Movie Review: Jupiter Ascending

Jupiter Ascending
Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Dune Entertainment, Anarchos Productions, USA, Australia, 2015.

Let's watch the much-bashed scifi flick from the Wachovskis.

Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is a pessimistic cleaner (the 20th century equivalent of being a swine-herder) whose Russian father (James D'Arcy) was killed by mobsters. The stars promised her great future but it did not happen and she hates her life. Elsewhere in the Universe aristocratic Abrasax-family is harvesting planets (kind of Rapture). They happen to own also Earth but the inheritance causes a family strife. 

Jupiter Jones

Balem Abrasax

Titus Abrasax

Balem Abrasax (Eddie Redmayne) sends space bounty hunters to kill Jupiter but rollerskating space-werewolf fallen angel Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) saves her. Caine's old friend Stinger Apini (Sean Bean or Bee-an, pun intended) helps also. Jupiter hears that she is of royal family and the real inheritor of Earth. The bad news is that the grand destiny of humankind is to be component of Ultimate Intergalactic Anti-Aging Wrinkle Lotion^TM. Claiming the inheritance is difficult as Jupiter must face the most paralyzing force of the Universe: The Bureaucrats. (This segment gives also justification for cameo of bureaucratic scifi veteran Terry Gilliam). Jupiter meets also Kalique Abrasax (Tuppence Middleton) and Titus Abrasax (Douglas Booth) who has a serious mother complex. 

Caine Wise

Space Luchadores!

Cool spaceships

Usual route of betrayals, love and difficult decisions follows. Visually the movie looks great. The Wachowskis have always been taking influences from anime, mythology and often from big scifi operas. "Matrix" meets "Dune" with some "Stargate" and "Mass Effect" thrown in. There is a well detailed world, ambitious ideas and the costumes are très chic. There are plenty of genetically altered aliens, the grey, reptilians, elephant-man named Nesh (Ganesha anyone?) and space luchadores. Sadly after the start the premise starts to collapse under its own weight an George Lucas Syndrome kicks in. There is just too much stuff that is just quickly brushed aside. Also the interesting ideas and ewferences to mythic, esoteric and occult sources would have needed a deeper approach than the scratch-of-the-surface style Hollywood handling.

Reptilian

Elephant guy Nesh

One big flaw is that the overstuffed story does not have room for making the characters interesting enough. Jupiter is mainly a passenger in the story and not as interesting character as she could be. She turns very quickly from downtrodden cleaning lady to a space princess whom naughty lord wants to marry. It is up to Caine and Stinger to keep up the action. Sadly the movie does not feel fun or unique enough in the surge of big budget scifi spectacles. The flop at box office shows that even visionary filmmakers like Wachowskis to distinguish themselves nowadays.

It is not bad but it should have been much better. Watch it at least for the gorgeous visual effects, mythical sounding names (and a cyborg lawyer named Bob) and cool morphing space fighters.

Rating: Average

Starring: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, Tuppence Middleton, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Christina Cole, Nicholas A. Newman, Ramon Tikaram, Ariyon Bakare, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Frog Stone, David Ajala, Doona Bae, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Edward Hogg, Tim Pigott-Smith, James D'Arcy, Jeremy Swift, Kick Gurry, Larissa Kouznetsova, Demetri Theodorou, Lieve Carchon, Oleg Nasobin, Emily Warren, Vanessa Kirby, Spencer Wilding, Andy Ahrens, Charlotte Beaumont, Georgia Winters, Elsa Mollien, Sean Baker, Bryony Hannah, Sarah Campbell, Jiggy Bhore, Samuel Barnett, Claire Benedict, Peter Yapp, John Locke, Grant Stimpson, Sarah Crowden, Terry Gilliam, Rupert Frazer, Katherine Cunningham, Luke Neal, Simon Dutton, Neil Fingleton, Derek Lea, Joe Walking, Michela Meazza, Cliff Fleming, Hazel D'Jan 

Directors: The Wachowskis