“Southwest China is home to one of the world`s largest karts formations. It`s geologic structure is volition and fragile, with many unstable rock formations. The construction of a high-speed rail line is under constant threat of geo-hazards”
A father and son must put their differences aside when an earthquake hits near a small town, putting the lives 150,000 people at stake, plus race against the clock to safe a newly built railway line tunnel that has been under construction for the last ten years. They have just three hours before the next earthquake hits!
Yilong Zhu plays Hong Yizhou and Zhizhing Huang plays Hong Yunbing his father, in this pulse pounding action filled disaster drama film. From the opening scene when we are introduced to Yizhou and his girlfriend, we know this engineer knows what he is talking about, as he warns of the dangers and natural disasters that could be ahead. Within minutes of an altercation with his boss disaster strikes in the tunnel and the brakes never really let up before the quake hits and of course we prepare ourselves for the bigger natural disaster that is on its way. Our leading man Yilong Zhu is excellent in his role here, he plays both the drama and action scenes well. You can tell for the climbing scenes that he must have done a lot of training prep well before the cameras rolled. His, for me is the standout performance of the film, but all the cast are on top form. The drama scenes are very well played, but firstly this is a disaster film, and this is where Shattered Earth stands out. The visual and special effects are outstanding, honestly they`re breathtakingly good. I sat on the edge of my seat while the destruction unfolded, I was thinking wow, how realistic seamless are these effects. The splitting off the rock, the fault lines appearing across the mountains, it is quite a sight for the eyes, so cinematic and this is what makes the pacing of the film so brilliantly fast, as by the end of it, you will be literally gasping for breath. As the ordinary people and our hero come together to face the impossible odds that they find they are in, from the first quake to the last. I don`t want to say too much more about the scenes, and give things away.
I have a soft spot for the disaster films of the 70s; I grew up watching them with my father. Who doesn`t remember the emotional journey in The Poseidon Adventure, when Shelly Winters is diving from one platform to the other. You know what the outcome will be for her character. I like to see people overcome impossible odds, having to band together for survival. This for me is what makes a disaster action movie. Shattered Earth has all these layers, for the journey you take with these ordinary people, that has to dig deep for courage to overcome natural disaster.
Writer director Li Jun has made the perfect action disaster movie, very well directed cast, bringing out the best in his leading man Yilong Zhu, which makes the film work. Zhu needed to be strong to carry everyone on the roller-coaster emotional journey of this disaster film, maybe too sentimental at times. There is no denying the film is one heck of a ride with some astonishing action scenes. I would say that Shattered Earth is my favourite of the disaster genre, for a very long time…
Trinity CineAsia presents Shattered Earth on DVD from 5th September and Digital from 12th September
