The Wandering Earth II
WELL GO USABigger does not always mean better and with the case of Frant Gwo's The Wandering Earth II - a feature always destined to be made after the roaring success of its predecessor - sadly, the sentiment and phrase could not be more true. Gwo's previous entity, The Wandering Earth, was a colossal success both domestically and internationally, showcasing the human dynamic of sacrifice and success that surrounds human endeavour in the face of adversary. The Wandering Earth II is more of the same with two interesting twists to make it different but within the same parameters of what made its predecessor so successful.
Firstly, starting with what makes this feature the same eventually comes down to the likes of tone and stirring sentiment. Produced ultimately within a governmental ideology, Gwo's feature laps up two elements to a degree of almost nonsensical albeit compelling nature; be that the people and place of the Peoples Republic of China. It may be regarding principles, sacrifice, intellect, and so forth, the eventual degree will undeniably reinforce not necessarily a sense of superiority but that of understanding what is meant by doing the right thing for the greater good, even if the proposed antagonist is utilised in this somewhat confusing method but in context of the feature itself, the overall issue with reinforcing the sentiment of greatness embarrassingly trips over itself. This is of course in reference to the second aspect of The Wandering Earth II's production, being A.I. - which will be touched on below.
Now, an interesting tidbit about this production is that The Wandering Earth II is not a sequel but a prequel to the events seen in 2019. Therefore the feature can not rely on the same cinematic narrative techniques and thus the story, so ultimately setting the feature before its predecessor allows it a crutch in not having to create new dynamics for characters as they can utilise preexisting relationships for characters upon audiences. Certain viewers will find this lazy, and others will want to see those characters in this world again, therefore the sentiment can not be used against this film and feels a little harsh to prod it with such criticism. Nevertheless, a plot point that should be criticised for numerous issues is that of what the film crafts as a secondary important sub-plot in the use and abuse of Artificial Intelligence. This aspect is such a self-important and unneeded aspect of production that not only severely bogs the running time down with its horrible pacing but offers such a lifeless sub-plot that just doesn't need to exist, overly complicating the feature in the meantime. Seeing four and perhaps more writers on board is a clear idea of what the issue is here and it is that everyone feels the need to add a voice here, to add more and more to substantiate a sequel which could not be further from the truth. The sheer amount of voices that are trying to lead this left, right, east, west, and so on, pulls it to pieces with no clear direction whatsoever.
It is obvious why The Wandering Earth II feels it needs this degree of narrative to set itself apart from its predecessor but in the meantime fails to realise that the plot is not what has audiences glued, but such a testament is towards the characters. The issue here is that the feature itself is so overly convoluted and expositional to set the stage for what comes, it forgets about the internal exploration of the characters and instead sets its sights on creating gravitas for the already known. This sadly is doubled down in the above-mentioned A.I. which perhaps gets done dirty due to the nature of having to create exposition and balance it out with fresh layered narratve. The two could co-exist but here falt to the point in which at least two-thirds of the feature has characters in rooms tell the audience they know better, rinse and repeat in a running time of almost three hours in length. Even going so far as to place the emotive core in this sub-plot which tires and eventually burns out before the final set piece and thus final emotional pull can even be realised.
It is quite ironic that the sub-plot created to entice audiences back into this world is ultimately the one that pushes them away but even then The Wandering Earth II for good and for bad is just not the same film as its predecessor. For starters CGI and world-building are radically different, its predecessor showed a world already devastated by the climate and set the tone for just how perilous the journey would be, thus including and experimenting with iconography. Here is a different story as this feature supposedly is building that world but the audience only sees it in small almost non-disposable sequences which do not have the same power, often cutting back to men in rooms shouting at each other. Granted, The Wandering Earth II has big moments of CGI action but again and in failure of repeating - this is not what audiences clamoured for. Alas, it does have a terrific comedic tone which is almost slapstick of sorts throughout and does an excellent job of creating space and pause with a comedic edge when the feature begins to touch on darker sub-plots. That being said, it is all lost in a world that just isn't all the interesting and while on paper bringing this feature back to an earth audiences are aware of, loses the spark and gravity of what made this franchise awe-inducing.
