Chen Fan

I believe we’ve all seen movies about a group of people saving the world with their superpowers, against some demons or villains, but we have few chances to see a film about the Earth facing dangers because of its source of energy, the Sun, and dwellers on the Earth escaping from the gravity of the solar system. “The Wandering Earth,” which represented this kind of situation, received a high box office ranking recently.

Although it is said that this is the first sci-fi movie produced in China, “The Wandering Earth” showed fantastic visual effects and some audacious imagination and ideas. However, I have a few questions.

First, nowadays, the technology of driverless vehicles is almost in a mature state. Nevertheless, when the rescue team in the film are transporting an essential component from one place to another, they still need to drive a truck on their own. (Companies that invest a lot to driverless vehicles are going to cry.)

Second, at the end of the story, a huge firing pin needs to be artificially pushed in order to light the fire that could burn the Jupiter. The rescue team call for help all around the world because they couldn’t successfully place the firing pin into the right position. A large number of people from different countries respond to the call and came to help, and they line up and push other’s back to move the pin. Personally, I think since this is a sci-fi movie, they should have some kind of machine to thrust the firing pin efficiently.

If you can find the answers to the problems above in the book, the following question may be the negligence of the director.

For example, the relationship between Liu Qi, the main role, and his parents made me confused. Liu Qi hates his father Liu Peiqiang, who goes to the international space station when Liu Qi was 4 at the beginning of the movie. But when Liu Peiqiang is about to sacrifice himself, Liu Qi suddenly shows love to his father.

One of the successes that the film made is that it caused loads of discussions. I found a comment online that was amusing: Why did the smart programmer, Li Yiyi, still have bushy hair?

A friend of mine told me that some software has even introduced GPS with a voice of Moss, the artificial intelligence in the international space station in this film.

It occurs to me that it is important for a movie to advertise itself in order to let the public know.

“The Wandering Earth” had flaws, but it stands for a new genre in Chinese movies, and I am looking forward to seeing more!