Professor Mark J. Williams review of the movie "The Wandering Earth II"

US scholar hails sci-fi blockbuster's 'spectacle' quality

 Xu Wei

17:37 UTC+8, 2023-02-09       

The Chinese science-fiction blockbuster "The Wandering Earth II" has been a box office sensation in both China and North America and also been widely acclaimed by sci-fi lovers since its release on January 22.

Professor Mark J. Williams, a film scholar at the Department of Film and Media Studies of Dartmouth College, talked about the movie's cinematography and hailed it "a very distinctive and successful" film during a recent e-mail interview with Shanghai Daily.

 

Q: What's your opinion of "The Wandering Earth II?"

A: To describe the film as spectacular is a vast understatement. The "spectacle" quality is quite extraordinary, to the extent that at times it can seem rather overwhelming or even relentless.

It is a very long film and, therefore, must meet many high standards to render with care intimate emotional and melodramatic character-driven stories within its epic global, even inter-galactic, saga of technology-centered power struggles to save the planet.

Indeed, the film plays almost like a very complex mini-series that you are invited to "binge" on in one sitting. The characters it chooses to focus on are relatable and yet gifted in distinctive and ultimately heroic ways. The film deserves its critical acclaim and its box office success.

 

Read the full article in https://www.shine.cn/