No one was optimistic before the release, and it received 4.618 billion box office after the release.
As soon as it was mentioned before the release, "Domestic science fiction is also worthy?" ”； After the release, it will be evaluated, "The first year of Chinese science fiction movies has come!" ”
Remember, let's break the ball.
This beautiful counterattack curve is still a capital cool when revisited today.
Four years have passed.
Another New Year's Day, "The Wandering Earth 2" arrived as scheduled.
If you watch a small broken ball back then, you have more or less the boastful filter of your own family. So now looking at "Little Broken Ball 2.0", psychological expectations must be raised.
How to write a story? How good are the special effects? What are the improvements compared to the first part? ...... All kinds of question marks have been circling in my mind for a long time.
There are expectations and there are concerns.
Until—
Two days ago, finally, I got a glimpse of the real face.
For 173 minutes, my eyes locked on the big screen.
When the film ended, the moment spontaneous applause sounded, the mood was still difficult to calm down.
Good-looking, naturally good-looking!
But it's not a movie that can be crudely summed up with "exploded" or "awesome".
If I had to sum it up, it would be – 2 to 1 is more than a little better.
I believe this is the first feeling of the vast majority of viewers:
To be more specific:
First, the little broken ball has grown.
All-round upgrades visible to the naked eye, especially special effects, many grand scenes make me cry "lying groove"!
Second, the small breaking ball is still the little breaking ball.
The delicate emotions under the grand narrative, the romance unique to Chinese science fiction, the insignificance and sparkle of human beings... Again and again it hit me deeply in the heart.
It also makes me believe that in the past four years, it has not been easy, but there are always people who are constantly walking and doing what Chinese science fiction should do.
The first ten minutes of "The Wandering Earth 2" shocked my eyes with extreme speed.
What big move?
Space elevator.
As one of the most classic sci-fi elements, space elevators have long existed in words and imagination.
This is the first time it has appeared in a Chinese science fiction movie.
When the elevator car soars into the air at an instantaneous speed, it rushes straight into the sky and across the heavens and the earth.
Human beings' desire to live, the struggle against destiny, and the search for hope all jumped up and exploded the universe.
With the agitated BGM, I got goosebumps under the big screen.
Only then did I realize how vivid Li Bai wrote five thousand years ago that "soaring to 90,000 li" and "still being able to run through the waters."
Cool, right?
Hold your horses.
If I say, this is just an appetizer for The Wandering Earth 2, can you believe it?!
Just to solve a Jupiter's gravitational crisis, there were many explosion scenes.
In "The Wandering Earth 2", humans not only have to prevent the space elevator from being blown up, but also face the crisis of falling to the moon, and also conduct ignition tests to prove the feasibility of the plan.
The grand scene of burning money comes more and more ferociously:
Buildings collapse, aerial bombardments, huge waves, meteorite attacks...
The space station of Rushan fell with a bang, and my heart was tight; Countless "bolides" rained down, and people subconsciously dodged.
With the upgrade of special effects visible to the naked eye, the audiovisual sensation has also taken a leap.
But grandiose scenes aren't the only ones.
You can feel that the sci-fi scenes and even all the sci-fi elements in the movie are not only more magnificent, but also more "documentary".
How realistic is it?
When I saw the Ark space station and heard the line "an engine can be built on the moon", it was not unusual, I just took it for granted!
Our infrastructure maniac, where can we not engage in infrastructure!
This is the most sci-fi thing about "The Wandering Earth 2" - not only the big scenes with high concepts and subversive imagination, but also the rich and solid world view with realistic scenes and massive details.
The crew specially invited 20 scientific consultants to form an expert team to jointly write a world view of more than 100,000 words.
It not only makes the story more solid, but also ensures that the entire sci-fi system can withstand scrutiny.
Take the space elevator.
It is not all done by special effects as imagined, but is presented using real shooting + special effects.
The basic styling language comes from the "planetary engine", and in order to make the launch process look magnificent and realistic, the director and the team have done a lot of research, from the base to the connection port operation method has been carefully designed.
After a series of work was done, the director said excitedly-
"I don't shoot elevators anymore"
More than these big scenes, big tools.
The team picks out the details, which is even more amazing.
For example, the spacesuit that has been designed and improved is more textured, almost every group show has its own shape, and even the flashing logo is exquisite.
There is also a design that I really like - a robot dog that is less daring than a human, and every time he appears, he has his own laughter.
