The Wandering Earth II movie review (2023) | Roger Ebert (2024)

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The Wandering Earth II movie review (2023) | Roger Ebert (1)

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Time runs out in carefully marked units in the mainland Chinese sci-fi disaster pic “The Wandering Earth II,” a sturdy prequel to the record-smashing adaptation of Liu Cixin’s novel. In “The Wandering Earth II,” the apocalyptic problems faced by this movie’s Chinese characters—along with their international peers from the United Earth Government (UEG)—have already happened. Because in “The Wandering Earth,” the planet has already left its orbit thanks to some high-powered rocket engines, which have pushed the Earth out of harm’s way (aka a crash course with the Sun). Set in the near-future—a range of dates that includes 2044, 2058, and 2065—“The Wandering Earth II” follows China’s men and women of action as they lead the planet out of the solar system and into the previous movie.

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Both “The Wandering Earth” and its sequel are flashy, state-approved cornball spectacles about humanity’s resilience (especially the Chinese). Both movies were produced with gargantuan budgets that would make even James Cameron blink, and they both look fantastic thanks to director Frant Gwo’s eye for panoramic scope and paperback cover-worthy details. The main difference between these two blockbusters is that the protagonists of “The Wandering Earth II” must repeatedly choose to be hopeful despite perpetually impending disasters, each one of which is neatly labeled and foregrounded with pulpy on-screen text like “The Lunar Crisis in 12 hours” and “Nuclear explosion in 3 hours.”

In this way, Gwo (“The Sacrifice”) and his five credited co-writers succeed in refocusing our attention on scenes of ticking-clock suspense, sandwiched between syrupy—and mostly satisfying—melodramatic interludes, where square-jawed astronauts and UEG diplomats struggle to do what we know is a foregone conclusion.

Most of “The Wandering Earth II” follows the superhuman efforts needed to jumpstart the Moving Mountain Project, the mission to first build and then deploy the globe-shifting engines needed to push the Earth out of harm’s way. The UEG’s Chinese delegation, led by the paternal diplomat Zhezhi Zhou (Li Xuejian), recommends prioritizing the Moving Mountain Project instead of the Digital Life Project. This radical initiative would transfer human participants’ consciousnesses into artificially intelligent computer programs. Some Digital Life supporters try to sabotage the Moving Mountain Project, including a deadly attack on the Space Elevator transportation ships that send UEG representatives from the Earth to the Moon.

Nobody living through the events of “The Wandering Earth II” knows what we know: That the Moving Mountain project succeeds and eventually becomes the Wandering Earth project, which comes under threat by a HAL 9000-esque artificial intelligence (A.I.) named MOSS in the first film. Still, multiple scientists, government officials, and space adventurers—mostly Chinese—believe in their work’s vital necessity, whether they’re punching out saboteurs or detonating one of a couple hundred nuclear devices scattered around the moon. There’s a lot of hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing along the way, mostly from English and Russian-speaking UEG members, all of whom speak in stilted, poorly dubbed dialogue. But Chinese astronauts, like “The Wandering Earth” co-leads Liu Peiqiang (“Wolf Warrior 2” star Wu Jing) and Han Duoduo (Wang Zhi), always prove Zhou’s slogan-simple maxim: “In times of crisis, unity above all.”

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Some melancholic (and occasionally maudlin) flashbacks and dialogue emphasize the personal motives of one-note characters who, in the movie’s best scenes, are just parts of a beautiful post-human landscape. Liu remembers his wife and young daughter while melancholic scientist Tu Hengyu (Andy Lau) talks with his dead child after he uploads her personality into an experimental A.I. program; she cries a lot and sometimes responds with existentially troubling questions like, “Where am I, daddy? I want to get out.” We’re then periodically reminded of the next impending crisis—“the moon disintegrates in 50 hours”—in between solar storms and nuclear explosions. Somehow, “The Wandering Earth II” never feels tonally unbalanced or narratively convoluted, partly because Gwo and his collaborators keep their movie’s plot focused on feats of action-adventure heroism.

“The Wandering Earth II” only seems relatively unambitious because it’s more focused on sap-happy human emotions than on dystopian intrigue. Both movies are still essentially showcases for beautiful and expensive-looking computer graphics. But “The Wandering Earth II”—a brittle and, at heart, old-fashioned space opera—would be insufferable if Gwo and his ensemble cast members didn’t sell you on the possibility that someday, people who are as selfless, monomaniacal, and capable as Liu and Tu could exist.

“The Wandering Earth II” is also like “The Wandering Earth” because it’s just the right mix of silly and somber. Hurt, scared people wonder about the recent past, but always from a rare position of forward-thinking emotional clarity. (“She’s dead, and that’s it. That’s the reality.”) So when humanity must inevitably save the day, their accomplishments are appropriately surreal and awesome.

