The Wandering Earth 2 is a prequel to the blockbuster 2019 Chinese sci-fi action-adventure film The Wandering Earth. It’s the year 2044, and the Earth faces a forthcoming cataclysmic solar event. The sun is rapidly expanding. In 100 years it will engulf the Earth, and in 300 years, the entire solar system. The United Earth Government (UEG) has been established to deal with the crisis, and the solution they decide upon is called the Moving Mountain Project. The plan is to build 10,000 nuclear “earth engines” that will be powered up in unison around the planet, and used to propel the Earth out of the solar system, and guide it on its journey to another star system. In conjunction, a sister project called the Lunar Exile Project is also underway to build 300 satellite engines to help the planet initially break away from the moon’s gravitational pull. In order to pursue these projects, the UEG has shut down an alternate effort, called the Digital Life Project (DLP), which was working on using AI technology to upload people’s minds into quantum supercomputers, allowing humanity to live on in a digital world. However, as radical DLP supporters stage violent protests and devastating terrorist attacks to try to put an end to the UEG’s efforts, the deadline to complete the earth and lunar engines is rapidly approaching. The team faces one deadly setback after the next, and must constantly come up with new contingency plans if they have any hope of ensuring the future of humanity.
The Wandering Earth II is a sprawling, epic/disaster film that follows this crisis from many different aspects, whether it be the astronauts/soldiers in space/on the moon, the scientists and computer engineers rushing to come up with solutions, or the pollical drama at the UEG as representatives from all of its member countries try to work together towards a common goal. Moving the Earth is not an easy task, and it’s made even more difficult when you have terrorists trying to sabotage your efforts. And so we follow many of these characters over the course of several decades, counting down to the solar helium flash event that kicks off the dangerous chain of events that could destroy the Earth. Some of these characters include UEG trainee astronaut Liu Peiqiang (Wu Jing) and his fellow classmate Han Duoduo (Wang Zhi) as they go through their training, fall in love, and advance through the ranks; as well as UEG fighter pilots Zhang Peng (Sha Yi) and Andre Graschnov (Vitalli Makarychev) as they lead their teams in battle against the terrorist attacks. The film also explores the rise of the AI technology, with computer scientist Tu Hengyu (Andy Lau)—whose young deceased daughter Yaya was part of early simulation trials of the Digital Life Project before it was banned—and his colleague, quantum computing researcher Ma Zhao (Ning Li). And finally, in the political arena with Zhou Zhezhi (Li Xuejian), the Chinese ambassador to the UEG, and his personal assistant/protégé Hao Xiaoxi (Zhu Yanmanzi), as they face off with the ambassadors from the other member nations.
I was initially worried going into this second film that I hadn’t seen the original The Wandering Earth movie. However, this is a prequel, and doesn’t require any knowledge of the events of that film. That said, there is a lot of foreshadowing, and some countdowns to the events of the first film, that may enhance the movie for viewers who know what’s coming.
The Wandering Earth II finds a nice blend of character drama and big action-packed sequences. It often feels like a big budget blockbuster, combining elements of films like Armageddon, Starship Troopers (though no bugs or aliens), Terminator 2 (though no time travel), and more. Just as the team looks like they are getting things under control and you start to breathe again, some new deadly crisis appears and the clock is once again ticking. The production value is great, and you really believe these characters are on the moon, flying around in space ships, or in an enormous space elevator thousands of miles above the earth.
Well Go’s Blu-ray offers the film in both its original Mandarin language as well as a new English dub, though only the Chinese speaking parts are dubbed over—the characters speaking Russian or other non-English languages are left subtitled. As with all these foreign Well Go releases, I usually try the dubbed track first, and I found this one to be really well acted. I often preferred the dialogue in the dub to its subtitled counterpart, which usually didn’t flow quite as naturally. I also initially found that the subtitles moved quite quickly, which may be tough to keep up with if relying on that to go along with the original language track. While text on the screen about locations and countdowns is displayed in English, when characters look at the foreign text their devices, no captions/translations are provided. Both the original language Atmos track and the dubbed DTS HDMA track have a very immersive feel, often filling the room with a cacophony of sound, particularly during the film’s big action sequences. This is especially noticeable during the massive air battle that ensues as terrorists stage an attack on the space elevator.
The video presentation also looks quite good, with a clean, detailed picture throughout, and special effects that blend in nicely, even during the quick-moving action sequences and space battles. This futuristic world really comes to life.
Well Go’s Blu-ray release is a bit barebones, just including the film’s trailer and some previews for three other Well Go films as bonus material. The Blu-ray comes packed in a locking HD keepcase. There is no digital copy, but our review copy did include a nice cardboard slipcover.
What’s Included:
Film: (2:53:21)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.75:1
- Audio: Mandarin Dolby Atmos in Dolby TrueHD, Mandarin Stereo, English DTS-HDMA 5.1, English Stereo
- Subtitles: English, English Full, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese
Extras:
- Trailer (1:55)
- Previews
- Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2:28)
- The Moon (1:25)
- Born To Fly (1:57)
Final Thoughts:
The Wandering Earth II is an exciting, epic action-adventure, sci-fi drama that is definitely worth checking out for fans of the genre. Well Go’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, and includes a nice English dub option. Unfortunately there is no bonus material included. That said, fans of the first film, will definitely want to pick this up to see how the crisis began, and newcomers to the franchise don’t have to worry about not having seen the original movie in order to fully enjoy this one. After watching this movie, I was definitely eager to check out the original film, based on how the prequel came to an end and foreshadowed the events explored in that installment. Unfortunately, the first The Wandering Earth film is not available on disc/digital—it is only streaming on Netflix.
The Wandering Earth II
52% Off $29.98 $9.30 (as of November 7, 2024 11:42 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
The Wandering Earth II
$12.99 (as of November 7, 2024 11:42 GMT -05:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
