31. The Wandering Earth 2; movie review

 

THE WANDERING EARTH 2

Cert 12A

173 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate threat, violence, bloody images, infrequent strong language

Blimey... there is a lot going on in this Chinese save-the-world thriller.

And while it is essentially a big-scale action movie, The Wandering Earth 2 poses a catalogue of intriguing moral dilemmas.

Set in the near future, its premise is that the sun is rapidly expanding and is expected to engulf earth within 100 years.

When push comes to shove, nations, usually suspicious of each other, join together to build incredibly powerful engines on the earth's surface to propel it away from oblivion.

However, there are many protesters against the plan from those who believe that what happens in 100 years time is nothing to do with them.

The parallels here with climate change are obvious - The Wandering Earth 2 just lays out the road to catastrophe even more clearly.

Anyway, terrorism, sabotage and acts of betrayal become as much part of the bedrock of Frant Gwo's film as the acts of heroism from those who can see the light.

The startling action begins early with the collapse of a space station and the special effects bar is maintained up to the film;s mind-blowing finale.

Major Chinese stars Andy Lau and Wu Jing are part of the huge cast so what could possibly go wrong?

Well, for a start... it is way too long. A judicious cut of 45 minutes or so would have heightened its impact not lessened it.

And the film is bogged down too much in science talk - it genuinely felt that a degree in nuclear physics would have aided understanding of some of the dialogue.

Thirdly, I couldn't fathom why the English-speaking actors were so strangely dubbed - with their words clearly not matching their lips.

So, I was torn. On one hand, the storyline is exciting and the special effects truly impressive - on the other, The Wandering Earth 2 has clear flaws.

Reasons to watch: Soecial effects and edge-of-seat finale

Reasons to avoid: Too long and slowdown science

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7/10

Did you know? Without the Moon stabilising our tilt, it is possible that the Earth's tilt could vary wildly. It would move from no tilt (which means no seasons) to a large tilt (which means extreme weather and even ice ages).

The final word. Trinity CineAsia director Cedric Behrel: “The Wandering Earth 2 is shining a light on making this genre of film outside the classic studio system and is a significant step in showing how a massive undertaking of this scale, involving hundreds of sets, over 20,000 extras and 6,000 VFX shots can be met outside Hollywood.” Deadline

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