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The Wandering Earth II

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The Wandering Earth II 's spectacular visuals and brisk pace are more than enough to make up for its lengthy runtime and nationalistic subtext.

The Wandering Earth II is a nearly flawless achievement in epic sci-fi filmmaking.

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‘The Wandering Earth II’ Review: It Wanders Too Far

The audacious sequel to Frant Gwo’s 2019 sci-fi blockbuster follows survivors working to avert planetary disaster, but it loses much of the glee of its predecessor.

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By Brandon Yu

Upon its release, “The Wandering Earth,” Frant Gwo’s 2019 film about a dystopia in which Earth is perilously pushed through space, was minted as China’s first substantial, domestic sci-fi blockbuster, with the box office returns to prove it.

The film was entertaining enough, but its ambitious scope had something of an empty gloss to it, partly because the story’s drama wasn’t grounded in anything beyond the showy cataclysm. Its audaciously messy sequel, “The Wandering Earth II,” seems to have taken note and sprinted, aimlessly, entirely in the other direction. Losing all of the glee of its predecessor, the movie instead offers nearly three hours of convoluted story lines, undercooked themes and a tangle of confused, glaringly state-approved political subtext.

Boasting a bigger budget and greater expectations — the Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau has been added to the cast — “Wandering Earth II” is, narratively, a prequel. Gwo’s follow-up takes place years before the events of the first film and focuses on the United Earth Government’s initial efforts to push Earth out of our solar system, a move intended to avoid planetary disaster. It sets up flimsy ideas about dystopian geopolitics, man versus machine, and the nature of human consciousness (partly as a back story to the “2001: A Space Odyssey”/evil HAL 9000 knockoff plot of the first film).

This is all just in the first hour of setup, before the film does a fast-forward to the next conflict, years later, when humankind needs to nuke the Moon. The premise might be laughable, but silly narrative ideas didn’t get in the way of a good time in the first film. It’s hard to say how much of a true cinematic achievement “The Wandering Earth” was when it gave China its very own “Armageddon ,” but after this sequel trips over its armful of melodramatic plotlines and conspicuously nationalist messaging, you’re left wishing you just savored the mindless fun the first time around.

The Wandering Earth II Not rated. In Mandarin, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 53 minutes. In theaters.

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Time runs out in carefully marked units in the mainland Chinese sci-fi disaster pic “The Wandering Earth II,” a sturdy prequel to the record-smashing adaptation of Liu Cixin ’s novel. In “The Wandering Earth II,” the apocalyptic problems faced by this movie’s Chinese characters—along with their international peers from the United Earth Government (UEG)—have already happened. Because in “ The Wandering Earth ,” the planet has already left its orbit thanks to some high-powered rocket engines, which have pushed the Earth out of harm’s way (aka a crash course with the Sun). Set in the near-future—a range of dates that includes 2044, 2058, and 2065—“The Wandering Earth II” follows China’s men and women of action as they lead the planet out of the solar system and into the previous movie.

Both “The Wandering Earth” and its sequel are flashy, state-approved cornball spectacles about humanity’s resilience (especially the Chinese). Both movies were produced with gargantuan budgets that would make even James Cameron blink, and they both look fantastic thanks to director Frant Gwo ’s eye for panoramic scope and paperback cover-worthy details. The main difference between these two blockbusters is that the protagonists of “The Wandering Earth II” must repeatedly choose to be hopeful despite perpetually impending disasters, each one of which is neatly labeled and foregrounded with pulpy on-screen text like “The Lunar Crisis in 12 hours” and “Nuclear explosion in 3 hours.”

In this way, Gwo (“ The Sacrifice ”) and his five credited co-writers succeed in refocusing our attention on scenes of ticking-clock suspense, sandwiched between syrupy—and mostly satisfying—melodramatic interludes, where square-jawed astronauts and UEG diplomats struggle to do what we know is a foregone conclusion.

