Review of The Wandering Earth II (2023) by Jluis_001 — 24 Apr 2023

Regardless of its financial accomplishments and the sheer voracity and scale of its purported targets, The Wandering Earth II - which is actually a prequel and not a sequel to the 2019 film - has several of the same problems that plagued its predecessor and that is primarily a lack of focus.

The Wandering Earth II, even with its three extensive and inconveniently long hours, can't make much sense of its mix of plot lines. Basically, they are all tangled and very poorly defined and this evidently takes away from its consistency and above all takes its toll on the entertainment.

In a case of cruel irony, this film proves that its worst flaw is precisely its size, cause it wants to be an immense experience, all about the spectacle, but it taints it with its own foolishness of saturating its plot with so much stuff that feels like filler, including the political touch, in a clear propagandistic push from its country of origin.

Its magnitude and ambition do not allow it to fall on deaf ears.

In terms of its capabilities, The Wandering Earth II manages to ensure that not everything is wasted, but that same scope forces it to be judged with more ferocity and therefore its results are far from being concrete and satisfactory.