The teaser trailer for the Chinese science fiction, post-apocalyptic film, The Wandering Earth, shows that China is really gunning aggressively to rival Hollywood when it comes to tentpole productions. The film is actually quite ambitious in the story it attempts to tell about an environmentally unstable Earth that can no longer sustain life due to extreme weather conditions that have made the surface uninhabitable.
While this might seem like the premise for a film about a group of survivors trying to fend off their last stash of food supplies or resources from mutants or monsters, director Frant Gwo decided to adapt Liu Cixin’s novel by taking a more transcendental approach to the subject matter. For the people still left on Earth, they decide to use their remaining military prowess to devise a plan to force-propel the Earth out of the solar system and into the unknown, especially since there’s absolutely nothing else left to lose.
You can check out the teaser trailer below, courtesy of Gavin Feng.
The film looks like it’s put together in a fairly competent way. There are a couple of standout scenes where the cinematography really seems to shine, especially for the moments where Gwo attempts to capture national pride and the resilience of the human spirit.
The more detrimental moments seem to be depicted either in aftermath sequences or referenced off-screen, such as the clip of the one pilot apparently committing suicide.
The film definitely seems to fall more on the side of attempting to showcase China as spearheading a triumphant victory over the natural forces of the universe itself, which is an even bigger feat of absurdity for Chinese filmmaking than 2017’s Wolf Warrior 2 – the country’s highest grossing movie of all time – which starred Wu Jing as a lone, Chinese special forces operative who single-handedly saves Africa from “evil” American mercenaries and the gullible African soldiers working for the mercenaries.
Unsurprisingly enough, Wu Jing also has a starring role in The Wandering Earth, so perhaps he’s trying to top his last outing with something even bigger, and more grand than his last outing?
Either way, if the movie turns out to be a success don’t be surprised to see it plastered all over the internet following its debut on February 5th, 2019 when it launches in theaters on the Chinese new year.