Most of “The Wandering Earth II” follows the superhuman efforts needed to jumpstart the Moving Mountain Project, the mission to first build and then deploy the globe-shifting engines needed to push the Earth out of harm’s way. The UEG’s Chinese delegation, led by the paternal diplomat Zhezhi Zhou ( Li Xuejian ), recommends prioritizing the Moving Mountain Project instead of the Digital Life Project. This radical initiative would transfer human participants’ consciousnesses into artificially intelligent computer programs. Some Digital Life supporters try to sabotage the Moving Mountain Project, including a deadly attack on the Space Elevator transportation ships that send UEG representatives from the Earth to the Moon.

Nobody living through the events of “The Wandering Earth II” knows what we know: That the Moving Mountain project succeeds and eventually becomes the Wandering Earth project, which comes under threat by a HAL 9000-esque artificial intelligence (A.I.) named MOSS in the first film. Still, multiple scientists, government officials, and space adventurers—mostly Chinese—believe in their work’s vital necessity, whether they’re punching out saboteurs or detonating one of a couple hundred nuclear devices scattered around the moon. There’s a lot of hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing along the way, mostly from English and Russian-speaking UEG members, all of whom speak in stilted, poorly dubbed dialogue. But Chinese astronauts, like “The Wandering Earth” co-leads Liu Peiqiang (“ Wolf Warrior 2 ” star Wu Jing ) and Han Duoduo ( Wang Zhi ), always prove Zhou’s slogan-simple maxim: “In times of crisis, unity above all.”

Some melancholic (and occasionally maudlin) flashbacks and dialogue emphasize the personal motives of one-note characters who, in the movie’s best scenes, are just parts of a beautiful post-human landscape. Liu remembers his wife and young daughter while melancholic scientist Tu Hengyu ( Andy Lau ) talks with his dead child after he uploads her personality into an experimental A.I. program; she cries a lot and sometimes responds with existentially troubling questions like, “Where am I, daddy? I want to get out.” We’re then periodically reminded of the next impending crisis—“the moon disintegrates in 50 hours”—in between solar storms and nuclear explosions. Somehow, “The Wandering Earth II” never feels tonally unbalanced or narratively convoluted, partly because Gwo and his collaborators keep their movie’s plot focused on feats of action-adventure heroism.

“The Wandering Earth II” only seems relatively unambitious because it’s more focused on sap-happy human emotions than on dystopian intrigue. Both movies are still essentially showcases for beautiful and expensive-looking computer graphics. But “The Wandering Earth II”—a brittle and, at heart, old-fashioned space opera—would be insufferable if Gwo and his ensemble cast members didn’t sell you on the possibility that someday, people who are as selfless, monomaniacal, and capable as Liu and Tu could exist.

“The Wandering Earth II” is also like “The Wandering Earth” because it’s just the right mix of silly and somber. Hurt, scared people wonder about the recent past, but always from a rare position of forward-thinking emotional clarity. (“She’s dead, and that’s it. That’s the reality.”) So when humanity must inevitably save the day, their accomplishments are appropriately surreal and awesome. 

In theaters Sunday, January 22.

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

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The Wandering Earth II (2023)

173 minutes

Andy Lau as Tu Hengyu

Wu Jing as Liu Peiqiang

Li Xuejian as Zhou Zhezhi

Zhang Fengyi

• Hongwei Wang
• Yang Zhixue

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The Wandering Earth II review – blockbuster Chinese sci-fi prequel veers off course

Frant Gwo’s follow-up to his 2019 mega-hit favours special effects and set pieces over performances, as the human race battles for survival

A gargantuan success in 2019, Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth remains one of the highest grossing non-English films of all time. This hotly anticipated prequel, even more ambitious in scope, follows the catastrophic events leading up to the Earth leaving the solar system in the original hit.

At nearly three hours long, The Wandering Earth II is packed with expository science talk, which gets more convoluted and tiring as the clock ticks on. The gist of the matter is, in the face of imminent ecological disasters, an internationally consolidated government body has hatched a solution to alter the orbit of our planet. It also involves blowing up the moon. As well as resistance from (mostly) western countries, the decades-spanning enterprise is also routinely sabotaged by the rival Digital Life Project, which looks to virtual reality as a new beginning for the human race.