From large to small, from macro to partial, everywhere is done finely and carefully, naturally more real and felt.
What is a visual spectacle?
It is to convince us that what we see is reality.
Science fiction is the history of the future.
At the end of "The Wandering Earth", Liu Peiqiang (played by Wu Jing) incarnated as the match that lit Jupiter, escorting the earth and human beings with his life.
At that time, I saw tears raging, and then I wondered: Liu Peiqiang sacrificed, how to make a sequel?
Now the answer comes -
"The Wandering Earth 2" as a prequel, revolves around the story before "The Wandering Earth".
At that time, the solar crisis was about to break out, the engine of ten thousand planets had not yet risen, and human beings had just started all-round self-help.
Liu Peiqiang is still a young man in the second secondary school and has just joined the "Moving Mountains Program".
Following in his footsteps, we walked into the Ark space station.
It was also through his eyes that he saw a series of large-scale conflicts detonated by opponents of the Moving Mountain Plan.
The Moving Mountains Project, the predecessor of the familiar "Wandering Earth Project".
By building a planetary engine, take the Earth with you to your new home 2,500 years later.
Most of the opponents support the "Digital Life Project" - uploading people's memories and part of their consciousness to the digital life world, so as to achieve a sense of "immortality".
Since its inception, the Digital Life Project has faced great controversy:
Are cyberhumans real people?
When a person is not limited by the flesh and can "live forever", how can ta be restrained?
Due to a deep moral crisis, the Digital Life program was banned. But for some, it still has a strong appeal.
They do not necessarily pursue their own eternal life, but rather want to continue the life of the person they love the most.
Architect Tu Hengyu (Andy Lau) is one of them.
In the last moments of his daughter Yaya's life, Tu Hengyu chose to preserve her consciousness.
Gradually, his thoughts became stronger and stronger-
"Yaya's life is only two minutes, I want to give her a complete life."
Because of his obsession with loving children, what decision will Tu Hengyu make?
Obviously, compared to the first part, "The Wandering Earth 2" not only spans a longer timeline, but also faces more and more complex crises:
On the one hand, there are existential threats from nature's oppression, and on the other hand, human differences, doubts and conflicts themselves.
One choice after another is ahead, and the fate of mankind is also being rewritten again and again.
If it were you, how would you decide?
It is worth mentioning that the characters of "The Wandering Earth 2" are all fresh and plump and can stand.
There is no blind elevation or debasement, everyone has their own persistence and confusion, dedication and calculation, strength and vulnerability.
Under the grand narrative, people and emotions remain constant anchors.
In the face of extreme disasters, human desire, courage and small hopes to live have gathered together to give birth to endless strength.
And this group spiritual power is pinned on the expression of individual emotions.
For example, two fathers who cannot give up their family affection.
Liu Peiqiang participated in the selection of astronauts, initially had no great ambitions, just to fight for a glimmer of life for his family.
Tu Hengyu took a desperate risk, just to give his daughter a "complete life".
The two seem to have no intersection, but they feel the same suffering and pay the same blood and tears.
The transmission of emotions does not require lengthy confessions or large paragraphs of sensationalism.
All it takes is a pair of red eyes, and a sentence of "I miss you, especially want to"...
All the emotional relationships in the film are laid out in a real and moving way: family affection, love, comradeship, mentor-apprentice love...
Many times, that emotional tension penetrated the screen and grabbed my heart fiercely.
In addition to nasal acidity, I feel more deeply:
The flash of light bursting out of small human beings makes the grandeur of the universe the background, and also makes the icy laws of the universe have a temperature.
Four years on, why are so many people still looking forward to "The Wandering Earth 2"?
Sha Yi's words may be the answer of many people——
"When I was a child, watching science fiction movies was mainly watching Hollywood, just like I used to watch other people's children holding 'Transformers' in their hands, and I only had a 'small wooden gun'. But now I can proudly say that our movie is like 'Transformers' and I don't have to envy others anymore." ”
Once, we were excited to finally have an excellent domestic science fiction movie. Even the destruction of landmarks has successfully integrated with the world.
And today, we can say with certainty:
Of all science fiction movies, the little broken ball is unique.
Not only does it have stunning visual wonders, but it also has a culture and romance rooted in this soil.
In many Hollywood science fiction films, people's first choice in the face of disaster is usually to abandon their home and escape and change to a planet as a shelter.
For them, Earth is just one of the interstellar journeys, where not to rest?
