Synopsis: In the near future, the sun is rapidly expanding and will engulf the earth within 100 years. To ensure the survival of humankind, nations join hands to form an unprecedented, ambitious global project to build powerful engines on the Earth's surface and propel the planet away from impending doom. Meanwhile, protests have broken out to demand the restart of the controversial Digital Life Project, which digitilises human beings after they have passed. Tensions soon escalate and the protestors plan to sabotage the Wandering Earth Project by attacking the Ark Police Station... Boasting incredible and epic visuals, this stunning blockbuster is a fresh prequel to one of the highest-grossing films of all time, a $700m box office success, and a Netflix global smash hit. Based on the popular novella by science fiction author Liu Cixin, The Wandering Earth II is a true sci-fi blockbuster directed by Frant Gwo and starring Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs) and Wu Jing (The Battle at Lake Changjin). (173 Mins)

 

Views: Serving as a prequel to the original box-office smash, and based off the short story of the same name written by Liu Ci Xin who, once again, serves as one of the films writers and producers; The Wandering Earth 2 tells the story of Earth's impending doom and how the United Earth Government comes together to start their plan of shifting the planet from one solar system to another. This means building a test engine on the Moon – a project that is hijacked multiple times by the Digital Life Project, a radical group who believe the best way to save humanity is through mind-uploading technology for digital immortality. While a team of great minds work on the mission from both Earth and the Moon, with rookie astronaut Liu Peiqiang doing what he can to fight against the terrorists and keep the project on track. Back on Earth, Tu Heng Yu, a computer engineer who had worked on the DLP before it was banned, continues to work on a super-computer that will help control the engines that will guide Earth to safety. During his spare time, Tu manages to upload some of his dead daughters consciousness into a simulation – a technological advancement that he later uses on himself in order to help save the planet and, in turn, helping to start their journey on saving humanity and guiding Earth away from the its dying sun!

 

After being amazed by the first Wandering Earth film, I was extremely excited to hear about this sequel and especially intrigued to see just where things were going to go. While the film initially saw its release at the end of January, a quick turnaround by UK distributor Cineasia saw the film get a big-screen release across the UK and Ireland in selected cinemas almost instantly, and while I was unable to get to any of these myself, I was lucky enough to get access to a private screening from them in the comfort of my own home – although I can't express enough to how much of a big screen movie this really is (The film has since had a Blu-ray, DVD & Digital release from Cineasia, with their new 4K UHD Steelbook released soon after - all of which feature a five star quote from myself which was such a surprise and honour)! It's a rare thing when a sequel (or prequel in this instance) proves to be a much bigger and better ride than the first, but The Wandering Earth 2 just about manages that. Director Frant Gwo brings the wonderful Wu Jing back as Liu Peiqiang and doubles-up the star power with the addition of the great Andy Lau which, no doubt, helped give the film even more appeal with its international audience. Wu Jing had pretty much become China's biggest star due to the success of his career and self-directed record-breaking box-office smash, Wolf Warrior 2, which had come out only a year or so before. I've always been a huge fan of the martial-arts star ever since he appeared on the scene in Yuen Woo Ping's Tai Chi 2 / Tai Chi Boxer way back in 1996. With memorable roles quickly following in Drunken Monkey, SPL, Fatal Contact and Invisible Target (along with many more), Wu Jing quickly went onto become one of China's most bankable stars. He impressed as a director with his debut piece Legendary Assassin in 2008, but it would be Wolf Warrior in 2015 that would confirm his strength as a director. That same year would see him star in the hit film SPL2: A Time Of Consequences, followed by Benny Chan's fantastic Call Of Heroes. Since his critically acclaimed Wolf Warrior 2 lit up screens around the world, Wu has led the way in many big scaled Chinese films such as The Battle At Lake Chang-Jin 1 & 2, The Sacrifice, The Climbers, this and its incredible predecessor, and even made an appearance in Jackie Chan's 2022 action-comedy, Ride On. The irrepressible Andy Lau, who just keeps ploughing-on through the film industry, does a fantastic job as computer engineer, Tu Heng Yu, in an emotional role that sees a man who has lost everything push himself to save the world. While I feel that it wasn't that long ago when Andy was dishing out 12-15 movies a year, he has significantly slowed down over the last decade, sometimes only starring in 2 or 3 productions a year, and it's always great to see him attached to massive projects like this one. It's crazy to think that it has been just over a decade since both he and Wu Jing last worked together, which was in Benny Chan's fantastic Shaolin – alongside Jackie Chan and Nicholas Tse. While their paths rarely cross in The Wandering Earth 2, their stories still coincide and work well together. The pair are joined by Li Xue Jian as the Chinese Ambassador to the UEG, Sha Yi as Liu's mentor, Ning Li as Tu Heng Yu's superior, Wang Zhi who is brilliant as Liu's fellow trainee and then wife (which is such a big development of Liu Peiqiang's story), and a brief CGI cameo of Ng Man Tat who had unfortunately passed in 2021 with liver cancer. You can see in the credits that The Wandering Earth 2 was dedicated to this amazing actor...

