The Wandering Earth
As the sun expands toward catastrophe, a family and a planetary engineering project struggle to keep humanity alive during Earth's forced voyage through space.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Breakneck
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- propulsive
- earnest
- emotionally direct
- imax viewing
- blockbuster night
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film visually dynamic and thrilling, while considering its story and character development less original and less developed.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The central plan uses thousands of engines to move Earth away from the dying sun toward another star.
The film explicitly presents diverse people working together to save Earth instead of relying on a lone superhero.
Humanity is forced into underground cities while the planet becomes frozen during its interstellar journey.
The moving planet, engine network, space station, Jupiter crisis, and frozen Earth provide the film's defining imagery.
Films like The Wandering Earth, and why
Armageddon
shared large-scale planetary disaster, international human cooperation, and spectacle-driven science fiction
2012
shared apocalyptic science fiction premise, family-centered emotional stakes, and escalating survival set pieces
Interstellar
shared space-scale catastrophe, engineering problem-solving, and emotionally earnest survival drama
Movie Details
- Director
- Frant Gwo
- Release Date
- 2019-02-05
- Runtime
- 126 min
- Rating
- 6.6 / 10 (1216)
Cast
- Wu Jing
- Qu Chuxiao
- Li Guangjie
- Richard Ng Man-Tat
- Zhao Jinmai
- Michael Kai Sui
- Qu Jingjing
- Zhang Yichi
- Yang Haoyu
- Arkady Sharogradsky
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Wandering Earth about?
- As the sun expands toward catastrophe, a family and a planetary engineering project struggle to keep humanity alive during Earth's forced voyage through space.
- What is The Wandering Earth like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Wandering Earth as breakneck, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Wandering Earth violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Wandering Earth as mild.
- What did critics think of The Wandering Earth?
- Critics broadly found the film visually dynamic and thrilling, while considering its story and character development less original and less developed.
- Which films are like The Wandering Earth?
- Films with a similar feel include Armageddon, 2012, and Interstellar.
- How long is The Wandering Earth?
- The Wandering Earth runs 126 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Wandering Earth?
- In United States, The Wandering Earth streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