In theaters Sunday, January 22.

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Film Credits

The Wandering Earth II movie review (2023) | Roger Ebert (9)

The Wandering Earth II (2023)

Rated NR

173 minutes

Cast

Andy Lauas Tu Hengyu

Wu Jingas Liu Peiqiang

Li Xuejianas Zhou Zhezhi

Zhang Fengyi

Director

  • Frant Gwo

Writer

  • Gong Geer
  • Frant Gwo
  • Liu Cixin
  • Hongwei Wang
  • Ruchang Ye
  • Yang Zhixue

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The Wandering Earth II movie review (2023) | Roger Ebert (2024)

FAQs

The Wandering Earth II movie review (2023) | Roger Ebert? ›

“The Wandering Earth II” is also like “The Wandering Earth” because it's just the right mix of silly and somber. Hurt, scared people wonder about the recent past, but always from a rare position of forward-thinking emotional clarity.

Is The Wandering Earth 2 a good movie? ›

Critics Reviews

A sturdy prequel. Content collapsed. Losing all of the glee of its predecessor, the movie... offers nearly three hours of convoluted story lines, undercooked themes and a tangle of confused, glaringly state-approved political subtext.

Is wandering earth 2 better than 1? ›

The Wandering Earth and this prequel, The Wandering Earth II, is a significant milestone. As a prequel, it has more depth in the story than the first, though the premise behind the main conflict is a bit shallow to be believed, as if "digital life" and survival of the planet are mutually exclusive. Pizza OR pepperoni?

Do I need to watch wandering earth 1 before 2? ›

While the number “2” is in the film's title, this isn't a sequel; it's a prequel to 2019's Wandering Earth. Wandering Earth 2 didn't require any knowledge of the first film, which was great, because I hadn't seen it.

Is The Wandering Earth a prequel? ›

This year, Guo extended his vision with a prequel, The Wandering Earth 2, told years before the story of the first film.

Will there be a wandering earth 3? ›

The film has grossed $604 million, making it the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2023. The film was submitted for nomination in the Best International Feature Film category of the 96th Academy Awards, as Chinese entry. The third film in the series, The Wandering Earth 3, is set to be released in 2027.

Is The Wandering Earth worth watching? ›

Though there are issues like the acting,the stunning visuals makes it worth checking out. The plot is no masterpiece,but it's good enough. Honestly I didn't expect this film would be so great,but it's definitely the best Chinese sci-fi ever.

Is The Wandering Earth 1 and 2 connected? ›

The film is a prequel to the 2019 film The Wandering Earth, which is based on the short story of the same name by Liu Cixin, who serves as the film's producer.

What happened to Yaya in Wandering Earth 2? ›

His daughter Yaya died in a car accident. He uploads her to the Digital Life project so that he can still interact with her. His goal is to give Yaya a complete life. In the end, he joins his daughter digitally and meets the computer AI MOSS, which is also 550W upside-down.

What is the plot of The Wandering Earth 2? ›

Is The Wandering Earth 2 on Amazon Prime? ›

Prime Video: The Wandering Earth II.

What year is The Wandering Earth set in? ›

Set in 2075, when the sun is about to explode and consume the solar system, this Chinese sci-fi blockbuster recounts the tale of a global initiative, led by the United Earth Government (successor to the United Nations), to build 12,000 colossal thrusters across the Earth's surface in order to propel the planet out of ...

Does Netflix have wandering earth? ›

Watch The Wandering Earth | Netflix.

Should I watch wandering earth 2? ›

At nearly three hours long, The Wandering Earth II can feel like a slog that plays too much on overly dramatic elements. But there is no denying its ambition and crowd-pleasing special effects, which cry out to be watched on the biggest screen possible. The Wandering Earth II is out now in cinemas.

Is The Wandering Earth 2 dubbed in English? ›

Well Go USA presents us with a Dolby Atmos track in the original Mandarin (which is actually a blend of Mandarin and English depending on who's talking) and an English Dub in 5.1 DTS-HD MA.

How many Wandering Earth movies are there? ›

Both “The Wandering Earth” and its sequel are flashy, state-approved cornball spectacles about humanity's resilience (especially the Chinese).

What is wandering earth two about? ›

How are wandering earth 1 and 2 connected? ›

The Wandering Earth II takes place after the events of both The Wandering Earth and Cixin Liu's source novel, which follow a group of heroic Chinese astronauts and scientists as they team up with their international counterparts to prevent the Earth from crashing into the Sun.

How long is wandering earth 2? ›

The Wandering Earth 2 (2023) is 2 hr 53 min long.

Was Strange World a good movie? ›

A likeable tale of sons seeking their own identity amid their fathers' expectations, it's a superbly well-made film, with fabulous animation. So while it may feel glib, it says some important things about the interconnection of nature.

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