Fortress falls flat

Among all of the unflattering reviews, one comment in particular sums up popular opinion, "While the door for Chinese sci-fi films to thrive was opened by The Wandering Earth, it is being closed by Shanghai Fortress."

Earlier this year, The Wandering Earth, a film based on the novella of the same name by Hugo Award-winning Chinese writer, Liu Cixin, smashed box-office records to rake in 4.66 billion yuan, making it China's second highest-grossing film of all time and a game changer.

Previously, most Chinese investors were reluctant to finance sci-fi films, as such special effects-driven productions usually draw a big budget, and they believed that local moviegoers－who have watched a number of excellent Hollywood sci-fi hits over the past two decades－were not so interested in futuristic stories featuring Chinese heroes.

So, after the success of The Wandering Earth, Shanghai Fortress－an epic in which the Chinese metropolis is the last and only hope for humans to resist an alien invasion－was highly anticipated. However, most netizens have expressed their disappointment. The criticism revolves around loose narration, an unconvincing romance between the two protagonists and the film's unrefined visual effects.

Shanghai Fortress' director Teng Huatao, a veteran known for portraying urban romances in films, posted on Sina Weibo about being "upset" that "he had let down the audience".