 

The film is directed by Frant Gwo, who also serves as one of the eight screenwriters and one of the producers – as well as making a cameo of sorts throughout the film. Until The Wandering Earth I had actually never heard of Gwo, even though he had directed two features prior to this with the first being Lee's Adventure; a sci-fi adventure starring Jaycee Chan and Henry Fong (who also produced). Gwo followed this up with the rom-com, My Old Classmate, with both films obviously making enough of an impression at the box-office to land Frant the job of directing this epic. To date, Gwo has directed both Wandering Earth movies and the Chinese war film, The Sacrifice – a movie very similar to the Battle At Lake Chang-Jin movies with Wu Jing leading the way once again. Martial-arts fans can rejoice in knowing that Wu Jing gets to bust a few moves in an exciting fight against some terrorists, and in zero-gravity, and will find enjoyment from the plenty of other action scenes available – many of which are on a grand scale and hugely exciting. This is handled once again by action director Yan Hua, a stable talent of Donnie Yen's crew having appeared in films such as Twins Effect, Dragon Tiger Gate, Wu Xia, Special ID, Kung Fu Jungle, and Enter The Fat Dragon; most of which he also worked on as one of the action directors. And Roc Chen returns to deliver another great score that perfectly accompanies the work of cinematographer Michael Liu – who returns after shooting the first film for Gwo as well as his war opus, The Sacrifice.

 

Once again, the film was presented by Wu Jing and the China Film Group – the same studio behind hits such as Aftershock, Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate, Blind Detective, Police Story 2013, The Mermaid, Shattered Earth: Cloudy Mountain, and The Battle At Lake Chang-Jin. As with the first film, The Wandering Earth 2 impresses on many levels; from Gwo's direction to its high production values, and from the stunning visuals and effects to the incredible action-pieces that will have you on the edge of your seat! While many often complain about the propaganda behind most movies produced by the China Film Group (and others), I really enjoyed how this story was about the world coming together and its use of a decent international cast, leaving any propaganda behind and delivering a couple of heroes whose intention was to save humanity and not just the motherland. While I absolutely loved part one and highly regard it as a milestone of Chinese sci-fi cinema, I feel that The Wandering Earth 2 takes things a little bit further and betters its predecessor on many levels, respectively. With strong performances from all involved, a heartfelt human tale, and some incredible moments of CGI and stunning cinematography, this epic film has proven to be as entertaining as any of the biggest Hollywood sci-fi movies and should not be missed!

 

Overall: An incredible piece of sci-fi cinema, The Wandering Earth 2 is a hugely entertaining and visually incredible film that challenges the best of Hollywood!

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Cineasia Steelbook 4K UHD Extras: Making Of Featurettes, Trailers

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Watch my video review HERE