Review: Jupiter Ascending (2015)

[Ronald O.Christian]

Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean

It's Valentine's Day, and after a ride to the coast and a nice brunch
we decided to see a movie. Truth be told, I'm not overly fond of
Regal cinemas, but we had a gift card, so Hi Ho and all that. Not
having been there in awhile, I was surprised to see that Regal sells
beer and wine now, a development that would have helped get through
some painfully mediocre films. (John Carter springs to mind.)

So, little plastic cups of Cabernet in hand, we settle back, expecting
two mindless hours of expensively produced B grade entertainment.
Apparently Jupiter Ascending is getting excoriated in the press.
Surprisingly, although it definitely has flaws, the film isn't as bad
as people are saying.

First, the flaws: The plot is probably too complex for a 2 hour
movie, and some points are just touched upon and then dropped, leaving
you wondering if you fell asleep and missed part of the film. Some of
the dialog is at low volume, making some key bits difficult to
understand. (The main bad guy, in particular, speaks most of his
dialog in a barely understandable whisper.) The allegiance of several
main characters shift back and forth throughout the film for sometimes
unknown reasons, which I think might have been revealed in the dialog
if we could only understand it. For instance, there was something
about Stinger's daughter which seemed to be a major part of the
character's motivation, but she only had perhaps 30 seconds of screen
time and two half-heard lines, leaving you wondering what that was all
about.

But the worst flaw in the film is the relentless effects-heavy battle
scenes, which go on for much longer than they had any right to do. You
get worn down by continuous explosions to the point where you stop
ooh-ing and aah-ing and just want it to be over. The film could easily
have had ten or fifteen minutes of carnage cut out and been better for
it.

In particular, Mila Kunis falls from a great height in the same way
and is saved in the exact same fashion twice in the film. The first
time it was corny. The second time it was downright annoying.

Which leads to the greatest flaw of the film and the main flaw of
Wachowski films in general: Excess. An excess of digital effects,
excess of stunts, and in general taking "grand spectacle" to
ridiculous extremes.

But that said, the film did have an interesting story, an intriguing
backstory and some decent performances sandwiched between the
explosions. The film is worth watching despite its flaws. Mila Kunis
is lovely throughout, and does a commendable acting job as a cleaning
woman who rises to great power, finding a force of character within
herself that she didn't know she had. (She also gets to wear some
amazing outfits.) Her character could easily have been a hapless
"perils of pauline" throughout the film, but we see her grow, become
stronger, and take control of her environment, which is a refreshing
change from the two-dimensional characters we usually get in action
films. In the hands of a slightly less explosion-happy director, this
could have been a great film.

Score: 5/10. Guardedly recommended.
-
2014 FLHTK "The Grey"
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