start, because from the beginning of this movie, you'll likely be reminded of a number of other films that go about telling sci-fi stories in a rather different way. The Wandering Earth is based on a novel of its own, so it's not in any way a Chinese remake, but the premise and key ideas explored in the film, particularly in the opening act, are hugely reminiscent of both Christopher Nolan's Interstellar and Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Now, both Interstellar and 2001 are absolute masterpieces of modern sci-fi, because they tell a fantasy story with a stunning sense of grandeur and majesty that can't be achieved in any other genre. In that, while both movies have a plot and characters of their own, it's almost as if space itself is their main component, with astonishing visual effects playing into an eye-opening and almost spiritual depiction of the final frontier.

The Wandering Earth, on the other hand, takes a far more simplistic and unfortunately dull approach to telling a sci-fi story. It does have the special effects to dazzle (although I talk more about that in a moment), but it feels so much more like a formulaic space adventure movie, rather than the majestic space opera that it's so desperately trying to be.

Its opening sequence depicts the ever-intensifying threat of celestial destruction, and throughout, the film relates personal difficulties and tragedies in tandem with the danger of space travel and colonisation. And yet, while all of those ingredients make the film ripe for the sort of emotionally hard-hitting and elegant watch that is a great space opera, it's all overwhelmed by its more basic blockbuster tendencies.

In that, the film's quartet of young leads takes a little of the grandeur out of the story, bringing it closer to something reminiscent of the YA genre, while the special effects are often totally over the top, with an excessively brash and chaotic depiction of the dangers and threats present in space, something that really isn't necessary, as proved by better films such as Interstellar and Gravity.

On top of that, its near future setting, although only in the late 2050s, feels light years away from the present we know today. Unlike Interstellar, whose near future is almost identical to the present day, The Wandering Earth is full of fantasy and sci-fi gibberish about the Earth of the future that's both fairly incomprehensible and difficult to relate to, further taking away from your ability to emotionally engross yourself in the story and feel the real power of what this story has to offer.

And I say that because, despite not thinking much of the movie, there are moments where the film really tries hard to be something more majestic and elegant than just another space adventure. Its fantasy and excessive special effects often make it feel more like Jupiter Ascending than Interstellar, but there are a few moments of emotional intrigue and pathos that do indicate its intentions, and briefly provide an engrossing and impressive respite from an otherwise both chaotic and formulaic movie.

Overall, then, I wasn't particularly taken by The Wandering Earth. Its ambition is clear from the start, and with a premise that's reminiscent of real greats of modern sci-fi, it should have been an elegant, moving and majestic watch. However, with a generic plot that's far heavier on brash special effects, fantasy mumbo jumbo and chaotic action, it really misses the mark when delivering a sci-fi that's a little more special to the normal fare.

I finally had the chance to sit down and watch the 2019 Chinese movie "The Wandering Earth" (aka "Liu lang di qui") here in 2020. I had heard about the movie, of course, but just never gotten around to actively sitting down to watch it.

So was the wait worth it? Oh yeah. This movie was definitely an epic Chinese production, and the movie was very enjoyable. Sure, you need to fully forget everything about realism, science and probability. This was without a doubt a very entertaining and enjoyable sci-fi adventure, but there was not an ounce of realism in the movie. But hey, hence the purpose of being a movie meant for entertainment and not enlightenment of facts.

I was really surprised with the epic feel that there was to this movie. This easily outdid a lot of Hollywood produced movies. And I was really enjoying the CGI, the props, the sets, the costumes, etc. While the movie failed to have a single ounce of realism in it, it more than made up for that in terms of visuals and pure eye candy.

The storyline was fully and wholeheartedly unrealistic, but it was entertaining. "The Wandering Earth" is a very, very predictable movie, and you knew exactly what would happen a long time before it transpired on the screen. But this overly predictable formula really wasn't a hindrance to the movie.

"The Wandering Earth" also had a good ensemble of casted actors and actresses, whom portrayed their respective characters quite well. And that definitely also contributed a great deal to the overall enjoyment of the movie.

All in all, "The Wandering Earth" was an all-round pleasing movie, and I was more than entertained with it. I am rating it a seven out of ten stars.

My Chinese friends got me into watching this and expected it to be some mindblowing piece. We both left the movie theater wishing we didn't watch it. It was not all that bad, they have beautiful casts, great cinematography, but that was it. Their storyline was weak, doesn't make any sense at times. There was no character development, no climax moment, no big twist and turn. Often times it was predictable and the jokes werent that funny at all, maybe it was funny to other Chinese audience. Yeah ok great explosion, nice suit yadi yadi but i can barely finish the movie if it makes no sense at all. Don't waste your time, it was overhyped!

Surprisingly entertaining big budget Chinese sci fi movie. Had me crying at times. Good cinematography and effects. If you like Roland Emmerich films, you'll like this.

The movie is groundbreaking for China in that the special effects are impressive and that it shows they can do sci-fi in design. Sadly, aside from that, there's not much to like about the movie.

To put into context first, Wandering Earth cannot be compared to a Marvel or DC Comics movie nor to most sci-fi movies: they are completely different genres and are much less likely to involve human cooperation. At it's core Wandering Earth is a 'doomsday' or 'disaster' movie. It should be compared to movies like: The Day After Tomorrow; Armageddon; Deep Impact; Outbreak; Contagion; etc.

In that context, Wandering Earth has a very basic, standard plot. The characters are similar, except exaggerated and over the top. Together, aside from the usual interdepartment and/or international disagreements and eventual cooperation that can be found in such disaster movies, the plot and characters sum up to: "Young, handsome rebel who hates his dad (unreasonably) and acts selfishly in all but the final moments ends up a hero".

The acting is weak. Character motivations are vague and often elaborated on only at the moment of death or near death (eg. through flashbacks), so there is no bonding with the characters on the way there. The main character swings back and forth between wanting to sacrifice all humanity to selfishly save his own friends and family (which would be very temporary) and wanting to sacrifice other people's lives to save all humanity. There is zero chance of ever feeling any connection or sympathy with that character. Potentially moving/touching moments are ruined by the way-too-obvious comedic relief characters (eg. watch someone important die, then laugh because the guy with white hair did something silly). The 'action' arc is "intro - climax - climax - climax - climax - climax - climax - conclusion" to the point that the climax just feels like it's dragging on and on.

Worst of all: There is an amazing sci-fi premise that is pulled off spectactularly with the special effects, but it amounts to nothing. It is the backdrop for just another disaster movie.