Brief Story Line
When the sun was expanding and would make the earth inhabitable in 100 years, various countries decided to build engines that would propel earth to another solar system. However, some people believed that Digital life would be a better option where their consciousness could be uploaded and they would live forever. The Chinese ambassador Mr. Zhou (Li Xuejian - The Water Margin TV series etc) and his trusted assistant Hao Xiaoxi (Zhu Yanmazhi - Morning Princess etc) were trying to convince other leaders that Moving Mountain project was still the best option despite the skepticism from the rest of the countries.
Liu Peiqiang (Wu Jing - Wolf Warrior 2, The Battle of Lake Chiangjin etc) was one of astronaut trainee for the first phase of the project in the moon, where he met and fell in love with fellow trainee Han Duoduo (Wang Zhi - Goodbye Mr. Loser, Kungfu Traveler etc). But they face many challenges even from the beginning. Meanwhile Tu Hengyu (Andy Lau - End Game, Shock Wave 2 etc) was a computer scientist who built the super computer that could help the automatic building of large complex structures required for the success of the project. However, he also had his own problem.
With time running out due to unexpected incident, the project must begin much earlier than forecasted. So what would happen to the safety of all the people on earth? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
I said above that I watched The Wandering Earth few years back and I remembered feeling in awe with the amazing special effects even on the small screen of my TV plus it was full of dramatic patriotic moments that was absolutely wonderful and emotional. It had a duration of 125 minutes that never had a dull moment and the story was not very complicated as it focused on few main characters trying to save the lives of their own and the whole humanity.
Now when I wanted to see this new movie, I was a bit surprised when I saw it had almost 3 hours duration, which made me worried that it might be too long. To be honest, I had something different on my mind about the plot of this film as I thought it was a sequel. But then I realized that it is actually a prequel, telling us all the events that led to the 2019 movie. Which was fine and in fact was pretty interesting as we found out why things happened in the first place. However, I found that the story was somehow too detailed and very technical which made me and my wife having difficulty to catch up. It felt like we had to think really hard in order to understand it. Perhaps having a narrative would help?
This movie still had the same spectacular visual effects which were fantastic to experience on the big screen. Only thing I felt lacking was the studio I saw this did not really have the best sound system and making it less exciting especially during the explosions and so on. The action was quite grand especially in the first hour and the last 45 minutes and having few dramatic moments too which affected me and my wife. But I personally think that the complex plot which made us trying to grasp why certain things occurred reduced the level of enjoyment.
I really admired Andy Lau's matured performance here with his emotions looked really convincing in some scenes. I liked the sweet romance between Liu Peiqiang and Han Duoduo with few lighter moments in the movie all involving them. There were tons of other characters in here which could be overwhelming for audience, but I believe two of them were quite important, i.e. Peiqiang's superior Zhang Peng (Sha Yi - A Journey to the Seaside etc) who was very protective of him, and Hengyu's boss Ma Zhao (Ning Li - Enemy TV series etc). The movie also paid tribute to Ng Man-tat who played Duoduo's father and played a major role in the first film but sadly passed away in 2021.
I felt the writers were able to connect nicely to the subsequent film and intelligently hinting what would come next (I am sure they would make a third movie to complete the trilogy). One thing I found was quite amusing was the studio did not switch the lights on during the closing credits which usually would mean there was something to watch, and indeed we were shown an important mid end credit scene. But I think they forgotten to switch it on after that as there was no post end-credit scene. So probably they just want us to listen to one nice song till it end. Btw, this second film was directed by Frant Gwo who directed the first one as well. It was still based on the short story of The Wandering Earth by famous sci-fi writer Li Ciuxin who had won several awards for his works (he served as the producer and probably oversaw the development to ensure they shared his vision).
Overall to me this film was entertaining during the suspenseful part with some major intense moments especially during the climax. It had some gorgeous and stunning visual effects that would satisfy fans of such attributes like me, and the sci-fi element would probably be a wonderful attraction for people who loved them. However, if the story was made less complicated and the duration was in the range of the first movie, my wife and I would probably enjoy it better (poor her as she had to go to the restroom 3 times during the whole movie). So if you are interested in seeing a Chinese spectacular sci-fi movie with few emotional moments then you could give this a try. But be sure to watch the first movie to have a better appreciation on this one.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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