The Wandering Earth

Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4

The Wandering Earth is a Chinese blockbuster available on Netflix. Why am I reviewing a foreign film? It happens to be the second highest grossing film in China of all time, even beating out 'Avengers: Endgame.' And for some reason, nobody is talking of this film.

In the near future, the Sun becomes a supergiant and will soon engulf the Earth. The world has a plan called the "Wandering Earth Project." The idea is to, literally, strap a bunch of rockets to one side of the Earth to push Earth into the orbit of Jupiter. It is possibly the most ludicrous plot ever.

This film feels like something China would come up with. It feels like a Roland Emmerich script and sometimes is one. But this film relies on character's emotional beats to pull you through the very dumb concept. The reason why a dumb movie like this works and 'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' does not is that 'The Wandering Earth' is not insulting and does not feel like a cynical, corporate product. It feels like a director had a vision and made a fairly entertaining film.

The cinematography is something to highlight. This film was made for only fifty million dollars, which is cheap for something of this scale. The film has a wonderful color palette and is an absolute must watch on a big screen. Not your computer.

There is a female character in this film who is the "sister" of the protagonist. She was one of the worst parts of the film. She is just dragged along throughout this entire film and all she does is complain and cry. At a point, I had enough of her.

However, this film's emotional anchor is a father-son relationship which did make this film touching. By the end of the film, that relationship really does make an impact on you. Yes, the film is in Chinese with English ADR over the actors. So people's mouths do not appear to sync with their dialogue. You will just have to deal with that.

This is a wonderfully entertaining blockbuster that I strongly advise people check out that has a mid-90s feeling to it. You may even cry at the end.

Rating: See It

-Nolan