Against the threat of total extinction and the unsettling ubiquity of AI, the question of what it means to be human lies at the heart of this prequel, whose sombre silver-grey colour palette marks a stark departure from the first film. Ironically enough, in this case, characters played by superstars like Wu Jing or Andy Lau take a backseat to the admittedly spectacular CGI effects.

In the end, the emphasis on set pieces over performances renders the collective plight of humanity emotionally distant and impersonal. Various mentions of how machines will take over human jobs also finds a strange echo in the film-making itself: Ng Man-tat died from cancer in 2021, yet his character from The Wandering Earth makes a cameo appearance in this prequel via AI technology. It is a gesture of tribute that, within the context of the film, feels oddly unsettling.

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The much-anticipated prequel to the 2019 sci-fi blockbuster THE WANDERING EARTH -  the #5 highest-grossing non-English film of all time - lands in North American theaters just in time for Chinese New Year. Shortly after learning that the sun is rapidly burning out and will obliterate Earth, humans build enormous engines to propel the planet to a new solar system far out of reach of the sun’s fiery flares. However, the journey into the universe is complex, and humankind’s last shot at survival will depend on a group of young people brave enough to step up and execute a dangerous, life-or-death operation to save the Earth.  

Wu Jing Li Xuejian Ning Li Andy Lau  Zhu Yanmanzi Wang Zhi Sha Yi Zhang Yi

• Zhu Yanmanzi
• Action & Adventure

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The Wandering Earth II takes a sci-fi blockbuster in a stranger, darker direction

The prequel to one of China’s biggest-ever box-office hits is kinda just… 3 hours of suffering

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To successfully imitate the kind of mega-budget worldwide blockbuster most closely associated with Hollywood productions, filmmaker Frant Gwo literally went global. 2019’s The Wandering Earth , a sci-fi disaster adventure that became one of China’s biggest-ever box-office hits, takes place in a future world where Earth has been implanted with thrust rockets and piloted out of orbit to avoid a solar disaster. Astronauts must steer the spaceship-planet to a new home, while the surface freezes and its diminished inhabitants huddle underground.

The film’s enormous scope helped the movie become a Chinese smash, though it fell short of a worldwide phenomenon. (In the U.S., it had a limited theatrical run, then premiered on Netflix a few months later.) Wandering Earth ’s extensive, sometimes convoluted world-building, drawn from a short story by The Three-Body Problem author Cixin Liu , left plenty of room for a follow-up. But Gwo must have grown attached to the less icy version of his home planet, because The Wandering Earth II , receiving a somewhat wider U.S. release alongside its Chinese debut, is something even less likely than a disaster-movie sequel: a disaster-movie prequel.

Set across multiple decades leading up to Earth’s launch out of orbit (enabled by thousands of fusion-powered engines around the globe), the prequel starts off with plenty of its predecessor’s grab-bag maximalism. There’s a seemingly mad scientist extolling the virtues of a “digital you that can live forever” — an AI-based plan pitched as an alternate way to survive the coming apocalypse. (It’s unclear, but it sounds like the idea was to upload everyone to a Matrix-esque digital world, and leave the actual one to fry.) Pro-digital terrorist groups attack a massive space elevator, explosions and low-gravity fisticuffs erupt, and we learn that 91% of Americans oppose moving Earth out of orbit because they don’t think a problem 100 years away is worth solving. (“The world isn’t on the side of the reality,” one official laments.)

The sprawling results initially feel like a mashup of Don’t Look Up and Independence Day: Resurgence , but as the film enters its second hour, then its third, it brings in even more familiar bits and pieces of other movies. (It runs 173 minutes, including credits and multiple postscripts.) There is so much movie in The Wandering Earth II , and so many disasters, countdowns, and chyrons to go around. The movie may set a record for the sheer number of subtitled locations, timelines, characters, and occasionally even hardware. The first movie’s astronaut, Liu Peiqiang (Wu Jing) gets a backstory. So does one of the computer systems. The writing team steals bits of Interstellar one moment, and engages in parallel thinking with Moonfall the next. (“The moon disintegrates in 179 hours.”)

