Earth Rescue Day (2021)

"Behold I will make a havoc in the Heavenly Palace!"

Rescue the Earth aka Earth Rescue Day took the old trope of aliens taking over the Earth and combined it with a little Monkey King magic. The mischievous god never made an appearance but devotee Mo Fei managed to embody some of the simian’s better qualities.

The Earth has been devastated and overtaken by an alien called Giant Kun who orbits the sky. Smaller spider-like creatures called Kunzis scavenge the land and anyone who dares to come above ground. Humanity has made their homes safely below ground in modern cities. Mo Fei is a Flyman in his 20’s who goes to the surface to find objects of worth to sell below. He owes his friend, Sha Sha, money. She tags along when he tries to sell items to Boss Zhu who is not happy to see him. Mo Fei and Sha Sha end up on the run from Boss Zhu above ground in their flying vehicles when both are attacked by the Kunzis. Mo Fei rescues Boss Zhu and the civilians find themselves in turn rescued from a herd of Kunzis by the Black Falcon Squad. The squad and Flymen end up on a dangerous mission through Kunzi infested land in order to arm a weapon that might destroy Giant Kun before she reproduces and ends humanity for all time.

Rescue the Earth had some really good creatures. Although Giant Kun looked suspiciously like the Harbulary battery eating Abilisk from Guardians of the Galaxy 2. If spiders make you squeamish the hordes of arachnid inspired Kunzis with long spiky tongues may not be for you. While the creatures were properly creepy, the flying car chases came across as very low quality CGI.

Liu Jian Yu as the Wukong inspired Mo Fei had an impish smile and Monkey King hairdo. There was a nice bit to tie it all together at the end. Wang Zi Jia as his gal pal Sha Sha was the mechanic who had to run around on the snow-covered ground in her Daisy Dukes cut-off jean shorts. The writers worked hard to make the four brave soldiers have their own personalities. Capt. Li had a secret related to Mo Fei that tied him to the young man. Different characters had to make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good and while it didn’t bring tears, they weren’t complete strangers.

Rescue the Earth had some clunky dialogue and even clunkier science but it did have an interesting premise and characters. The film was thankfully short and kept the action going non-stop. The final solution didn’t make any sense but it was done in Wukong style which made it worthwhile for me. If you can handle cheesy dialogue and don’t mind absurd science it’s a diverting 90 minutes of action and creepy crawlers.

21 October 2024
Triggers-Spiderish creatures

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