Notable Cast: Andy Lau, Wu Jing, Li Xuejian, Sha Yi, Ning
Li, Wang Zhi, Zhu Yan Man Zi
Not that most of us can remember a world pre-pandemic at
this point, but if you do and you were following the rise in dominance of the
Chinese film industry upon the global market - you might remember Frant Gwo’s
massive blockbuster hit, The Wandering Earth.
Unleashed during the Lunar New Year in theaters (yes, even
with a limited release here in the US) the film took one of those silly sci-fi
concepts and managed to make a film that embraced the Hollywood formulas and
style established by Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay. However, it managed to
capture the fun of a sci-fi disaster film and embed a ton of heart into the
mix.
It’s not all that surprising that a big-budget sequel, The
Wandering Earth II, would get greenlit. What is surprising is that not only
is it a prequel and not a sequel - a choice that could have easily and
horrifically backfired, but it manages to be better than its predecessor in
almost every facet. The Wandering Earth II is a science fiction opera
that douses its audience with massive spectacle, bold cinematic heroics, and
intriguing themes around sacrifice. Yet, it still manages to craft melodrama
that sprints the line between corny and tear-drivingly effective while
delivering on the white-knuckle disaster spectacle Hollywood made famous in
the 1990s.
The Wandering Earth II never wanders. It’s an
expertly crafted slice of blockbuster brilliance and, if it’s still in theaters
when you read this, you should definitely see it on the biggest screen
possible.
The scope of this film is massive. Although its narrative
structure is borderline a dramatization of “past” events in its world-building,
where it often displays a count down to the next event or next major crisis of
the plot, Gwo manages to encapsulate two movies worth of plotting and
characters into this one tale. During the film’s initial spew of information
for the audience, it discusses a little project titled “The Moving Mountain
Project.” This includes the baseline concept of how humanity must come
together to build 10,000 jet engines on the surface of the Earth so we can
break the orbit of the sun to avoid being devoured by its expansion
Not only does this project name indicate the effort
necessary to accomplish this plot device, but it’s a statement in how Gwo and
his co-writer Ge’er Gong are aiming to manage the pieces of this story. Due to
its structure that pops into the major events for the plot and its ensemble of
characters, The Wandering Earth II covers a lot of ground. Two major
plot lines, a baker’s dozen of characters, and massive plot devices push
the film from one major disaster event to the next. Some might find the script
bloated but Gwo and his team understand that the audience is glued to their
seat for two things: big tense filled disaster set pieces and the heroics of
humanity. Sure, that latter piece is certainly PRC-approved in pushing China
and their feats to the forefront, but the feelings and heart of the characters
remain universal.
It is these human elements of The Wandering Earth II’s
script and direction that truly soar over of its predecessor. The dual
narrative, one led by Wu Jing’s Liu Peiqiang and the other by Andy Lau’s Tu
Hengyu, tackles similar themes around sacrifice, family, and the complexity of
humanity in trying to balance personal goals and decisions that place others in
front. Although the two certainly take very different routes to get there -
where Wu Jing is a space pilot and Andy Lau is a scientist that works on supercomputers, Gwo aims to have them parallel one another to get the film’s themes
across to where the intertwining plots culminate effectively in the third
act.
There are moments that border on cheesy, where the heroics
of people are just inherent to the human condition and no one questions their
own ability to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but Gwo and team make
them work. One can see how some viewers might find the big melodramatic swings
emotional bait, as many tropes of lost families or the hardships of love come
into play, but strong performances from both Wu Jing and Andy Lau easily carry
the film through those moments with relative ease. Considering how much of a
powerhouse that Andy Lau is in most films, it was especially surprising to see
Wu Jing hold his own for his portion in this film. Turns out, not only is Wu
Jing an incredible action star in his own right, but his acting skills just
keep getting better and better over time.
The two are helped by an impeccable secondary cast (for the
most part) that help drive home some of the plotting and themes. The
occasionally poor dub for Russians or foreign characters might be one of the
bigger obstacles for the film to overcome, but when actors like Li Xuejian or
Wang Zhi pop up and nail their respective roles it’s easier to overlook those
smaller bit parts that lean too far into tropes and formulas.
Most viewers are apt to remember the action and disaster set
pieces though. The Wandering Earth featured a ton of Hollywood-inspired
CGI destruction fests and this prequel rarely hesitates in trying to one-up the
original. An initial terrorist attack of drones and spies on the giant space
elevator of the first act might seem like a wild misfire on paper, but strong Macross
vibes and potent visuals make it one of the highlights of the film. The same
goes for the finale and its tiered tension as multiple teams are working
together that range from nuking the moon to rebooting the internet in a sea-leveled Beijing in what basically constitutes an underwater heist sequence.
It’s all wildly entertaining to an absolutely ludicrous degree but, again, they
make it work and it’s almost jaw-dropping in seeing it all gel together. Hey,
Emmerich - no offense but The Wandering Earth II puts your Moonfall
movie six feet deep. Just saying.
The Wandering Earth II might be spectacle packed, but
it’s definitely emotionally driven. No matter what, the reason that this
blockbuster works is that it finds the balance between the two and threads the
needle in so many outlandish ways that it’s bound to impress. It manages to
make a prequel exciting, even though we know how things turn out, and the heart
that beats underneath its valor-filled characters and crumbling structures
somehow beats loud enough to make it all worth the time.
And, in its own weird way, the film manages to lay the
groundwork for an even more intriguing Wandering Earth III premise for the near
future. Considering how successful this one is as a film, I hope that the next
one goes even bolder and embraces some of the bigger science fiction themes
that simmered underneath the disaster film formula. In the meantime, let’s all
just appreciate how The Wandering Earth II beat the Hollywood system at
its own game and continues to decimate the box office.
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