But perhaps the goofiest thing about Wandering Earth II is how resolutely un-goofy much of it is. There are moments of absurdity, but the film is often surprisingly grim, in a way that feels admirably ambitious but questionably useful. Much of the movie has a downbeat moon-gray palette, even in scenes that don’t take place on the moon. The saddest storyline it weaves across the decades is about Tu Hengyu (Andy Lau), a scientist grieving the loss of his wife and daughter, convinced he can fine-tune the digital echo of his young child into a fuller AI consciousness. (Here, there are thematic parallels with Yeon Sang-ho’s JUNG_E , a fleeter and more manageable science fiction movie premiering on Netflix right as Wandering Earth II lumbers into theaters.)

The dead-family storyline isn’t the only obligatory pause for pathos, either. Another character must deal with his wife’s imminent death, since cancer cases have spiked during the rise of dangerous solar activity. At the same time, he’s trying to secure one of the limited tickets to an underground city.

In many ways, Gwo carries this heaviness with more grace than the supposed masters of the modern form. Unlike Roland Emmerich (whose work the Wandering Earth series generally resembles) or Michael Bay (whose Armageddon feels like part of this movie’s DNA), Gwo isn’t afraid of quiet moments amid the bombast. He doesn’t nervously pack his movies with goony comic relief or shameless ploys for applause. Some of his imagery has an eerie, almost mournful beauty — even more so than the previous movie, which found some poetic imagery among the chintzier-looking special effects.

Yet none of this keeps exhaustion from setting in over the course of nearly three hours. Exactly how many countdowns to possible apocalypse can a movie bear, especially when the planet is demonstrably intact at the beginning of the next movie? The audience knows Earth survives, which turns Wandering Earth II into a torture device for its new characters: The planet will keep going, but these poor suckers can still get put through the wringer.

That obviously isn’t Gwo’s intention, and it is remarkable that his three-hour Wandering Earth prequel is simultaneously stranger and more emotionally grounded than the earlier film. Yet even at this length, even with eye-popping moments and believable characters, some crucial humanity feels missing. Classic disaster movies offer something similar to the feel of a horror movie: the terror of annihilation and the catharsis of survival, but spread over a larger canvas. Maybe that model just doesn’t work anymore. Skillfully made as it is, Wandering Earth II feels more like immersion therapy for the modern onslaught of apocalyptic news from around the world. Like franchises, global disasters no longer really end.

The Wandering Earth II opens in theaters on Sunday, Jan. 22, the first day of the lunar new year. Check the movie’s website for locations.

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Review: Chinese Sci-fi Prequel “The Wandering Earth II” Offers Epicness Amidst Subdued Times

Starring Wu Jing and Andy Lau, "The Wandering Earth II" channels its predecessors’s sense of ambition—perhaps too much for its own good, given shifts in China’s sociopolitical climate.

By Anthony Kao , 22 Jan 23 02:00 GMT

When The Wandering Earth came out in 2019, another Cinema Escapist reviewer deemed it a “breathtaking sci-fi success. ” Based on a short story by renowned author Liu Cixin (best known for his Three Body Problem trilogy), the big-budget movie signaled China’s arrival as a major player in the global sci-fi blockbuster arena.

Four years later, director Frant Gwo returns with a prequel, The Wandering Earth II . Starring Wu Jing and Andy Lau, the film feels just as—and perhaps even more—epic than its predecessor, with sweeping sci-fi set pieces and ample CGI. However, The Wandering Earth II ’s grandiosity feels somewhat overwrought, especially given China’s sociopolitical mood is much more subdued in 2023 compared to 2019.

Moving Mountains for a Wandering Earth

The Wandering Earth II spans three decades (from the 2040s to 2060s) and dives into the backstory of how humanity ended up building a bunch of nuclear fusion engines to push Earth away from a soon-to-explode sun, as seen in the first Wandering Earth . It turns out that, as an alternative to moving Earth away from the solar system with the “Moving Mountain Project,” others proposed preserving human consciousness on computers through the “Digital Life Project.”

