流浪地球 (The Wandering Earth) is an 2019 film out of Zhong Guo. The movie stars Qu Chuxiao, Li Guangjie, Ng Man-tat, Zhao Jinmai, Wu Jing, and Qu Jingjing. The movie was released over the Lunar New Years and than in other countries including the US a week later. In the 2 weeks that it has been released, it is now the second highest grossing movie of all time in its native country of Zhong Guo. Time will tell if it can make it to number one.
The sun is flaring up and the scientist of earth have determined that the sun will continue to grow and engulf the earth. Thus, the countries of the earth have decided to launch the earth out of its orbit, borrowing the rotation of Jupiter to sling shot the earth out of the current solar system to find a new suitable sun. The earth now needs the people to move to underground cities in each of their countries to survive the move. The lottery system is implied as not everyone was allowed into the underground cities. 15 years after exiting the earth's orbit and closing in on Jupiter, miscalculations have caused the earth to get sucked into the orbit of Jupiter at a wrong trajectory. This will cause the Earth to collide with Jupiter. The earth reacts by causing wide spread natural chaos. The movie follows a band of surface level drivers as they try to save the earth.
I caught this movie the second Saturday after released in the US in the morning. The small-ish theater I was in was packed, with almost all the front rows filled in. Surprising given that Saturday AM showings are 50% off due to the slow pace. I ordered my tickets on Atom as there are assigned seats. I was surprised at how up front I had to sit.
As for the movie, I was quite disappointed by it. The lone non-Asian in the theater walked out with about 30 minutes left and did not return. A whole family of 5 or 6 left towards the end too. I was thinking of walking out. BUT I kept on and finished the movie. The movie was way too loud fall asleep too, but it was not a good movie. The main characters have no redeeming qualities other than that they were super selfish. The storyline of no one left behind is not new, but with Wandering Earth, the main cast presented it so distastefully that I hated them all. Even Wu Jing's character was hard to get behind. In all, the movie goes on to kill many, but those around the main cast died mainly due to their selfish desires. The main cast yells, screams and weasels their way from one situation to the other. When they finally make the right decision, even that seems like a we got nothing else to do. No honor really in their decisions.
Maybe its because I had just binged watched The Expanse the 2 weeks prior to going to watch the movie. Literally finishing Season 3 the night before. The Expanse could be one of the best sci-fi television series ever made. Watching this movie, Wandering Earth, right after didn't do it justice.
Netflix than announced this past week that it had signed exclusive streaming rights for the movie. When it shows up for me, I am going to give it thumbs down.
Skip this, watch Wu Jing's Wolf Warrior 2. That is a better representation of Zhong Guo cinema.
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