The Wandering Earth Movie Review
I had never heard of this until a coworker mentioned it to me (if you haven’t hear of it either watch the trailer here). It is one of the biggest box office draws in China right now. So I kind of felt like I had to see it. It is a huge massive science fiction epic and it’s equal parts cringey and awesome. This plot is a tad ridiculous so try and stay with me.
In the future, the sun is unstable and is expanding. This has massively affected Earth basically making it uninhabitable. Humans have devised these massive engines that are pushing Earth to another part of space. And since Earth’s climate is freezing because it’s moving away from the sun, people are having to live in underground cities. While humans are manning these engines and ensuring they are properly working to propel Earth to another part of space, an international space station is orbiting Earth monitoring its progress. The amazing part of this movie is that humans from all different countries have banded together and are working in cooperation with each other for the same goal. I’m not sure if that would ever actually happen but I was able to roll with.
The protagonist, Liu Qi, is a somewhat rebellious youngster who has a strained relationship with his father, Liu Peiqiang. Peiqiang is on the space station and has been for seventeen years. Do you think there will be a corny moment where father and son patch their relationship? Just you wait. Things are about as fine as they can be when using giant engines to propel Earth through space until an earthquake strikes and disrupts some of the engines, creating an issue and messing with Earth’s progress. It soon becomes clear that Earth will collide with Jupiter and an announcement is made worldwide giving humans seven days left to live.
Liu Qi somehow gets mixed up with a rescue mission to provide the engines with another power source in order to avert a crash with Jupiter. Cue all the drama. Will they make it to the engines on time with the alternate power source and prevent Earth from crashing into Jupiter?
If you aren’t hooked at this point I wonder about your taste in movies. All jokes aside this was a really fun watch. It’s a giant sci-fi epic in Chinese with a ton of special effects. It’s hilarious at times and at other points genuinely heartwarming. If you want light-hearted entertainment, look no further.
Film or Movie: Movie
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You like sci-fi epics
2. You want to know what all of China is watching
3. You like space