The movie contains three character subplots that convey the struggle between those two philosophies, though the Moving Mountain Project always enjoys clear supremacy. First and foremost, actor Wu Jing (famous for his roles in the nationalistic Wolf Warrior franchise) reprises his role as astronaut Liu Peiqiang—who was the primary protagonist of the first Wandering Earth , and somehow never ages in the five decades that elapse as he advances the Moving Mountain Project across two movies. Next, Hong Kong movie star Andy Lau plays a grief-stricken scientist who secretly embraces the Digital Life Project, as a way to keep his young daughter alive. Finally, Li Xuejian plays China’s understated but firm representative to the United Earth Government (which succeeded the UN), who must corral international alignment around the Moving Mountain Project amidst sabotage efforts and naysayers.

Epic Movie, Epic China?

On top of this ambitious narrative scope, The Wandering Earth II contains all the drone swarm battles, space elevators, and nuclear explosions necessary to satisfy the cravings of action-hungry audiences. What’s more interesting though is how the movie doubles down on a particular image of Chinese-led geopolitical order, in a manner that feels even sharper than what the first Wandering Earth established.

As with the first Wandering Earth , The Wandering Earth II features China at the helm of a broad international coalition implementing the Moving Mountain Project; these two movies probably recruited the most foreign actors of any productions in Chinese cinematic history. Reflecting China’s real-world engagement with Africa , a chunk of the prequel takes place at a space elevator base station in Libreville, Gabon. While Chinese astronauts, soldiers, scientists, and diplomats take the lead under all circumstances, they’re usually cheery and avuncular, as opposed to imperious. Characters from the Russian military complement the Chinese on multiple occasions, playing into stereotypes of Russians as a zhandou minzu (战斗民族) of soulful warfighters .

While the above elements are all present to some degree in the first Wandering Earth , one significant difference is The Wandering Earth II ’s depiction of the United States as a foil to China. Whereas the original Wandering Earth didn’t feature Americans at all, The Wandering Earth II shows Americans in discussions at the United Earth Government headquarters in New York City. Apparently 91% of Americans don’t believe in the Moving Mountain Project, and the movie paints American officials as belligerent, obstructionist, and petulantly absent from frontline affairs. It’s a view that accords with official Chinese attitudes towards the US, formed especially during the Donald Trump administration.

In general, The Wandering Earth II projects an ambitious image of China that the Communist Party would like audiences to believe exists. Benevolently paternalistic officials leverage advanced technology alongside courageous Wolf Warriors to make this version of China (and by extension the world) a better place. At the same time, in an echo of real-world gaming and tech industry crackdowns, those who engage in digital escapism must be tamed lest they threaten social stability.

2023 isn’t 2019

Alas, reality in China is more complicated than the Communist Party would prefer. In 2019, China indeed seemed like an ascendant responsible global leader, especially compared to a Trumpian United States wracked with isolationism and conspiracy-mongering. The first Wandering Earth fittingly echoed this state of affairs.

However, in 2023, China’s real-world sociopolitical position feels more subdued. With two years of zero-COVID, it’s China that has chosen global isolation , and suffered economically for it. China’s multilateral efforts through the Belt and Road Initiative have stalled , and the country’s famously assertive “ Wolf Warrior Diplomats ” are getting reined in as well. Disillusioned with life in China, educated young Chinese are embracing the “ run philosophy ” of emigrating abroad . Even those stereotypes of Russians as proficient warfighters are now in question , after Putin’s failure to conquer Ukraine.

With that in mind, the epic bombast of The Wandering Earth II starts feeling a bit tone-deaf, especially with the movie clocking in at an eye-numbing 2 hours and 53 minutes (40 minutes longer than its predecessor). The film feels like it’s stuck in a pre-COVID China, and fails to acknowledge what China has been through these past few years. Granted, not every movie needs to reflect political sentiment—but The Wandering Earth II bears a unique burden given its franchise’s established geopolitical significance .

