Before "The Wandering Earth", there was no real hard sci-fi movie in China. Once it succeeds, it will fill the gap of Chinese sci-fi movies and usher in the true spring of "the first year of Chinese sci-fi movies".
Fortunately, the day has finally come.
From today, China finally has hard science fiction films, and finally has excellent hard science fiction films.
"The Wandering Earth" is first of all imaginative, and the settings in the novel and film are imaginative, which fully reflects the wisdom of Liu Cixin, as well as the film director and screenwriter.
The background of the story takes place in the future. The sun is rapidly aging and will continue to expand, engulfing the entire earth.
However, with the existing technology of mankind, it is impossible for billions of people around the world to take a spacecraft to find a new home, so what should we do?
As a result, human beings have spent all their resources and built 12,000 "planetary engines" around the world.
Each planetary engine is as high as 11 kilometers and will provide a total of 150 trillion tons of thrust for the earth, turning the earth itself into a giant spacecraft and driving the earth out of the solar system.
The entire immigration process will last 2,500 years and 100 generations.
In 2,500 years, Earth will be parked in the orbit of Proxima Centauri, a satellite 4.2 light-years away.
This kind of creativity is quite breathtaking, and it is very rare in science fiction and science fiction movies.
There are tens of thousands of movies and novels about disasters and doomsday. People's solutions are either to build Noah's Ark, or to find a new home through spaceships, etc. However, such as "The Wandering Earth", let the earth and the people of the earth escape together The creativity is the first time.
What's more, "The Wandering Earth" was published as early as 2000, which is enough to prove that Liu Cixin is forward-looking.
Some people may think "The Wandering Earth" is like "Interstellar" or other movies, but the novel "The Wandering Earth" was published 19 years ago.
And "Interstellar" is the protagonist riding a spaceship to find a new home, "Wandering Earth" is to turn the earth into a spaceship and let the entire earth migrate to Centaur. The two ideas are completely different.
The "Wandering Earth" movie not only restores the scenes in the novel, but also the special effects are very real, which belongs to the top level of domestic films.
For example, the planetary engine presented in the movie is very hard-core, which perfectly interprets what is called "hard science fiction".
The full power start of 12,000 planetary engines is even more magnificent, exactly the same as the description in the novel.
From where I live, I can see beams of plasma spewing from hundreds of engines. You imagine a gigantic palace, the size of the temple on the Acropolis, in which there are innumerable giant pillars, each of which glows blue and white like a giant fluorescent tube. And you, a germ on the floor of that huge palace, so you can imagine what my world is like.
If you are a fan of Liu Cixin's books, if you have read "The Wandering Earth", and now you really see the planetary engine on the big screen, what kind of moving and satisfying it is!
The planetary engine drives the earth to set sail, and the wake of the earth is clearly visible, just like a spaceship roaming between the universe.
Because it is far away from the sun, the earth's surface has been covered with ice and snow. Whether it is Beijing or Shanghai, it is covered with ice and snow for thousands of miles. Therefore, human beings have to move to underground cities.
On the surface, the CCTV Headquarters Building, Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Olympic Building and other landmark buildings stand still, giving people a strong sense of intimacy.
After the "Wandering Earth" project was launched, people also built the International Space Station as a pathfinder for the Earth.
(The "Navigator" space station is an original film, not in the original novel.)
The human launch of the spacecraft, the docking of the spacecraft to the International Space Station, and the astronauts in distress in space are all remarkable, which are very rare in domestic films.
When the earth passed Jupiter, Jupiter captured the earth's atmosphere, as if to swallow the earth, which is even more astounding. Not only domestic films, but few films in the world can see such a scene.
The earth is affected by Jupiter's gravity and produces a big earthquake, and the earth shakes and shatters in an instant, reminiscent of the end of the world presented in "2012".
The following Jupiter airflow hit the earth to form the top of Mount Tai is also spectacular, and it is hard to believe that this was photographed by the Chinese.
