05-06-2019, 09:34 PM
Biggest film you've never heard of. This is China's recent blockbuster starring Wu Jing - one of the top martial artists I'd love to get on the cover. Netflix released it silently today - there was news it was acquired and it was released in UK a week or two ago, but not announced on any of the coming in May listings.
It's 2001 HAL meets Space 1999. If you accept the whole notion of moving earth to another system with rockets, then you're good here. That always bugged me about 1999 but it was two of the IMF so I let that slide. This is Wu Jing so I'll let it slide again. It's a rousing patriotic tale, a lot of self sacrifice, a lot filial piety, uniting after a speech on hope, tension from waiting for a program to load (we can all relate), that sort of thing. The CGI was good enough for Netflix, not sure if it would've held up on the big screen. Maybe. Wu Jing was great in it. There were some good moments for sure, some interesting peeks into how PRC imagines the future. I enjoyed it once it got going and I could park my brain outside. It has some sloppy sentimental bits, but the caricature take on foreigners was interesting, reminiscent of how Asians were depicted in Hollywood, and sometimes still are. It's worth the view if you're interested in international sci-fi. The cfs should definitely give it a watch. I'll be interested to hear what the rest of you think. I'm pretty desensitized to Chinese cinema so it's hard for me to judge.
It's 2001 HAL meets Space 1999. If you accept the whole notion of moving earth to another system with rockets, then you're good here. That always bugged me about 1999 but it was two of the IMF so I let that slide. This is Wu Jing so I'll let it slide again. It's a rousing patriotic tale, a lot of self sacrifice, a lot filial piety, uniting after a speech on hope, tension from waiting for a program to load (we can all relate), that sort of thing. The CGI was good enough for Netflix, not sure if it would've held up on the big screen. Maybe. Wu Jing was great in it. There were some good moments for sure, some interesting peeks into how PRC imagines the future. I enjoyed it once it got going and I could park my brain outside. It has some sloppy sentimental bits, but the caricature take on foreigners was interesting, reminiscent of how Asians were depicted in Hollywood, and sometimes still are. It's worth the view if you're interested in international sci-fi. The cfs should definitely give it a watch. I'll be interested to hear what the rest of you think. I'm pretty desensitized to Chinese cinema so it's hard for me to judge.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse