I have long been looking forward to the adaptation of Da Liu's novel "The Wandering Earth", but I have a hundred worries in my heart, and I am afraid that this film, like "Three-Body Problem", will either abort or be bad.
When the premiere comment came out, there was a lot of applause, and it was suspected that it was a marketing promotion. On the first day of the new year, I queued up to pick up tickets at a cinema like the Spring Festival travel scene. After watching it for the first time, I could finally say with satisfaction: Five-star recommendation, exceeding expectations!
(This article contains some spoilers)
"Wandering Earth" is about the near future, when human beings discovered that the sun is about to be destroyed, so when the level of technology is not very developed and preparations are not very sufficient, they boldly implemented the "Wandering Earth" plan, building on the surface of the earth. The pusher, the story of propelling Earth to escape the solar system.
I feel that this setting is a bit similar to "Steampunk". Humans have slanted the technology tree for some reason. On the whole, there is a simple but spectacular and curious beauty, and the effect presented by the film has indeed achieved this. a feeling.
Chaotic dungeons, icy and snowy surface worlds, towering engine jets, a blue earth with a long tail passing over the surface of Jupiter... The apocalyptic wonders presented in this film are compared to those space operas Still very fresh.
In terms of plot, I have read a lot of Da Liu's novels before, and I know that Da Liu's works are characterized by rational thinking and grand atmosphere . Often a few words are the destruction of billions of people, or even how many cosmic civilizations.
For the film and television adaptation of the novel, some artistic reprocessing must be carried out due to considerations such as budget, technology, and audience acceptance. Before watching the film, how the director and screenwriter will adapt the novel, and whether it will be changed to rotten customs, is exactly what I worry about.
In the usual disaster films and sci-fi films, the most common and most criticized is the hero's personal heroism, or the hero's forced IQ disconnection, which is completely inconsistent with the style of Da Liu's works, and can even be said to run counter to it. Thankfully, the film does its best to avoid these pitfalls.
The only place where the film compares to personal heroism is probably the part where Wu Jing drives the spacecraft to ignite Jupiter. In addition, although the film 's perspective focuses on a few Chinese teams, it also reasonably explains what other people on the planet have done. .
E.g:
1. The rescue team played by Li Guangjie and others failed the final mission after being busy for a long time. It was the other teams who lived in the lines that completed the rescue mission.
2. When Wu Jing and Maozi astronauts realized that AI Moss had "defected" at the space station, and went to the main control room to stop the AI, Wu Jing's lines mentioned the explosion of other cabins, and there may be others who were also resisting the AI.
3. When the rescue team finally proposed a plan to ignite Jupiter, the coalition government said that the Israeli team had already thought of this plan, but the success rate was zero. (The conclusion is rounded up later)
As for the plot of Wu Jing driving the spacecraft to ignite Jupiter, it will definitely cause some controversy, such as whether it is too individualistic? Is it too unorganized and undisciplined? Is it too emotional?
In fact, Da Liu's original works are mainly about two themes, one of which is about the rationality and sensibility of human beings , especially in the extreme environment of life and death, even family and love are abandoned in human culture, and everyone has only one goal is to survive . The film is adapted here, and the characters are shaped with emotion, which is diametrically opposed to the original.
This kind of adaptation must be considered for the audience's acceptance. After all, a character who doesn't even care about the life and death of his relatives will definitely be disgusted by ordinary audiences. But having said that, I think this adaptation is also quite successful, especially the sentence that AI said after Wu Jing's sentimentality, "It is a luxury to keep human beings rational" , which is the finishing touch.
Da Liu's work has a grand narrative and a hard core technology, but it must be acknowledged that his character creation has shortcomings. The worldview of Da Liu's works has always been absolutely rational and ruthless, such as the "dark forest" law, cannibalism, etc., and a few emotional characters such as the Virgin Cheng Xin, who have been blackened by the three-body, not even the scum.
Liu Peiqiang, played by Wu Jing, can be regarded as the "successful version" of Cheng Xin. His willfulness did not destroy mankind, but instead saved mankind. However, "Wandering Earth" itself is a very bold plan. It is expected to take a hundred generations to complete. In just one or two generations, the problem of life and death such as Jupiter's gravity will appear. Who can guarantee the next one? Will the journey of more than 2,000 years be smooth sailing?
Is the essence of human nature rational or emotional? Rationality and sensibility, which one can we choose to save mankind? Da Liu and the director each gave different answers. In fact, no one knows the correct answer. This question can only be left to everyone to think about.
Another theme of Da Liu's original work is the weakness of human nature: infighting, suspicion, ignorance...
This theme manifests itself in the following episodes of the original book:
Shortly after the wandering of the earth, because of the harsh living environment, some people began to question whether the sun would really be destroyed, and a rebellion broke out, intending to regain control of the "earth spaceship" and return to the embrace of the sun. When the rebels captured the coalition government base and executed all the "wandering faction" dignitaries, all human beings witnessed the destruction of the sun with their own eyes, only to realize that the "wandering faction" had been wronged, and then set things right and wandered again.
This episode is obviously the influence of the "ten years of turmoil" on Da Liu's generation, which is reflected in their works.
Perhaps because of space reasons, perhaps because of the subject matter, the director did not shoot this section. However, at the end of the film, we can see a group of demonstrators dressed as "Red Guards" in the dungeon, shouting the slogan "We want sunshine", which is a slight mention of the original story. Maybe the film will make a sequel (if there is any) ) will fill in this paragraph.
In fact, this passage of the original book shocked readers no less than escaping from Jupiter, and an author like Da Liu who often appeared on station C (CCTV) personally speculates that his work may be easier to pass the trial, after all, China needs some decent The domestic science fiction films are already made. It is obvious that our aerospace strength is not bad, but there are still audiences who feel that the Chinese people appear in science fiction films with a "sense of disobedience". This is the after-effect of "cultural aggression", comrades.
Of course, this film is not completely without its flaws, and a few sensational speeches are quite weak. Especially that Han Duoduo (played by Zhao Jinmai), the character itself is quite good, and finally it was sensational. On the one hand, I feel that there is too much nonsense, and it is annoying to be long-winded at a critical juncture. On the other hand, it may be that the actors are relatively young, and they have insufficient acting experience and line skills. They do not have the appeal of that kind of speech.
Finally, let’s talk about the values of the film. For various reasons, whether it is patriotic marketing or promoting the main theme, the Wolf Warrior PTSD patients started to spray all kinds of things during the promotion period of “Wandering Earth”. In fact, after watching this film, I didn’t I think this movie is so obscene.
Of course, there is no need to say more about the blockbusters in Hollywood. The movies made by Americans are usually Americans saving the world. It is the turn of the Chinese to make movies. There is nothing wrong with the protagonists being Chinese. Besides, the movie also mentions the joint cooperation of all human beings. plot, not to mention that we did not lick our faces to let the officials of the coalition government speak Chinese. However, since the Chinese are making movies, it is a bit unreasonable for the whole world to speak English, so Maozi's teammates have to support the scene.
The film promotes Wu Jing as a special star. In fact, after watching the entire film, I found that Wu Jing has a lot of scenes, and they are all quite important. It is not too much to be considered a male two male three. I have contributed money and effort to help Chinese filmmakers make a good film. I think Wu Jing is still a big contributor, because I sincerely hope that China will make more good films.
The box office success of "The Wandering Earth" in China is a certainty. What I expect more is that the film also achieves good box office results in overseas markets, because even compared with its foreign counterparts, this film is absolutely outstanding.
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