Perhaps The Wandering Earth II should’ve taken a page from Top Gun: Maverick . Both movies convey their respective nations’ geopolitical fantasies, and strive for epic blockbuster appeal. However, Maverick acknowledges America’s malaise before laying it thick with Department of Defense-funded propaganda shots, and emerges a better movie as a result—call it character redemption as a national metaphor, if you will. Alas, showing a China that gets stronger after learning from its anxieties requires acknowledging the existence of anxieties, and doing that gets into a political minefield that The Wandering Earth II ’s filmmakers probably wanted to avoid.

That said, Chinese audiences will likely still flock to watch The Wandering Earth II given its star power, and the halo effect of being a sequel. More nationalistic types will probably embrace the movie as a way to reinvigorate patriotic sentiments. But don’t be surprised if The Wandering Earth II enjoys less buzz than its predecessor, especially among global viewers.

The Wandering Earth II (Chinese: 流浪地球2) —China. Dialog in Mandarin Chinese. Directed by Frant Gwo. First released January 22, 2023. Running time 2hr 53min. Starring Wu Jing, Andy Lau, Li Xuejian, Sha Yi, Ning Li.

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China’s sci-fi blockbuster ‘the wandering earth 2’ to get north american release (exclusive).

The sequel to China's first sci-fi action hit, which earned $700 million in 2019, will release in over 125 cinemas in the U.S. and Canada, including 30 Imax theaters.

By Patrick Brzeski

Patrick Brzeski

Asia Bureau Chief

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The Wandering Earth 2 , the sequel to the Chinese sci-fi blockbuster that earned $700 million in 2019, is charting a course for North America, thanks to a deal inked by distributor Well Go USA. The specialty label has acquired the domestic theatrical rights to the film and set it up for a day-and-date release with China on Jan. 22, the first day of the Chinese New Year. Well Go says it will launch The Wandering Earth 2 in over 125 North American theaters, including 30 Imax screens.

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The first The Wandering Earth , which was acquired for all territories outside of China by Netflix, revolved around a rescue mission to save human civilization as the sun approached the end of its life cycle and was set to explode, prompting humanity to build giant engines to propel planet earth outside of the solar system to find a new celestial home. China plays a key leadership role in world affairs in the film and helps drive the survival mission.

The sequels official plot summary reads: “Humans built huge engines on the surface of the earth to find a new home. But the road to the universe is perilous. In order to save earth, young people once again have to step forward to start a race against time for life and death.”

State-backed China Film Co. is a lead producer and presenter of the film in tandem with Gwo’s banner G!Film Studio Co. and Wu Jing’s company Beijing Dengfeng International Media. As is typical with big Chinese tentpoles, the film also counts over a dozen co-financiers, including major studios Alibaba Pictures, Wanda Media and Huayi Brothers.

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‘The Wandering Earth II’: Review

By John Berra 2023-01-22T00:01:00+00:00

Frant Gwo’s hotly anticipated science fiction sequel builds on the scale of the smash hit original

Source: Well Go USA Entertainment

‘The Wandering Earth II’

Dir: Frant Gwo. China. 2023. 170mins

Lunar New Year 2019 saw Chinese science fiction cinema achieve lift off when Frant Gwo’s adaptation of Liu Cixin’s novella The Wandering Earth became a box office phenomenon. Four years on, this eagerly anticipated prequel reunites the key creative team and star Wu Jing for an expansion of the original’s prologue, which explained how the Earth embarked on an interstellar journey to avoid being snuffed out by a rapidly expanding sun. There is certainly much to admire about this ambitious homegrown sci-fi saga, even if it feels rather protracted with the running time clocking in 45 minutes longer than its predecessor.

Technically exceptional, with space station and moon-based sequences to rival  Gravity  or  Ad Astra

While the original was a box office dark horse, The Wandering Earth II is this year’s frontrunner — and China’s biggest local release in months due to industry uncertainty surrounding the disruptive ’Zero Covid’ policy, which was suddenly dismantled in December. Meanwhile, Liu Cixin’s fanbase continues to grow with recent animated and live-action television adaptations of his landmark novel The Three-Body Problem being enthusiastically received. It’s uncertain whether this prequel can reach the stratosphere of its predecessor, which is the fifth most successful film of all time domestically with a gross of $691 million. Covid-19 is now rife around China and those unconvinced by the government’s messaging pivot will be skittish about visiting a crowded multiplex. A better comparison may be 2022’s local sci-fi smash Moon Man , which tallied $460 million following a lockdown period.

