The Wandering Earth II

2023 2h 54m ZH

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 771

Science FictionActionAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Humans built huge engines on the surface of the earth to find a new home. But the road to the universe is perilous. In order to save earth, young people once again have to step forward to start a race against time for life and death.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Wu Jing
Liu Peiqiang
Andy Lau
Tu Hengyu
Li Xuejian
Zhou Zhezhi
Sha Yi
Zhang Peng
Ning Li
Ma Zhao
Wang Zhi
Liu Qi's Mom
Zhu Yanmanzi
Hao Xiaoxi
Andy Friend
Mike

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Frant Gwo
Writers: Frant Gwo, Gong Geer, Yang Zhixue
Languages: Mandarin, English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
Countries: China

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 174 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $74M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 9.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 3 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 7 languages: Mandarin, English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Wandering Earth Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Frant Gwo, shot by Liu Yin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Roc Chen. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Frant Gwo directs. Liu Yin behind the camera. Roc Chen scores. Cheung Ka-Fai cuts. A long sit — settle in. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in China. Dialogue in Mandarin, English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 174 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Mid-budget at $74M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
3Made its money back 9.0× over at the box office.
4Released 3 years ago.
5Dialogue crosses 7 languages: Mandarin, English, French, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.
6Part of the "The Wandering Earth Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
7Directed by Frant Gwo, shot by Liu Yin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by Roc Chen. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Cheung Ka-Fai shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Wu Jing and Andy Lau and Li Xuejian carry the top of the cast.
11IMDB entry: tt13539646 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Liu Yin
Original score: Roc Chen
Editing: Cheung Ka-Fai
Production design: Hanrui Wang
Costume design: Hannah Kittell
Makeup / hair: Jeanna Canatsey
VFX supervisor: Han Cao
Sound: Zhu Yanfeng
Stunt coordinator: Andy Yan
Runtime: 174 min · 2h 54m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $73,800,000
Box office: $665,000,000
Return: 901% of budget
Original language: ZH
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Wandering Earth II (2023)

Part of

The Wandering Earth Collection

A collection of sci-fi dramas about putting engines on the Earth to travel the universe for a new home.

Also by

Frant Gwo

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-02-09
★ 6/10
Now then, it's best - I think - to just accept that there is very, very, little plausible science to this save-the-planet movie. The format, and the story, have oft been done by Hollywood before so it's not top of the originality tree either - but it's still quite a watchable and well produced story of a group of Chinese trainees who must raise their game when they find themselves trying to save the infrastructure being built to help save the planet from terrorists. It's extremely perilous for them, their enemy is sophisticated and well entrenched. When the moon becomes unstable, it again falls to them to stop it crashing into the Earth before a carefully placed series of thousands of engines around the globe can be activated to propel us all out of danger and off to a new orbit around Alpha Centauri. The acting talents and the dialogue are really neither here nor there, but the visual effects - especially at the start - are effective and the pace of the film is as times entertaining as this dedicated team - and others from around the world - must unite to thwart the unseen enemy and rescue mankind before it's all too late. It really does need shortening though. It could lose an hour and - tightened up - have a much more focussed and impactful storyline that would hold the attention just as well as any Western equivalents. It does need a big screen to get the best from the creativity of the visuals but students of physics (astro or otherwise) may blush at some of it!
MovieGuys2023-04-15
★ 4/10
The Wandering Earth II or the "wandering script", as I call it, does nothing to improve upon a proposition that failed to work, the first time around. Its alright to create a space saga but trying to cram the whole thing down the audiences throat in two sittings, is simply too much to ask. My wife, who is Chinese, became exasperated about half an hour in and I don't blame her. There are simply too many disparate things going on at once, for this film to present anything, even a highly switched on viewer, like my economist other half, can reasonably follow. What you are left with, is what amounts to mini films, that feel like little like extended trailers, cobbled together over an lengthy time line, that become so diffuse, as to loose the potential to represent any semblance of a comprehensible "whole". Graphics are admittedly amazing, as are some of the sci fi conceptualisations. Acting's mostly pretty decent, too. That said, what are these elements without clarity of storytelling? In summary, best described as an overly ambitious, ill considered "sci fi, hot mess" that's clearly had a lot of time and money invested in it. If this had been broken down into smaller, bite sized films with less crammed in, I think it could have worked, a lot better.