The Wandering Earth: Netflix Masterpiece!!
When the sun dies out, the people of Earth build giant thrusters to move the planet out of orbit and sail to a new star system. After 2,500 years, young people continue the fight for everyone's survival.
This movie reminds me of the incredible Potential Netflix has always had and continues to boast of. This movie has everything Netflix has been denying it's subscribers of for a while now. It has the H.E.L.E component, it has the incredible plot, it has the masterful story telling and it boasts of an incredible narrative. With movie of the sort, what brings it home has always been in the scripting, the plot and character development and with the conflict element, and with this movie, we must admit it Netflix has sourced the very best to deliver on all counts.
Speaking of the plot, it's not disjointed as we had with IO, neither is it replete with hopelessness as we had with Birdbox, but most importantly, the movie had a gradual build up of its plot and it's characters had the room to grow alongside the plot. The script also played a huge role in making this work, attention was not paid too much on any one individual character or a part of a conflict, everything was generalised with the intention to narrow the narrative down to a few characters and conflict points. This has always had the potential of letting a movie go out on a high note, or in other words at a climax.
What started out as an act of defiance on the part of Liu Qi and Han Doudou becomes a survival situation, and then becomes the last throw of the dice to save a dying Earth's impending fatal confrontation with Jupiter. All that happens in between this starting point and the end game is what makes this movie an amazing 2 hours of screen time.
Storytelling and plot aside, we must commend Netflix for at least employing a studio that knows it's CGI usage. The visual effects were astonishing, they gave off the feel of the real thing, or at very least, what the real thing ought to look like. It was impressive stuff ,and it didn't have the feel of a budget movie, it actually looked very much like a highly budgeted movie, which was complemented by a talented script writer and an astute production team.
Speaking of the plot, it's not disjointed as we had with IO, neither is it replete with hopelessness as we had with Birdbox, but most importantly, the movie had a gradual build up of its plot and it's characters had the room to grow alongside the plot. The script also played a huge role in making this work, attention was not paid too much on any one individual character or a part of a conflict, everything was generalised with the intention to narrow the narrative down to a few characters and conflict points. This has always had the potential of letting a movie go out on a high note, or in other words at a climax.
What started out as an act of defiance on the part of Liu Qi and Han Doudou becomes a survival situation, and then becomes the last throw of the dice to save a dying Earth's impending fatal confrontation with Jupiter. All that happens in between this starting point and the end game is what makes this movie an amazing 2 hours of screen time.
Storytelling and plot aside, we must commend Netflix for at least employing a studio that knows it's CGI usage. The visual effects were astonishing, they gave off the feel of the real thing, or at very least, what the real thing ought to look like. It was impressive stuff ,and it didn't have the feel of a budget movie, it actually looked very much like a highly budgeted movie, which was complemented by a talented script writer and an astute production team.
Perhaps what sets this movie from the usual Netflix apocalyptic tales is in the humanity of this movie, the realism of the characters, even in the face of something so unreal as a travelling earth. The manner in which the characters and the world at large interacted in the face of the inevitable ( not Thanos) is amazing, and it makes you truly Wonder if humanity is not being really foolish for not realising it's true potentials when we work together as a united people.
Okay, that aside, the fact that the movie had a back story from which the plot developed, a conflict created midway and a situation of hopelessness and from the doom and gloom, comes hope. It's a progressive story concept and this is what Netflix should look to do more often, as with this movie and as we saw with The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, and less of what we had with IO, Birdbox and Annihilation. Those ones were basically bland and nonprogressive. They usually leave the viewer with a feeling of utter dissatisfaction and that usually affects the rating negatively.
It's incredible high pace ensures that you never find any period of this movie boring. If it's not the stunning visuals, then it's the obvious dark humour, or its the escapist action sequences. There is always something to keep your attention on the screen. This is what makes this movie an absolute must watch!
With a Budget of 50 million USD and a Box office mojo of 700 million USD, this movie has been a massive success. Making it the second highest grossing Chinese movie of all time ,the 3rd highest grossing movie of 2019 and the second highest grossing non-English movie of 2019. These are astonishing statistics for a movie worth just 50million USD. It's a massive achievement for Netflix in terms of numbers.
Surprisingly, the American and English communities seem to want to suppress this movie by consciously ignoring it's presence. Perhaps it's because they are pained they did not make an adaptation of this brilliant literary work of art before their Asian competition did?
Oh well it's here now, and you should absolutely enjoy this movie while it's still the rave!
Directed by: Frant Gwo
Produced by: Gong Ge'er
Written by: Gong Ge'er, Yan Dongxu, Frant Gwo, Ye Junce, Yang Zhixue, Wu Yi, Ye Ruchang
Based on: The Wandering Earth (Chinese: 流浪地球) by Liu Cixin
Starring:
Qu Chuxiao
Li Guangjie
Ng Man-tat
Zhao Jinmai
Wu Jing
Qu Jingjing
Music by: Roc Chen, Liu Tao (additional music)
Cinematography: Michael Liu
Edited by: Cheung Ka-fai
Production company: China Film Group Corporation
Distributed by: China Film Group Corporation, Netflix (International)
Produced by: Gong Ge'er
Written by: Gong Ge'er, Yan Dongxu, Frant Gwo, Ye Junce, Yang Zhixue, Wu Yi, Ye Ruchang
Based on: The Wandering Earth (Chinese: 流浪地球) by Liu Cixin
Starring:
Qu Chuxiao
Li Guangjie
Ng Man-tat
Zhao Jinmai
Wu Jing
Qu Jingjing
Music by: Roc Chen, Liu Tao (additional music)
Cinematography: Michael Liu
Edited by: Cheung Ka-fai
Production company: China Film Group Corporation
Distributed by: China Film Group Corporation, Netflix (International)
FCA's AppR: 8/10
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