Review of 'The Wandering Earth II (Liu lang di qiu 2)'
In the prequel to 2019's The Wandering Earth (said to be the most expensive Chinese film ever made) we learn of the various crisis the led up to the Wandering Earth project. As the sun's expansion threatens earth the “Moving Mountain Project” is established to build huge engines on the surface of the planet to move it out of danger. There is a sister project on the moon to install massive engines there as well to move it away from the planet, aiding it's escape. Before first versions of these engines can be tested there is a terrorist attack by the Digital Life Project (DLP) on the space elevator and space station which is defeated by trainee astronaut Liu Peiqiang (Wu Jing) and his fellow trainees (Including Han Duoduo (Wang Zhi)). In the attack, quantum computer 550C is used to take over control of the space elevator, space station and the fleet of drones attacking United Earth Government (UEG) facilities. On the moon computer engineer Tu Hengyu (Andy Lau) has stored the consciousness of his dead daughter on a 550A but this machine is only able to provide his daughter with two minutes of life. When the 550C is damaged, the 550A is used to test the moon's engines on the condition that Tu will be allowed to upload his daughter to the newer 550C in the future. Crisis after crisis follows in the lead up to launching the planet out of the solar system and out of harms way…
Another full-on action-packed Wandering Earth film that features only a few characters preferring instead to focus on the, admittedly, incredible action sequences and an absolutely preposterous premise treated with absolute conviction. Despite the focus on story there are some key characters such as the mourning Tu Hengyu, the introspective head of the Wandering Earth Project, the American UEG representative and the three UEG astronauts that battle the terrorists but these are all simply used to further the plot with only Tu Hengyu having more than a superficial role to play.
At one point there is a bizarre fantasy sequence featuring a shy astronaut trainee fantasizing of a future life with one of his more experienced shipmates. This is the only such escape from reality which is otherwise incredibly fraught as we are thrown from one crisis to another with screen titles reminding us of how much in the future the next crisis is due. We never really have any time to catch our breath and with the massive, incredibly complex, action sequences quite hard to follow beyond simply taking in the overwhelming spectacle. Given that this continues for almost three hours we become tired of “yet another crisis”, won't anything go as planned? Will we ever get any bit of good luck?
Looks great with some truly astonishing action sequences but this marathon has very little in terms of human interest.
Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”
Review Date: 2024-07-07
Directed by: Frant Gwo
Studio: China Film Co., Ltd.
Year: 2023
Length: 173 minutes
Genre: Science Fiction
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13539646/