The Wandering Earth

Starring: Jing Wu, Chuxiao Qu, Guangjie Li, Man-Tat Ng, Jin Mai Jaho, Mike Kai Sui, Jingjing Qu
Directed by: Frant Gwo
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: As the sun begins to die and expand, the Earth rallies together to move the planet out of orbit. Giant engines circling the globe power the Earth on its unprecedented and dangerous journey to find a new home.

Review:

Tim: The Wandering Earth is an intriguing movie. It's one of the biggest box office hits in China's history. It replicates the big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, while doing things slightly differently. It was so fun to watch this movie trying to be like an expensive Hollywood movie while simultaneously taking steps to ensure it was different. The story was preposterous, but fun. I really, really liked the movie and I believe it toys with greatness. Ultimately, it falls just short.

I really enjoy Cixin Liu, who wrote the story story that this film was adapted from. His The Three Body Problem was excellent and I found myself thinking about that novel months after finishing it. His story here is a bit harder to swallow. This is something I struggled mightily with throughout the film. On the one hand, it's an incredibly cool idea- that we need to move the Earth and we use these enormous engines to do it. The idea of a "wandering Earth", moving through the cosmos. This creates stunning visuals and it allows our protagonists to go on a journey unlike any we've ever seen. Moving the entire Earth? It's incredible. Unfortunately, it's also ridiculous. I'm a layperson when it comes to science and I recognize this. Obviously, building spaceships to shuttle the human race off the planet is the easiest answer. Sure, you couldn't move the entire population, but billions of people die in this scenario, too. There's also the idea of potentially just moving out to a further planet- if the sun expands, perhaps another planet or one of Jupiter's moons would heat up enough to support life. The idea of moving the Earth is wonderful, but you start thinking about the fuel needed for such a journey and you realize the insanity of this plan. The movie goes to more effort than usual to explain why this approach was taken and how it could feasibly work. I appreciate the desire to include science, but ultimately, it isn't enough.

Now, many, many movies require you to suspend disbelief. This isn't new. I struggled throughout this movie with doing that. Part of it is that the movie tries so hard to explain the science, it makes you ask questions, and ultimately the movie can't answer them. This is problematic. However, you also forgive the movie some, because you get such wonderful visuals. Over the years, Hollywood has exploded most of the monuments on this planet and we've also seen the Earth explode. This movie allows us to see the Earth get captured by Jupiter's gravity. It's hard to describe how cool this is. The visuals in this film are fantastic, and to see the small blue-green globe being dwarfed by the mass of Jupiter is unforgettable. I loved those scenes, of the atmosphere being ripped away from the planet due to Jupiter's gravity. That made me feel so torn about the movie- none of this could actually occur, but man, it was cool to see it take place in this film.

I mentioned the visuals twice already, but they are worth reiterating. I know Hollywood gets most of the credit for big visual effects movies, but the Chinese film industry deserves loads of credit for what they crafted here. It's a big, visual effects extravaganza and it doesn't disappoint. The futuristic vehicles, the torque engines, the planets, it all looks absolutely stunning. I loved how this movie looked. The budget was appropriate for bringing this story to life. It was certainly one of the big strengths in this film.

I mostly enjoyed the large cast. Jing Wu was perhaps the most enjoyable of the cast. He has true movie star presence. It felt just like an American production where they cast a well-known and well-liked actor in a role like this. Wu is excellent in the movie and elevates all of his scenes. You really can't give him too much credit for what he does here. This movie wouldn't have worked nearly as well without him in this role. Man-Tat Ng added a nice supporting role. Chuxiao Qu is the film's protagonist, and while he's decent, I wouldn't say I loved his performance. He may have been somewhat limited by the script, but it's obvious he doesn't measure up to the better actors in the film. Zhao Jinmai was solid, giving an enjoyable performance.

As mentioned, I really enjoyed The Wandering Earth. The script ultimately asks too much of the audience, but this is an exciting, intense, visual spectacle. It was thoroughly engaging and one of the most impressive films I've seen come out of China. I highly recommend this movie.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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