"The Wandering Earth 2": The romance of the fool moving mountains

As the most anticipated movie in this year's Spring Festival, "The Wandering Earth 2" has lived up to my expectations in the past four years:

It surpasses the first film in almost all aspects, to have scenes, to have visual effects, to have patterns, to act with acting skills, and even the laughs are solid and interesting, but what surprised me the most was its faithful fulfillment of the emotional theme.

What should be the landing point of a science fiction work? It can be a variety of whimsy that transcends reality, or it can be a new stove that subverts the virtual reality, and "The Wandering Earth 2" proves that its landing point can also be love, people, and romance that can transcend all obstacles.

There are too many points that can be talked about in this film, and the second brush must be arranged, and today's article will talk about some of the places that I feel the most.

[Reminder: There will be spoilers below.] 】

The first thing that "scared" me about "The Wandering Earth 2" was its comprehensive upgrade in special effects, pictures, and scenes, not only bigger, finer and stronger, but also knew how to "hide" very well, and strictly let technology serve the story.

Taking the 2044 space elevator crisis in the first large part of the film as an example, both coarse and fine aspects are well balanced: first from the perspective of Zhang Peng and Liu Peiqiang's master and apprentice, slowly cut into the planetary engine under construction in the quasi-apocalyptic world, and after a glimpse of the industrial behemoth, an epic sci-fi long shot of the connection between ground and space was installed, and then there were three fifth-generation aircraft-led fighters and drones in the exciting air battle, and finally ended with the crash of the space station.

In these climactic scenes, the details have obviously exploded, but the camera has still focused on the characters and stories, and the hardware part has not had any chance to win the master, and the quality control is really first-class.

In fact, the implementation of the month-by-month plan and the lunar crisis also have corresponding excellent performances, but the audience's attention is further focused on the characters and plot advancement, so this feeling of "heavy sword without edge, big trick without success" is weaker.

Another point that impressed me about "The Wandering Earth 2" is its various deconstructions and tributes to "The Wandering Earth", and there are many call backs, or call futures for the first part.

For example, when the space elevator fights, Han Duoduo's temporarily modified combat robotic arm makes us understand how her son Liu Qi's mechanical talent and enlightenment came about (Wang Zhi's interpretation reminds people that she was a beater who practiced martial arts before "Qiu Ya"), and her Shanghainese dialect when she was in a hurry also reminds people of where Han Ziang's hometown is.

Ma Zhao yelled at Tu Hengyu "You can solve a fart without hardware", which is very similar to the old He Roar Li Yiyi in "The Wandering Earth", both containing the pride and pampering of the old technician to the younger generation, not to mention the obvious memes such as the lunar crisis paying tribute to the Jupiter crisis.

Wu Mengda starred in Han Ziang again with a digital image, which is the laughter and tears of many people, and the little girl who received Liu Peiqiang's apple, Han Duoduo, an orphan girl adopted by Han Ziang in the future... Coupled with the reuse and remake of many lines and scenes, the two films are firmly connected.

In addition, the laughter of the film has always been close to the characters and the background of the story, I like the dialogue in the Paris command center, a Chinese wondered "no moon can not pass the Mid-Autumn Festival", the white colleague next door said that as long as there is meat stuffed mooncakes to eat, the two are also involved in the grounded "north-south taste dispute", just a few words, it reflects the continuous elimination of the border between the country, the nation and the culture in 2058, which is much more advanced than the later Tu Hengyu complaining that "Beijing's housing prices have finally fallen" - of course, The latter one made me laugh even louder.

Next, let's talk about the plot of "The Wandering Earth 2".

The film is an obvious 1+1+1 structure, which is the space elevator crisis, the month-by-month planning event and the lunar crisis, and the third crisis contains three phases of climax of the moon planting a nuclear bomb, cracking the nuclear bomb code, and restoring the global Internet.

It can be seen that "The Wandering Earth 2" is very full, many viewers who have seen it will feel that the film is a little bloated, if the content of more than 170 minutes is richer, even if it is split into two or three movies, it is no problem... If there is anything wrong with this film, it is that the sense of rhythm and concentration is not as "top" as the first one.

But this point is also understandable and helpless, because director Guo Fan and the original author Liu Cixin reached an agreement: to make the most difficult and realistic sci-fi film, that is, a solid and testable chronicle work.

