Domestic sci-fi top stream returns! "The Wandering Earth 2" has become a Spring Festival file king fried, which is worth savoring

Throughout the Spring Festival in 2023, dragons fight tigers and phoenixes, such a wonderful formation, in recent years, Chinese mainland theaters are quite rare.

Among them, there is a bright star lying - four years ago, its predecessor ignited the box office of 4.687 billion yuan with its modest power of not being favored, and pushed open the door to China's independent science fiction films. Four years later, its sequel returned strongly with the expectations of thousands of audiences, and once again came to the Spring Festival file with a new mature attitude, once again becoming a presence that cannot be ignored among many strong films.

In the first few days of screening, the rave reviews and singing box office figures all the way have highlighted the unshakable top status of this domestic sci-fi IP. After watching it, we believe that this "The Wandering Earth 2", created by director Guo Fan and a team of thousands of people for four years, is undoubtedly worth savoring in depth.

(The following will contain some key plot spoilers, please read them as appropriate)

Technology and people are an eternal proposition that cannot be avoided

To do science fiction films, there is undoubtedly a threshold. Different from the technical threshold in the public's understanding, the biggest threshold of science fiction films is actually the film itself's display and understanding of the relationship between technology and human beings - without such a theme, the definition of so-called science fiction will often fall into a hollow blockbuster made of special effects garbage.

Four years ago, "The Wandering Earth" has already proved to us that the team led by director Guo Fan is not aiming to create another perfunctory work that draws a scoop according to the gourd. They burned the last ounce of energy not only to create a spectacle for Chinese science fiction that audiences could not believe they had to witness, but also to demonstrate their ambitions in the discussion of technology and human topics.

And now the return of "The Wandering Earth 2" has allowed us who have raised our viewing expectations several times to once again refresh the highest level of cognition of Chinese science fiction films: magnificent future battles, serious survival philosophy, cold technical perspective - all of which are highlighting the extraordinary temperament of "The Wandering Earth 2" with strength and ambition.

As the first IP of Chinese science fiction movies, "The Wandering Earth 2" conducts an unprecedented in-depth discussion on the relationship between the intelligent technology represented by AI and human beings full of hope and courage. Take Andy Lau's Tu Hengyu as an example, he has struggled all his life only to bring a complete life to his daughter Yaya with the power of intelligent technology, which represents the action of human beings striving to achieve noble values with AI intelligent technology; And his self-"blockade" in the story finally in the 550W quantum computer is the manifestation of human refusal to be counter-clamped by technology.

Also at the end of the story, when Liu Peiqiang, played by Wu Jing, officially became the navigator and met the 550W quantum computer renamed "MOSS", his dialogue with MOSS also showed the courage and hope of human beings to work hard in the face of danger and never give up, and also echoed the ending in the first movie. The two lines of Tu Hengyu and Liu Peiqiang are intertwined, repeatedly showing the speculation between intelligent technology and humanistic needs, and I believe that this will also be the constant theme of the "The Wandering Earth" series in the future.

"To continue human civilization requires the destruction of mankind", the conclusion drawn by the cold quantum computer is often only for the sake of maximizing interests, and will not be biased towards any party involved in the outcome. However, in the midst of the crises created by MOSS, mankind has proved the saying with repeated struggles, "No civilization without meaning." ”

Just as philosophy is the history of philosophy, human beings are also human civilization itself—every inch of our flesh and blood, every morality and even ugliness, every thought and even desire we possess is the best proof of the survival of human civilization. Therefore, this is why the Wandering Earth Project is better than all other plans, even if it lasts 2,500 years and costs more than 100 generations.

However, in the face of absolute profit calculation, science and technology will not consider these - after all, even the national collective formed by human beings themselves must consider trust and operation issues when developing such a "killer technology" as nuclear weapons; But what is also shocking is that such a difficult problem was finally overcome by the spirit of human solidarity and faith across races and countries, at the cost of the lives of more than 200 astronauts over the age of fifty, crossing the technological divide dug by human hands. And we also have reason to believe that such tenacious human beings will continue to fight against the artificial technology intelligence represented by MOSS.

Technology-oriented, cool and warm colors of technology

Within a controllable scope, the purpose of all science and technology should always be to serve mankind. In the context of "The Wandering Earth 2", technology shows two tones of cold and warm colors in and outside the play.

In the plot, similar to the classic sci-fi movie "The Matrix" on the way human civilization survives, the MOSS in the two "The Wandering Earth" before and after has made a verdict of destruction for mankind; And in the face of crisis after crisis, human performance is not as vulnerable as MOSS expected, but more and more united, more and more tenacious, surpassing every warning crisis with willpower beyond machine calculation.

It's a pity that the ever-evolving and iterative intelligent technology will not stop, and the difficulties they set for human beings are not over - at the end of this film, we see that just a few years after the first "The Wandering Earth" Jupiter's gravitational crisis event, future human beings will usher in another challenge - the solar helium flash crisis in 2078. The crises set by MOSS are like the difficulties on the road to learning from the scriptures, testing the earth and human beings on the long wandering road.

