Movie Review: Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Title: Jupiter Ascending
Director(s): Andy & Lana Wachowskis
Produced by: Grant Hill, The Wachowskis 
Written By: The Wachowskis
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: February 6, 2015
Source: Rented from Redbox
Gifs & Movie Poster from the official Jupiter Ascending website (Check them out here)

Yes, I actually watched this movie from start to finish because I was curious to see what it was like. My initial thoughts—upon seeing the trailer—for Jupiter Ascending was that it was going to be a science fiction/fantasy film of epic proportions. But after watching the movie, I was more than a little disappointed by it.

Here’s the thing, Jupiter Ascending had a lot of potential to be great, but suffered from too many flaws.

Albeit, visually stunning, the movie fails in the story department. I felt like I was watching different, segmented scenes with transitions that couldn’t properly put them together. Thus, the entire movie felt like a video game with villains popping in and out—disappearing altogether once what they had to offer to the plot was over and done with. I would have liked to see more of a resolution, but instead, I was left feeling like I’d just sat through two hours of something that wasn’t complete—like it needed a sequel to further explore the world.

For one thing, this movie was incredibly long, and some of the scenes felt like they lasted forever, like they were fillers to take up some of the space. At several times I found myself a little bored by it. Now the detail put into the visual aspects were as I said above, nice—even stunning—especially the scenes directly involving space and the various planets featured in the movie—as well as the alien technology/Abrasax ships. And then there was Jupiter Jones (played by Mila Kunis), ugh, I felt like she just sort of had this I’m-kind-of-bored expression throughout the entire movie. And when she actually did something productive—being saved by Caine Wise (played by Channing Tatum) doesn’t count—that it seemed so out of character for her that it was almost entirely unbelievable. Her character could have been better if developed more. Caine Wise was a complete (not even borderline) dues ex machina. His presence was more than convenient, and he showed up whenever Jupiter seemed to be stuck, which happened way too often. Now the characters weren’t all bad and Diomika Tsing (played by Nikki Amuka-Bird) was probably my favorite character in the entire movie. She was the captain that oversaw the Aegis ship that was present in the movie—she was kind of awesome.

At the end of the day, Jupiter Ascending seemed like the kind of movie that would interest me, but the story itself basically destroyed my enjoyment of the film. If you want to see this movie I suggest renting it before buying it.