In addition, the protagonist carries a heavy machine gun and shoots the bulletproof glass of the building, people escape from death in the building that is about to collapse, repair and restart the planetary engine, and gradually push from the earth's ground to the International Space Station. All represent the highest level of Chinese film industry.
If special effects determine the lower limit of a sci-fi film, then the plot is to determine its upper limit.
"The Wandering Earth" not only has excellent visual effects, but also the plot does not hold back.
The "Wandering Earth" plan is not smooth sailing. People have far underestimated Jupiter's gravity. Affected by the increase in Jupiter's gravity, the earth will hit Jupiter more than 30 hours later.
Some say it is a doomed rescue.
So, can human beings survive this catastrophe, and how can they overcome and resist this catastrophe?
The novel "The Wandering Earth" has four chapters, and the film focuses on the last paragraphs of the second chapter, about the plot of "the intersection of earth and wood".
The novel only took 6 paragraphs to write the meeting of the earth and wood, and the movie expanded these 6 paragraphs and became the main plot of the whole movie.
From the earth about to hit Jupiter, to Liu Qi coming up with a way to ignite Jupiter;
From people needing to manually achieve the "strike pin", to people nearby all helping out;
From the insufficient height of the flame ejected by the planetary engine, to Liu Peiqiang sacrificing himself to save the earth...
These are not in the original novel, but the original plot of the movie.
The movie has several "unexpected, reasonable" reversals. The crises that people face in the movie and the methods they use to resolve them are very innovative. In the process, it also has both burning points and tears.
The best thing is the idea of "Ignite Jupiter". Jupiter's hydrogen and Earth's oxygen can be ignited is a very easy to understand theory, very close to real life, there is no threshold, whether you are a science student or a liberal arts student can easily understand.
Although there is no scene of igniting Jupiter in the novel, the changes (or expansions) in the movie are very clever, and I can accept it as a fan of the book.
The way people use the "walking ball" twice to avoid attacks is also very creative.
And after Liu Peiqiang shed tears, the scene where the tears floated in the air because of weightlessness is also very heartfelt, tragic and full of romance at the same time.
Anyone who has read the novel should know that the film only filmed the first two chapters of the novel, "The Age of Brakes" and "The Age of Escape."
It is understandable to do so. If the film has completed all four chapters, it may not be able to finish the four novels.
After watching the movie, the director also said that there will be a monument at the end of the movie, which is full of photos of sacrificed soldiers, but the special effects were not completed in a hurry, so they had to reluctantly delete it. If there was a sequel to The Wandering Earth, he put the monument at the beginning of the film.
By saying this, he also hinted that there might be a sequel.
In the novel, "I" participated in the Olympic Games and met Yamabin Kayoko, the space fleet used lasers and nuclear bombs to clear the large rocks on the earth's route, rebellion, the explosion of the sun's helium flash... These plots hope to be seen in the sequel.
Since the movie has Wu Jing as a special star, many people compare "The Wandering Earth" with "Wolf Warrior 2". In fact, if you look closely, you will find that the two movies are very different.
First of all, "Wolf Warrior 2" is about individual heroism, while "Wandering Earth" emphasizes more on the collective.
If Liu Qi wants to ignite Jupiter, he cannot do it alone, and a programmer and Lao He need to replace the main program of the planetary engine;
Wang Lei wants to "strike the needle", and it is not enough to rely on him alone, and dozens or hundreds of people are required to drive the planetary engine together;
If Liu Peiqiang wants to detonate the space station, he can't do it alone, but also with the bottle of wine given to him by another astronaut;
Lao He replaced the main program at the last moment of his life, and then died calmly;
Even Tim (Sui Kai), the most greedy foreigner, risked his life to rescue Liu Qi. A person who has always been afraid of death and dares to sacrifice, how much courage does it take?
In "Wolf Warrior 2", Leng Feng basically completed the feat of saving the Chinese by himself, and "Wandering Earth" saving the earth is the result of the joint efforts of everyone, including but not limited to restarting the rescue team of 12,000 planetary engines around the world. Team members, volunteers from various relief stations, and people who gave up their lives and returned to help propel the planetary engine, and so on.
