Jupiter Ascending Movie Review

Since their break-out success with the original Matrix in 1999, the Wachowskis have become known for having great visions in cinematic technology; despite these achievements though, the two directors have never really managed to back up their presentational techniques with solid plot and characterisation. Jupiter Ascending, their latest offering has some brilliant production values but this comes at the price of a problem that has plagued the filmmaking duo for many years now.

The plot of Jupiter Ascending begins on Earth and tells the story of the titular heroine (Mila Kunis), a human destined for great things; after alien creatures attempt to assassinate her, only to be thwarted by Caine (Channing Tatum), Jupiter learns that she is part of the Abrasax alien dynasty that has control over many planets in the universe. From here the film unfolds across many locations on Earth and beyond as Jupiter finds out more of her true destiny and her place in the universe. Jupiter Ascending’s execution in its attempt to be a sweeping space opera is heavily bogged down by numerous problems. The film’s pacing is in a desperate need of a tune up; scenes based on Earth and the cosmos are heavily unbalanced, as if the film can’t decide where it wants to be. Other more abrupt jump cuts really damage the film’s pacing; one moment the characters are in space and then suddenly they’re placed into a spaceship with no context or transition The biggest issue with the plot is how nothing really comes into its own or amounts to anything; rather than weaving ideas of the film’s setting into the narrative in clever ways, the Wachowskis instead force characters to spoon-feed exposition to the audience rather than allowing them to contribute to the plot. Many of the film’s settings and themes, such as the different siblings who vie for control of the galaxy we only see for brief moments and as such the plot is never cohesive enough to be engaging.

Just as the plot squanders its chance to generate a thoughtful sci-fi tale, so too do the actors utterly fail to create convincing and detailed characters. Jupiter just isn’t a very good protagonist; very rarely does there come a point where she does anything other than land herself in trouble and then relies on Caine to come in and save her. This is made worse by laughable dialogue that caters too much to the teenage crowd rather than a broad audience. Caine fares an inch better in that the audience can tell that his character has had a rough past but the film doesn’t go into this trait with enough detail to make him worth caring about. You could say that the chemistry between Kunis and Tatum packs in more emotion than that of Neo and Trinity in The Matrix but that isn’t really saying much considering how both of their characters aren’t very developed or interesting. The other characters including Sean Bean as the roguish Stinger Apini (which is a rather gratuitous title seeing as his DNA has been spliced with that of bees) are just the same; underused and undercooked, never getting any chance to make their presence felt or to make the audience care about their fates during the proceedings. Then there’s Eddie Redmayne as the main antagonist, and what a big step back this is from his excellent performance in The Theory of Everything; Balem Abrasax clumsily and obnoxiously bounces between barely understandable whispering and insanely over the top yelling which serves a terrible substitute for actual motivation and development as a villain. All told, the characters in Jupiter Ascending range from barely competent to unintentionally funny; they simply do not contribute to the plot or setting in any reasonable way.

Technical effects have always been the Wachowski’s greatest strength in filmmaking and for the most part Jupiter Ascending continues that thread with some truly stunning displays. Celestial backdrops give way to a wide variety of interesting worlds and designs that mix science fiction with a hint of light fantasy that definitely keep the audience’s eyes glued to the screen (too bad that the plot and characters can’t accomplish the same!).  However basic and rushed the plot’s exposition may be, the world portrayed in Jupiter Ascending does do a moderately good job of drawing audiences. Unfortunately the film’s technical aspects are not without problems; some of the action scenes, particularly those with Tatum skating around on gravity defying skates quickly become repetitive whilst others are simply too dazzling to be viewed clearly, such as a space battle where Caine and Stinger must blast their way through a ship’s net defences. Like several other films made by the Wachowskis, a choir is employed during the film’s more intense moments and for what it is, it does succeed at putting across the sheer scale of the action at hand. The technical aspects of Jupiter Ascending keep the Wachowski’s pedigree intact but they can’t be used as a crutch to lean on anymore.

Jupiter Ascending will undoubtedly dazzle audiences with its visuals and interesting sci-fi world; it’s just too bad that just about everything else is so underwhelming, so undercooked that the film can never hope to achieve the same level of prominence as the works the Wachowskis have done before. If you’re a fan of science fiction, you’ll probably get some enjoyment from the film’s technical side, but everyone else should stay away.

Rating: 2/5