The Wandering Earth 2

As the sun expands rapidly, threatening to consume the entire solar system, humananity decides that the only option for survival is to build huge engines on the surface of the earth, in order to fly the planet out of the sun’s orbit, and off into space, to wander the galaxy in search of a new solar system to call home. Soon enough, the people of earth learn that the path to this dream is a perilous one, fraught with violent disagreements and unforseen threats.

I never saw the first installmant of The Wandering Earth, but I dove into Part 2 anyway, as according to a few folks-in-the-know, it wasn’t necessary. After watching this film, I can assure you that they were right. Mainly because The Wandering Earth 2 is a prequel. Set in 2044, and taking place before the events of the first film, the sun is rapidly expanding and we only have a couple hundred years to get our asses out of dodge or be completely consumed. The film focuses on the efforts of the United Earth Government to rally humanity, in an effort to build the systems and the engines we need to push Earth out of our solar system, so that we can find a new home.

Yes, it’s a supremely silly idea, I know, but whatever… this is the hook, so you either have to say right at the start: “No, thank you,” and walk away, or just resign yourself to the silliness, get your popcorn, sit down, and watch to see what unfolds. But if we can get down to brass tacks here? If you’re too concerned with asking how giant rockets attached to the earth could possibly work, this probably isn’t the movie for you.

But yes, I agree…

But while it’s fair to say that the central idea of this film is borderline dumb, the central problem is actually totally believable, and that is that humanity is generally stupid and awful, and in the film, despite only having one real option other than fiery death, a not insignifigant section of humanity is set on disrupting and destroying any and all efforts to achieve that option and save everyone. And why are they doing that? Because fuck you, that’s why.

Even more accurately, while a good chunk of society is violently breaking down at the same time as the rest of us are busy trying to save everyone, and active combat plagues every corner of the world, guess who the head buttholes are, guess who it is that is leading the charge to ruin everything?

Go on, guess.

That’s right, it’s America. The film doesn’t specify, of course, but I think we all know which specific part of America too…

Granted, this is a Chinese sci-fi disaster film, so it’s fair to say that there could be a certain amount of anti-Americanism involved in this depiction, but honestly, having seen the film, it really doesn’t spend much time on the idea, and the few mentions that do come up… seem pretty fair. It’s the story of how we’re trying to save the world, all while a bunch of jerks are trying to ruin everything because they’re mad they aren’t getting their way, so it feels a little bit familiar.

The Wandering Earth 2 is a decent prequel to what was apparently the record-smashing first installment, which was an adaptation of a short story by Liu Cixin, which I haven’t read, but who also wrote The Three-Body Problem, a book that people generally went ape-shit over, but mostly left me cold. The chinese adaptation of The Three-Body Problem already exists, and you can see it on Prime, but it will also very soon be a Netflix show done by a trio of creators that includes the somewhat suspect and oft-problematic pair behind the Game of Thrones adaptation.

Just fyi.

I bring all this up to say that, the fact that this film is a prequel, one that is adapted from a story written by an author who generally seems to prefer big picture narratives and broad character POVs instead of something more intimate and tightly-focused, probably explains the overall lumbering feel of the narrative.

Because, like all prequels, the main issue here is that the myriad of apocalyptic problems faced by the characters in this film—each one neatly labeled with pulpy on-screen text like “Space Elevator collapses in 12 hours” and “Moon disintegrates in 3 hours”—have all already happened. The first film, The Wandering Earth, takes place after Earth has already been pushed out of harm’s way by these massive engines, and is now out there “wandering” the galaxy. Once you’re aware of this… there’s zero real tension, because the simple fact is this… it’s nearly impossible to write a prequel that isn’t narratively inert. The best you can reasonably hope for is that the characters will be endearing enough, and their personal trials will be exciting enough, that this floats your story through. The unfortunate reality here is, when you take this issue, and you add in the fact that the story bounds across multiple decades, and is told from a very big picture, very high vantage point POV, you’ve pretty much ensured that this isn’t going to happen. Because of this, the whole thing is rendered to just hollow spectacle. Add in the fact that Chinese films can often be somewhat melodramatically effusive when it comes to emotional displays, and all you’re left with is nearly three hours of a gorgeous, but bombastic film of convoluted story lines, undercooked themes, and a gaggle of 2-D characters—all of whom are mostly either dramatically pontificating or stoically gazing into the middle distance—wrapped in a tangle of very obviously state-approved political subtext.

In the end, The Wandering Earth 2 is a flashy, big-budget, state-approved, cornball spectacle, a cornucopia of telegraphed noble sacrifices and dramatic explosions, a big fuck you of a tentpole, high concept, genre blockbuster of a film, all about the nobility and strength of a united humanity. It’s basically China’s ID4 meets Armageddon. And it’s just as “not that good” too.

But if you’re looking for spectacle and explosions…