"The Wandering Earth" not only lacks personal heroism, but also has many "anti-individualism" and "anti-theme" bridges, such as the much-criticized "Made in China" segment in the trailer was deleted.
For example, Liu Qi, Wang Lei and others went through untold hardships to restart the steering engine, and several people died on the way, but when they arrived, they found that someone else had already completed this task, and they came late.
In the past movies, the protagonist worked hard and succeeded. In "The Wandering Earth", the protagonist worked hard, but there were others who worked harder and moved faster.
Another example is Liu Qi's idea of "igniting Jupiter" to let the earth escape from Jupiter's gravity. As a result, Moss said that others have already thought of this method, but the success rate is zero.
Another example is that the programmer wants to replace the main program of the planetary engine. As a result, the progress bar will not move when it reaches 99%, and the last step has to be done manually...
"The Wandering Earth" is by no means a simple "problem-solving" routine, but after people figure out a solution, they will always face new problems. When they solve new problems, they will face new problems again. The problem……
After twists and turns, thousands of turns, overcoming many difficulties can save the earth.
"Wolf Warrior 2" is mainly about force, while "Wandering Earth" has no fighting, focusing on strategy and wisdom.
This kind of film that emphasizes plot, content, brainpower, and strategy cannot be equated with action films like "Wolf Warrior 2".
Just from the fact that Leng Feng is still alive in "Wolf Warrior 2", and Liu Peiqiang finally died in "The Wandering Earth", there are essential differences between the two films.
On the other hand, the film also launched an exploration of reunion, family affection, and love, conveying the concept of "no matter how difficult it is, you have to go home", and also used "Earth Wandering" to express the special feelings of people on earth for their hometown, reflecting the It is the spirit that people will never abandon their hometown no matter what.
If you immigrate to a new planet, no matter how good the environment is, it will not be the original Earth. So, people decided to take the earth with them.
There's even a frozen whale that swims so far to get home.
In the first half of the movie, the relationship between Han Zian and Han Duoduo was not revealed until the end. It turned out that Han Duoduo was pushed above the water surface by countless hands in the tsunami, and everyone under the water surface was her parents.
There are countless "Handuoduo" in the world, they are the continuation of the victims' lives and the hope for the future of the earth.
At first, people sacrificed themselves to save Han Duoduo, and now Han Duoduo has also called people to work together to restart the planetary engine through the broadcast, which has become a cycle.
If there is a cause, there will be an effect. To save others is to save oneself.
As for some people who say that science fiction films should talk about science fiction, instead of focusing on "family" and "love".
However, whether it is "Interstellar" or "Artificial Intelligence", whether it is "Inception" or "Star Wars", whether it is "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" or "Back to the Future", which one doesn't talk about "family"?
Whether it is "Robot Story" or "Avatar", whether it is "Transformers" or "Source Code", whether it is "Terminator" or "Machine Butler", which one doesn't talk about "love"?
Including the popular space film "First Man on the Moon" some time ago, although it is not a sci-fi film, it also runs through the whole film with "family", and even most of Disney's films will focus on "family", and now there are several commercial films that can be completely separated. "family"?
Finally, I would like to commend the special effects of the novel "The Wandering Earth" at the end of the credits.
Marvel has a page-turning title for comics, and "The Wandering Earth" also has a page-turning ending for a novel.
In the future, movies adapted from Liu Cixin's novels can have such an ending, or put it at the beginning, which will become a symbol of Liu Cixin's films.
In general, this "China's first hard science fiction movie" gave us a satisfactory answer.
The release of "The Wandering Earth" means the official launch of Chinese science fiction movies, and it also means that Chinese movies have reached new heights.
Just as the earth has embarked on a wandering journey, Chinese science fiction fans have wandered for far too long.
Now we are finally no longer wandering, because just today, the "first year of Chinese science fiction movies" has finally come, and we finally have hard science fiction movies.
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