Blu-Ray Spotlight: The Wandering Earth II

The second installment in this expansive science fiction series comes to the States on Blu-Ray and DVD.

celluloid consommé
5 min readDec 20, 2023
Box and disc art photo courtesy of Well Go USA.

Frant Gwo’s prequel-as-sequel to 2019’s The Wandering Earth takes us back a bit to show how those giant engines got built in time to navigate an entire planet away from a rapidly approaching sun. And although those who have seen the first film know the results, the journey to get there gets filled in with multiple threads of people facing a devastating series of losses and setbacks. Gwo’s approach remains the same as the previous film in that it may have a long and unwieldy runtime but manages to fill it with stories engaging enough to populate multiple movies’ worth, however it fits within the enormous scope set by the 2019 film’s precedent. It’s Chinese event cinema at its absolute apex in Wandering Earth II, and is the first time a film from the series has been available physically in North America.

Video

Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

The Wandering Earth II is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.75:1 from an AVC-encoded digital transfer. Although this is a brand new film with impressive visual effects from dozens of different effects studios whose CGI models look for the most part completely believable, the rendering of the film’s look is kind of all over the place. Slight banding is evident on shots with heavy effects usage during fades.

Shots that look well-lit, especially interior scenes exhibit lowly lifted blacks, enough to show figures dressed in black to appear ever so slightly grey in some sequences but in others that have bright colors in frame, black levels appear true. This would most likely come from the camera sources initially but lifting blacks in certain scenes could mean differing white points across the film’s shoot. However the film manages to look great when it needs to aside from this problem of consistency. The assortment of colors we get from the film look as vibrant as they can underneath the grey-ish filter of outdoor shots. Scenes that take place in spacecrafts or Earth bunkers have more of a pure white/black lean to them to cleanse the palate nicely.

Audio

Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

The film comes with a good assortment of audio tracks: the original Mandarin language with options for 7.1 in Dolby Atmos and stereo DTS-HD, and English dub tracks for 5.1 DTS-HD and a standard stereo mix. For those with the setup the Dolby Atmos track is the way to go, and although the original language is Mandarin the film has multiple spoken languages. As such two different English subtitle options are available, one for only the Mandarin dialogue and another for all dialogue. The English dub replaces only the non-English speaking characters’ lines but retains English already dubbed into the Mandarin version of the film. There are also two Chinese subtitle options, one in Mandarin and one in Simplified Chinese for all dialogue.

The sound design is likely the best feature of Wandering Earth II’s presentation. The front-and-center presence of dialogue is nice and crisp and perfectly intelligible during all ranges of sequences. There is also a nice sense of space utilized by the surround tracks. All tracks are mastered optimally so that there isn’t a large discrepancy between soft moments and loud, action-packed sequences.

Special Features

Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

For this release there is only the usual fare for Well Go USA’s bonuses: just trailers for other releases as well as for the title itself. Playing the film’s trailer from the menu will trigger a “play all” setting that cycles through every trailer on the disc as it does from boot-up.

Final Thoughts

Still courtesy of Well Go USA.

The Wandering Earth II is for all intents and purposes a well-done event film in a series that has consistently been entertaining and satisfying so far. It hasn’t quite gotten past its tendency of laying thematic seams out for all to see. It uses its narrative threads well but also seems to know what kind of popcorn blockbuster it is which sadly limits itself in some respects. However it does utilize the opportunities it gets to deliver on the source novel’s unique premise, and in those moments it shines.

Even when Wandering Earth II becomes cloying it doesn’t overplay in each of those moments, rather it takes a lap around to hit alternate beats of drama, action, and espionage before coming back around to attempt tugging at the heartstrings. But when it makes its final revolution it may just work well by the end. Frant Gwo may have something up his sleeve for the third installment but until we see what it is, the formula for the Wandering Earth series might need some retooling for future films. While the first film hasn’t yet received a US or North American release, this disc from Well Go USA comes recommended.

The Wandering Earth II is now available as of Tuesday, December 19th on Blu-Ray from Well Go USA.

If you’d like to purchase a copy, consider the following outlets instead of Amazon, if you will:
DeepDiscount | Gruv

Disclaimer: Well Go USA has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.

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celluloid consommé
celluloid consommé

Written by celluloid consommé

90s kid raised by cartoon movie wolves. Twitter: @demonidisco letterboxd.com/HamburgerHarry

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