In this sense, the cold color reflected by science and technology, like the cold light reflected from the huge machinery and steel, helps human beings realize their self-worth while also examining every individual in civilization with absolute calmness.

But outside the play, the development of technology has put a warm arc on the film.

Li Xuejian, a people's performance artist who has been fighting nasopharyngeal cancer for many years, was severely damaged in his vocal cords when he appeared in "The Wandering Earth 2", but he adhered to the original intention and enthusiasm of a people's actor and worked hard to interpret the crucial role of Zhou Zhezhi. In the end, the film uses AI repair technology to restore the voice of teacher Li Xuejian in the film, so that his lines are presented to our ears in a familiar way. The use of this technology can not be described as the highlight without humanistic feelings.

Despite this, in the trailer and some emotional bridges, the film still uses the original voice of teacher Li Xuejian - the most representative place is the deafening "ignition", which saves all mankind and gives the future of the earth and human civilization another new opportunity.

In addition, Mr. Wu Mengda, who carries the feelings and sorrows of countless "Little Broken Ball" fans, also reappeared in this film with the help of CG repair technology. At the wedding of Liu Peiqiang and Han Duoduo, he who played Han Duoduo's father Han Ziang appeared in front of the audience with a face created by technical restoration, which caused an exclamation in the theater. Seeing Mr. Wu Mengda's role in the "The Wandering Earth" series again is not only the sincere wish of the main creator and the audience, but also the emotional miracle created by modern film technology.

The expression of home and country under human emotions and science fiction

According to our experience of watching science fiction films, the key to defining whether a story can become good science fiction is not only whether it is rigorous in the construction and setting of scientific worldview, but also whether its narrative core reflects or continues the universal values and emotions of human beings.

In fact, throughout the entire movie of "The Wandering Earth 2", it is not difficult to find that the whole film has a far-reaching feeling of the older generation to see the world. This feeling runs through the starlight, steel and sparks without leaving a trace, conveying the romance unique to human beings.

Take the biggest event in the whole film, the collapse of the lunar nuclear fusion, this seemingly necessary step for the earth's self-preservation actually touches the hearts of countless Chinese emotionally. Even the technical brother of the space station has to pretend to inadvertently joke with foreign colleagues about the Mid-Autumn Festival and mooncakes in order to bury his deep cultural attachment to the moon.

"Spring River Flower and Moon Night" has the poem "Life is endless for generations, and the river and the moon are similar every year", and the moon, which has placed countless Chinese sons and daughters on poetry since ancient times, must usher in a farewell to mankind in the face of the crisis of human survival. So represented by the senior astronaut Zhang Peng played by Sha Yi, they resolutely took over the responsibility of the younger generation, took the initiative to stand up, and accompanied the moon that had been waiting for thousands of years in Kyushu to complete the last shift.

In "The Wandering Earth 2", Chinese's exclusive feelings are not only expressed on the moon. In the film, when the international community is divided on which civilization survival plan to choose, Zhou Zhezhi, played by teacher Li Xuejian, as the decision-maker representing the Wandering Earth Plan, the vision of a great country he shows, including his idea of leaving a blue sky and flowers for his children and grandchildren and protecting the global community of common destiny, has become the emotional anchor of countless Chinese audiences. Because this kind of cooperation logic of reason, reasoning, inclusiveness and unity has always been familiar to each and every one of us.

At the same time, at the personal level, the way the characters of the film express their love is also a way that belongs to Chinese.

Liu Peiqiang's confession to Han Duoduo's flower sending seems subtle, but it is actually warm; And her comfort to him trapped on the sick bed is also the plain but powerful "I am here, all the time"; And Zhang Peng's way of expressing his concern for his apprentice at all times was just a few pokes in his head;

Looking at Tu Hengyu's father and daughter, under the emotional eruption of not seeing their "daughter" for 14 years, the words that Tu Hengyu sent to his mouth were only "Dad misses Yaya too much, especially wants, especially wants" - none of them in the film said a blatant "I love you", but the way to convey love can be perceived by every Chinese audience.

Chinese highly condensed feelings of home and country and subtle and timeless emotional expression constitute a bright background under the hardcore sci-fi of "The Wandering Earth 2". And this sense of identity shared by 1.4 billion Chinese people is the most important reason why the overall look and feel of "The Wandering Earth 2" is different from Hollywood American value blockbusters. The core of its story tells the logic of China in the treacherous and ever-changing international situation; Its character motivation follows every Chinese simple universal emotion.

In other words, "The Wandering Earth 2" is a real Chinese science fiction movie.

Thanks to the existence of "The Wandering Earth 2", let us once again witness the infinite possibilities of Chinese science fiction films. What is more precious is that the efforts and sweat of countless filmmakers represented by director Guo Fan and his team make us believe once again that the persistence and enthusiasm for dreams will be cherished in the end, and those who have hearts will not be burdened by heaven in the end.

Therefore, in this period of spring blossoming, we are willing to enter the theater with hope, hoping that there will be more such excellent films in the future, and take us to continue to appreciate the peaks ahead.