Internationally, the prequel is rolling out in multiple territories, including 30 IMAX screens across the US and Canada. Bolstered by its status as China’s first sci-fi blockbuster, The Wandering Earth delivered decent numbers in limited overseas release before being acquired by Netflix. If it has less novelty value as a big screen experience, this prequel should still attract plenty of eyeballs on streaming.

Facing the challenge of building towards a largely foregone conclusion, Gwo has taken scale to the next level while doubling down on the significance of land in Chinese culture and the necessity of global collective action (with China at its centre). The first half mostly takes place in 2044 when the United Earth Government has selected the Moving Mountain Project to solve the solar crisis: 10,000 engines will propel the Earth on a 2,500-year journey into the Alpha Centauri system. But the public favours the Digital Life Project, which would enable mankind to ‘live on’ through technology.

Frustration peaks with terrorist attacks on the UEG headquarters and the Space Elevator, where Liu Peiqiang (Wu) is undergoing astronaut training. Digitised existence is also a matter of debate between engineers Tu Hengyu (Andy Lau) and Ma Zhao (Li Ning), who are conducting tests to determine whether engines can move the moon sufficiently for the Earth to get free of its orbit. Although the project eventually wins popular support, it is jeopardised by plummeting moon debris on the eve of the Earth’s migration in 2058. Liu joins a mission to destroy the moon, while Tu’s efforts to fix technical issues in Beijing are hindered by severe flooding caused by the lunar crisis.

Throughout its decades-spanning narrative, The Wandering Earth II goes through shifts in tone and pace which reflect how initial enthusiasm for the project amongst its participants is tested by setbacks and unfortunate personal circumstances. However, this also makes the film a bit of a slog regardless of its urgency. It’s most dynamic in the initial half hour, which focuses on Liu’s rigorous orientation and sees Gwo vigorously channelling James Cameron by way of Neill Blomkamp with an emphasis on cutting-edge machinery. (Wu also gets the chance to demonstrate his physical prowess in a brilliantly executed zero gravity combat sequence.)

Evidently keen on the humanistic aspects of sci-fi, Gwo expands the character of Liu through a romance with equally capable fellow trainee Han Duoduo (Wang Zhi) while emphasising the sacrifices that have made the astronaut such a stoic figure on first encounter. Ample time is also devoted to Tu, who lost his family in a car accident and seeks solace in two minutes of digital back-up of his daughter; Lau presents a finely composed portrait of grief as Tu becomes obsessed with the possibility of a family reunion in the digital realm. Sadly, Gwo is less invested in female characters, with Han and UEG member Hao Xiaoxi (Zhu Yanmanzi) often sidelined when the time comes for action or diplomatic grandstanding.

A downside of this being a prequel is that the images of a deteriorating Earth are now too familiar to have the same impact despite superior rendering, while an increasingly grey palette means none of the special effects can top the swirling colours of Jupiter which were the highlight of the original. Nonetheless, The Wandering Earth II is technically exceptional, with space station and moon-based sequences to rival Gravity (2013) or Ad Astra (2019) in their seamless blend of practical and digital elements. If the awe factor of the drawn-out conclusion is lessened by enough unabashed sentiment to power a rocket, the genuine sense of vastness will ensure that anyone who comes this far will stay the course for the planned third instalment.

Production companies: G!Film [Beijing] Studio Co. China Film Co., Beijing Dengfeng International Culture, CFC Pictures

International sales (excluding SEA, AUS/NZ, Middle East and Africa): Blossoms Entertainment, [email protected]

Producers: Peng Mingyu, Gong Geer, Wu Xian, Li Kailuo, Jerry Li 

Screenplay: Yang Zhixue, Frant Gwo, Gong Geer, Ye Ruchang

Cinematography: Michael Liu 

Production designer: Hanrui Wang

Editing: Ye Ruchang, Yan Tingting, Ye Xiang 

Music: Roc Chen

Main cast: Wu Jing, Li Xuejian, Ning Li, Andy Lau, Sha Yi, Wang Zhi, Wang Hongwei, Andy Friend

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The Wandering Earth II (2023)

Not Rated | Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

The Wandering Earth 2

Cast & crew.