Therefore, the thickness and amount of information of "The Wandering Earth 2" is a whole order of magnitude higher than the first part, and "The Wandering Earth" looks more like part of its chronicle.

Liu Peiqiang is indeed a better choice for the protagonist, but after all, he is only a first-line soldier, and he cannot cover "The Wandering Earth 2" in terms of thickness, breadth and depth, so he needs another protagonist, Tu Hengyu, to join.

That said, I rewatched "The Wandering Earth" again some time ago and confirmed that my favorite thing is the unity and unity conveyed in the film, but this is precisely the most "sci-fi" part of the movie, because it is almost impossible for humans to break through the countless barriers and barriers between each other, "The Wandering Earth 2" shows this reality, specifically the "Digital Life Project" that is-for-tat with the "Moving Mountains Project" - and Tu Hengyu is a strong supporter and executor of the plan.

Although the film does not go too deep in showing human conflicts, the "Digital Life Project" has gained a foothold in the "Wandering Earth Project".

Now, it's time to talk about the theme of "The Wandering Earth 2" that touched me the most, that is, the love hidden in each of our hearts and inseparable from others.

Through three distinct inheritances and companionship, the film concretely and subtly explains the spiritual theme.

The first is Liu Peiqiang's family. When Liu Peiqiang first appeared, he said that "my going to heaven is equal to the whole family going to heaven", indicating that Liu Peiqiang is alone, and Zhang Peng also joked that he should not find a partner and not have children - at the time of the "quasi-apocalypse", unmarriage and infertility have become the mainstream choice for everyone, which proves that many human beings have a negative attitude towards the future.

But Liu Peiqiang soon saw Han Duoduo, and then the two irrepressibly fell in love, married, and had children, and in 2058, Liu Peiqiang applied for the Pilot Space Station with a more positive attitude, because he loved his wife and he wanted to strive for a chance for his son to live.

This is the most common, simple, and understandable common sentiment of people, and Liu Peiqiang used his family experience to prove that "civilization without people is meaningless."

Then there is Tu Hengyu's persistence.

Also in order to "give the child a complete life", Tu Hengyu has much fewer choices, after the physical death of his daughter, he must and can only choose the digital life plan, whether the plan is prohibited in the legal sense or not, he must work hard to carry it on and can sacrifice everything for it.

Unlike others, Tu Hengyu's desire to "flesh and blood is weak and mechanical to soar" not only relies heavily on the computing power of computer updates and iterations, but also redefines time and life, but no matter how the form and meaning change, what will never change is the father's inseparable love for his daughter.

Finally, Zhou Zhezhi's courage and demeanor.

To be honest, Mr. Li Xuejian does not appear much in "The Wandering Earth 2", but his scenes are often the most pointed.

Lines such as "unity has a price", "In the current crisis, only responsibility" and "There is no fairness in the world", combined with his appearance, I can't help but think of our prime minister who has no heirs, Zhou Zhezhi boldly gave the right to speak in UEG to Hao Xiaoxi, and at the end of the film, Hao Xiaoxi also gave the power to Xiaozhang, and the significance of the inheritance is self-evident.

Only such old people say, "I believe, my children will believe, my children's children will believe, I believe that I will see the blue sky again, and flowers will be hung all over the branches." , it will make people convincing and moving.

To be honest, it is difficult to believe in the spirit of foolishness moving mountains in the current world, and human beings are often indifferent to even the current world, let alone the world in 100 years, 300 years or even more distant in the future... But this does not prevent "The Wandering Earth 2" from using the most romantic language of our history and culture to tell a hope that will take 100 generations and 2500 years to achieve.

I love the only romance under the sun.

Finally, one more sentence, the chronicle creation of "The Wandering Earth 2" has begun to take shape, 2044 space elevator crisis, 2058 lunar crisis, 2075 Jupiter crisis, 2078 solar helium flash crisis have been arranged, through Easter eggs can also know that at this time there are three "intelligent creatures" on the earth at the same time: humans, artificial intelligence (self-evolving AI), digital new humans (digital life, uploaded intelligence)... The stage has been set up, and the future is promising.

Therefore, in the end, I hope that "The Wandering Earth 2" will be a box office hit, Guo Fan has already said that as long as you don't lose money, you can make a third one, and I want to see more such sci-fi movies.