Jupiter Ascending (2015)

I went to see Jupiter Ascending in theaters today and I have mixed feelings about the movie. For those that don’t know Jupiter Ascending was originally supposed to be released on July of last year but was delayed until February of this year. My expectations for this film were already pretty low. I knew the movie had gotten bad reviews, and honestly I didn’t really know what to make of the films trailer.

I’ll start off by mentioning what I didn’t like about the movie. For one the plot is very hard to follow and extremely convoluted. The film deals a lot with “space politics” and bureaucracy which don’t usually tend to be in these type of large scale films. The dialogue is pretty bad, and even though I like the cast (Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean) I have to say that most of the actor’s performances were too cheesy even for a movie like this. To me the romance between Kunis & Tatum’s characters felt forced, and most of their dialogue felt empty and unnatural. There is a ton of action sequences in the movie, but really for the most part it felt like the filmmakers just wanted action for actions sake. Most of the action sequences didn’t do anything to move the plot along and just served as bright and loud distractions in between plot points.

With that being said, I wouldn’t necessarily say that Jupiter Ascending was a bad movie. Sure there is plenty wrong with it, but there are a few things that I actually liked about the film. For one I really liked some of the theories and ideas presented by the movie, particularly the ones dealing with the origins of humanity and our role in the universe. There are some pretty cool concepts (which is to be expected from the creators of the Matrix trilogy) but in the end the film lacks heart. There was a lot of unnecessary action in my opinion, but I have to say that the film had excellent visuals, and was beautifully shot. It seems to me that the Wachowskis are great at shooting films, and coming up with interesting and unique movie ideas, but they lack a certain something in their movies, they lack that human element that makes characters relateable or appealing. I would really like to see them collaborate with other filmmakers because I do think that they are talented but their last few films have definitely left me expecting more from them.

In the end, Jupiter Ascending looks great, but has no real depth to it. It has bad dialogue, cheesy acting, and a convoluted plot. A part of me still liked it so I would recommend seeing it if you’re a fan of sci-fi, the Wachowskis or are just curious to see what the movie is all about. 2.5/5