Liu Peiqiang

Wang Zhijian

Violence, language in overlong Chinese sci-fi epic.

• Average 6.3

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© 2023 G!FILM STUDIO (BEIJING) CO., LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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The Wandering Earth II

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Product Description

In the near future, after learning that the sun is rapidly burning out and will obliterate Earth in the process, humans build enormous engines to propel the planet to a new solar system, far out of reach of the sun's fiery flares. However, the journey out into the universe is perilous, and humankind's last shot at survival will depend on a group of young people brave enough to step up and execute a dangerous, life-or-death operation to save the earth.

"exhilarating, thrilling and crowd-pleasing action adventure" --The NYC Movie Guru "will definitely satisfy all fans of sci-fi action" --Asian Movie Pulse "a bombastic, high-octane fight for survival" --Tilt Magazine

Product details

• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.5 x 6.85 x 5.28 inches; 2.88 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Frant Gwo
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Widescreen, Subtitled
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours and 53 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ December 19, 2023
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Andy Lau, Wu Jing, Li Xuejian, Ning Li, Wang Zhi
• Dubbed: ‏ : ‎ English
• Language ‏ : ‎ English (DTS 5.1)
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Well Go Usa
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CKY22BD6
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #210 in Science Fiction Blu-ray Discs

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The Wandering Earth Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Netflix

The Wandering Earth is a Chinese sci-fi movie adapted from Liu Cixin’s short story of the same title. It was released on February 5, 2019, and directed by Frant Gwo. In the film’s story, when the sun starts to fade, a brave group of astronauts goes on a journey to find a new planet where everyone can live.

Here’s how you can watch and stream The Wandering Earth via streaming services such as Netflix.

Is The Wandering Earth available to watch via streaming?

Yes, The Wandering Earth is available to watch via streaming on Netflix.

The movie is set in the distant future. A group of astronauts and rescue workers are trying to move Earth away from the Sun, which is getting bigger. They’re also trying to stop Earth from crashing into Jupiter.

The film stars Wu Jing as Liu Peiqiang, Qu Chuxiao as Liu Qi, Li Guangjie as Captain Wang Lei, and Ng Man-tat as Han Zi’ang.

Watch The Wandering Earth streaming via Netflix

The Wandering Earth is available to watch on Netflix.

Other than this, film users can stream various TV series and movies on the platform, such as 1922, Prey, Two, The Watcher, Peaky Blinders, and The Haunting of Hill House.

You can watch via Netflix by following these steps:

• Visit netflix.com/signup
• $6.99 per month (standard with Ads)
• $15.49 per month (Standard)
• $22.99 per month (Premium)
• Enter your email address and password to create an account
• Enter your chosen payment method

The cheapest Netflix Standard with Ads Plan provides all but a few of its movies and TV shows. However, it will show ads before or during most of its content. You can watch in Full HD and on two supported devices at a time.

Its Standard Plan provides the same but is completely ad-free while also allowing users to download content on two supported devices with an additional option to add one extra member who doesn’t live in the same household.

The Premium Plan provides the same as above, though for four supported devices at a time, with content displaying in Ultra HD. Users get to download content on up to six supported devices at a time and have the option to add up to two extra members who don’t live in the same household. Netflix spatial audio is also supported.

The Wandering Earth synopsis is as follows:

“When the Sun begins to expand in such a way that it will inevitably engulf and destroy the Earth in a hundred years, united mankind finds a way to avoid extinction by propelling the planet out of the Solar System using gigantic engines, moving it to a new home located four light years away, an epic journey that will last thousands of years.”

NOTE: The streaming services listed above are subject to change. The information provided was correct at the time of writing.

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The post The Wandering Earth Streaming: Watch & Stream Online via Netflix appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More .