The Wandering Earth (2019)

Director: Frant Gwo

Starring: Jing Wu, Chuxiao Qu, Guangjie Li

As the sun is dying out, people all around the world build giant planet thrusters to move Earth out of its orbit and sail Earth to a new star system. Yet the 2500-year journey comes with unexpected dangers, and in order to save humanity, a group of young people in this age of a wandering Earth fight hard for the survival of humankind.

‘The Wandering Earth’ is the result of a unique idea masterfully executed. Written, directed and produced by Frant Gwo, his vision materialized into an awesome action adventure drama.

From the opening scene to the final scene, the film grips you and never lets go. There never really is a dull moment and the action and excitement never ceases. The visuals are incredible and the set designs impressive. The stunning score is a perfect accompaniment to this spectacular film. I enjoyed the characters, and was well acted by a reasonably young cast.

‘The Wandering Earth’ is gripping, action-packed and fast paced and contains (in my opinion) elements of ‘Interstellar’, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, ‘Armageddon’, and a bit of ‘Gravity’.

Although it is still too soon to name the film’s achievements, it already won awards for Best Film, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. The film was a huge box office success, earning $700 million on a $50 million budget, and became China’s second highest-grossing film of all time (behind ‘Wolf Warrior 2).

In Mandarin.