"The Wandering Earth" is full of confidence and says: We can take the earth to survive together!
This land complex that belongs to Chinese culture, combined with sci-fi narrative, is both fresh and easily connected with the audience.
"The Wandering Earth 2" still has a different spiritual core from ordinary sci-fi films:
There is no individual hero who saves the world, only the self-redemption of humanity in the face of desperate circumstances.
For the vast universe, the earth is just a lonely "grain", and for human beings, this "little white dot with a long tail" is all.
In the face of disaster, suspicion, entanglement, conflict, and struggle are inevitable.
But only unity can heal the broken femur and continue the fire of human civilization.
"MOSS, can humans survive?"
When Liu Peiqiang raised this soul question, I believe that he already had the answer in his heart——
Even if the effort is only slush, no matter how dangerous and parting there are on the way forward.
But, "I choose hope." ”
If the little broken ball has brought you surprises and hopes for domestic sci-fi movies, then rest assured, "The Wandering Earth 2" will never disappoint you.
In my opinion, it really surpasses its predecessor - not only the upgrade of special effects, but also the leap of imagination and the accumulation of emotions.
and, the further opening of the pattern.
When I heard that "the biggest obstacle to survival is never weakness, but arrogance", I was empowered for a while.
From evoking empathy to provoking thought, the little broken ball really came out.
In the past four years, in addition to the official announcement and recent material releases, "The Wandering Earth 2" has always been very low-key.
Seeing that it is about to be officially released, tap water is in a hurry to publish love bags...
Feel relieved.
For more than a thousand days and nights, Guo Fan and the creative team did not stop for a moment.
In terms of the construction of the world view alone, in addition to inviting a team of experts to check, many new technologies have been combined into the movie.
For example, 3D printing technology is used to make props.
Guo Fan attaches great importance to "diversity".
He seeks to increase the information density of films—whether it is audiovisual presentation, narrative efficiency, emotional expression.
Only when the information density is high enough can every detail withstand the audience's deep digging, and every frame can withstand the test of the big screen.
The data speaks for itself –
At that time, "The Wandering Earth" had more than 2,000 special effects shots, which was regarded as a great challenge and surprise.
In "The Wandering Earth 2", there are more than 6,000 visual effects lenses!
And also:
102 main scenes of science fiction, with a setting area of more than 900,000 square meters.
5,310 concept designs, 9,989 split-shot drawings, and 95,000 props and costumes.
The long production cycle, the amount of work, and the high difficulty of sci-fi films are all self-evident.
However, no matter how difficult it is, someone must always do what Chinese science fiction movies should do.
Guo Fan's exploration is not only self-improvement, but also through continuous exploration, he truly explores and shares a set of efficient and feasible industrialization processes.
There was an interview that impressed me.
Guo Fan said that during the filming of "The Wandering Earth 2", more than 20 interns from the Beijing Film Academy entered the crew.
What are they responsible for?
Not filming footage or recording the introduction.
Instead, the error is logged.
"We must write down the mistakes we have made, and then review them, so that we can continue to accumulate experience in film industrialization and let more students and more peers use them."
This seemingly small but crucial record reflects Guo Fan's thirst for progress and respect for the audience.
It is also a heartfelt love for Chinese science fiction movies.
I think this is the essence of why audiences are looking forward to "The Wandering Earth 2".
We know that the good of small broken balls never relies on boasting, nor will we be satisfied with previous successes.
It only conquers the audience with real progress, real works.
Four years ago, Little Broken Ball single-handedly set sail for Chinese science fiction movies.
And where it was filmed, even "Grandpa" Wu Mengda was not sure what this movie could be made. But gradually, he understood. He said that making this kind of film in his lifetime can see the development of Chinese science fiction films, which is "worth it."
Four years later, "The Wandering Earth 2" is already expected to break through the ceiling of domestic sci-fi movies.
When I saw Uncle Da's voice and smile again on the big screen, I saw the words "I would like to dedicate this film to Mr. Wu Mengda" at the end of the film... The tears really couldn't help but instantly burst into my eyes.
Look, technology can also have temperature and shine with humanity.
Guo Fan once said that he hopes that more children can see science fiction films in our own cultural background, "planting a seed of imagination in our hearts."
Now, with the company of all audiences, that seed has slowly sprouted in the continuous progress and exploration.
On the big screen, we are waiting for us to continue to water.
I believe that one day we will see -
Flowers hang all over the branches.