The Wandering Earth Overview
Frant Gwo directed The Wandering Earth, a Chinese film based on Liu Cixin’s novella, which Gwo released in 2019. Even by international standards, China’s The Wandering Earth is one of the most ambitious sci-fi productions, with the film’s global themes of sacrifice, resilience, and humanity’s inner strength juxtaposed on China’s stunning visual effects.
Dystopian in nature, the film’s narrative starts in 2061 where the once glorious star of the Solar System, the sun, is now dying. Earth’s leading scientists and the world’s most prominent countries came to the same conclusion: humanity has a century to go, as the sun will become a red giant, expanding and consuming Earth completely. To ensure survival, world countries came together and initiated The Wandering Earth Initiative.
Instead of using spaceships to escape the solar system, humans opted for a radical approach: they would relocate the entire Earth. To achieve this, they built ten thousand enormous fusion-powered thrusters placed across Earth’s surface to shove the planet out of its orbit. This would put Earth on a journey to a new star system, Proxima Centauri, which is 4.2 light-years away, a trip that would take 2,500 years. In the meantime, to protect the population from the now lifeless surface of the Earth, which is extremely hot and has destructive weather, enormous underground cities are constructed.
The main plot of the movie is set on the 17th year of this journey. The Earth has exited the solar system and the planet’s rotation has come to a stop. Humanity is no longer living on the surface and has retreated to living in large bunkers underground which they share with the entire population, relying on the thrusters and global cooperation to access the resources that they need.
The story revolves around Liu Qi (Qu Chuxiao), a young underground city dweller. He decides to steal his grandfather’s truck and takes his adopted sister Han Duoduo (Zhao Jinmai) on a surface joyride. At the same time, Liu Peiqiang (Wu Jing), Qi’s father, is stationed on The Navigation Platform, a space station that supervises Earth’s movement.A critical phase in the planetary journey puts Earth’s gravity at risk of being caught in the massive pull of Jupiter. Widespread thrust failure occurs and mass destruction happens across Earth. Because Earth’s course now is no longer burning thrusts and coasting, it is in fact annihilated, and subsumed Jupiter’s atmosphere, crushed by its gravity.
In response to the crisis, Dr. Liu Qi, Duoduo, and a crew of rescuers, to include the gruff engineer Tim and the smart soldier Wang Lei, seek to reignite one of the main thrusters to restore Earth’s course. Driving across a frozen and ruined Earth, overcoming the clock and environmental challenges, the team’s ingenuity and individual will are pitted against the ultimate test of personal guts.
In the meantime, Liu Peiqiang, still stationed at the space station, learns MOSS, the UEG’s artificial intelligence, intends to abandon Earth and conserve what is known of humanity in a space tomb. Defying the orders of MOSS and preset AI protocols, Liu Peiqiang tears the space station’s core to shreds, detonating and pushing thrust Earth from Jupiter’s grips at the cost of himself.
On Earth, Liu Qi and his team manage to change Earth’s course in the nick of time by manually igniting the key thruster via a nuclear blast, Earth’s path successfully altered. The film ends with Earth continues it’s journey with humanity united and a new generation inspired by the sacrifices made.
Cast & Crew
Main Cast:
Qu Chuxiao as Liu Qi: As the central protagonist, Liu Qi’s character represents youthful rebellion and eventual maturity. He undergoes a transformation into a courageous leader from a frustrated teen who was willing to do anything to protect humanity.
Wu Jing as Liu Peiqiang: Wu Jing, already a star in Chinese action cinema, plays Liu Peiqiang, the space astronaut father who keeps an eye on his son. His character’s ultimate sacrifice is one of the film’s emotional highlights.
Zhao Jinmai as Han Duoduo: Han Duoduo does not only serve as the comical relief but also the emotional balance of the movie. Her bond with Liu Qi brings a touch of family to the otherwise intense disaster plot.
Ng Man-tat as Han Zi’ang: The lovable grandfather Han is also a source of humor, nostalgia, and a strong sense of generational continuity to the story.
Li Guangjie plays Wang Lei and Arkady Sharogradsky plays Makarov. Both of these secondary characters enrich the rescue team and highlight the film’s focus on global collaboration.
Crew:
Frant Gwo: Director. Gwo is relatively younger than most directors and has shocked people by being able to tackle such a big project. His direction integrates spectacle and storytelling, balancing the global potential of Chinese sci-fi.
Screenwriters: Gwo, Ge’er, Yan Dongxu, others. The script transforms a short story by Liu Cixin into a full length feature while adding new characters and dramatic arcs to broaden the narrative scope.
Author: Liu Cixin. Liu was the author of The Three-Body Problem trilogy and has a distinct influence on the film despite not being part of the crew. His works are filled with realistic and philosophical science fiction.
Cinematography: Michael Liu. The film’s icy, expansive landscapes and glowing, futuristic Chinese cities create a stunning and immersive visual palette.
Music: Roc Chen. The score highlights the film’s emotional beats, while portraying a grand, epic feel.
IMDb Rating and Critical Reception
As of now, The Wandering Earth has an IMDb score of 6.0/10, signifying a moderately positive rating. The film received commercial and critical acclaim in China.
Positive Feedback:
The movie’s special effects, production design, and overall ambition won praise from critics and audiences alike. It was celebrated as a landmark for Chinese cinema as it stood as the first domestically major homegrown sci-fi blockbuster, Yuan for Yuan, on par with international production values. Technically, the film was astounding, particularly the scenes depicting the frozen Earth, the failed thruster, and Jupiter’s towering presence.
The overarching unity and collective sacrifice theme, as opposed to the typical Western focus on individualism, resonated with Chinese audiences. The film’s emotional core of the father-son bond, and the characters’ selfless willingness to endure great personal sacrifice for a common cause, added humanity to the sci-fi disaster tale.
Critical Feedback:
The film’s dialogue, pacing, and exposition-heavy script drew criticism from some international reviewers. A few of the plot points were deemed scientifically impossible, and the development of the majority of the characters that were not part of the core few was viewed as lacking.
With that said, the ambition of the film, especially in the context of its home country, did not go unappreciated – even in the eyes of critics.
Conclusion
The Wandering Earth is one of the most notable milestones in the context of world science fiction cinema. It is an ambitious movie on many levels which showcases an intriguing combination of exciting disaster fiction intertwined with timeless human ideals of love, selflessness, and hope.
While it is not culturally perfect, its ethereal visuals and unwavering hope position it well within the genre. Additionally, it was able to showcase to the world that Chinese science fiction exists, and in doing so, it was able to demonstrate that stunning, high-level science fiction concepts can be understood in any culture.
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