If I had been told China would be making mid-budget sci-fi movies 5-10 years ago I would have laughed. If I had been told Netflix would have made a good movie a week ago, I would have doubted it. Propaganda level seems significantly lower than the new Star Wars. Writing is better too. No fancy camera angles, slightly poor CGI (I could swear there was a frame rate drop at one point in one of the more involved CGI scenes) but no over-arching political message and the plot is fairly solid. Due to (okay) dubbing I had to rewind some scenes to understand what exactly was going on as I took my eyes off the screen but all in all this was a great movie. I had expected some sort of Netflix/Chinese propaganda beast though I watched the full two hours intently.
"Woke" western directors might want to pay attention to this one. I can only fault small things. The plot kind of feels like someone hit fast forward but that is expected in a book to movie title.
I'm 12 minutes off the ending, so I can't spoil that for you, but everything leading up to it was great Sci-Fi. Hopefully the last 12 minutes and 44 seconds deliver on that too.
I'd give it a 9.5 out of 10 but it means closer to 10 than 9 so it gets a 10/10. Good movie, worth watching.
"Woke" western directors might want to pay attention to this one. I can only fault small things. The plot kind of feels like someone hit fast forward but that is expected in a book to movie title.
I'm 12 minutes off the ending, so I can't spoil that for you, but everything leading up to it was great Sci-Fi. Hopefully the last 12 minutes and 44 seconds deliver on that too.
I'd give it a 9.5 out of 10 but it means closer to 10 than 9 so it gets a 10/10. Good movie, worth watching.