The Wandering Earth

It's almost impressive how Gwo manages to rip off "Gravity," "Sunshine," and "2001," all at the same time.

It's exactly the mix of cheesy and crowd-pleasing that you'd expect from a blockbuster, with eye-popping CGI sci-fi set dressing to give it a little extra oomph.

Critics well-versed in the relationship between state and cinema will undoubtedly have a lot to say about those themes, but this should not detract from the fact that, as a piece of broad entertainment, there is plenty to enjoy.

Once you get past the ridiculous central conceit and all the info dumps the film is a sturdy romp with several cool set pieces of the frozen world, some stellar interpretations of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and a pleasantly hopeful, humanitarian message.

Proves that when it comes to watching special-effects extravaganzas in which stock characters scramble to intervene while the planet faces obliteration, it's a small world after all.

The characters remain archetypes, but the film eventually earns its syrupy sentimentality.

It’s impossible not to mention the familiar tropes and second-hand characters. But this is science-fiction escapism at its very best.

The movie follows a rather outmoded model of large-scale disaster movies that have fallen out of fashion in Hollywood.

The Wandering Earth isn't especially deep, but it's an explosive achievement of filmmaking

There's enough fun here to paper over the cracks, and Gwo does a serviceable job in ticking the right boxes and delivering an enjoyable mix of explosive thrills and melodrama