Expand your universe
Synopsis
A young woman, Jupiter Jones leads a dull life as a cleaner in an American/Russian family. Her repetitive life becomes interrupted when three members of an all-powerful galactic upper-class family realise she is the reincarnation of their recently departed mother, and therefore Queen of the Earth, and attempt to either kill, kidnap or help her, in turn. This leads to Jones being rescued by Caine, a genetically engineered, ex-military bounty hunter. They are both then thrown into a world of political betrayal and family infighting as the three siblings attempt to gain control of the Earth, and its rich bounty of humans ready for harvest.
Review
All the action, over the top plot movie, Jupiter Ascending is quite a confusing ride. The Wachowskis have written a movie which has too much plot. Instead of complicated layers, such as their more popular movie, The Matrix, Jupiter Ascending just crams a whole lot of everything all at once and thus resulting in a far-fetched and comical storyline, even though it is not a comedy.
The acting levels are all over the place, with the ‘ho-hum’ skill of Channing Tatum, who is purely cast to improve the movies ratings amongst middle-aged women, to the cringe-worthy overacting of Eddie Redmayne. (No Oscar nominations here). Sean Bean was stellar, as usual, and should have had a bigger role. Character development is poor, and the audience doesn’t get to really know much of the background of major players in the movie. If anything, it feels as though character development was swapped out for more and more….and more action scenes.
There were so many action sequences and they went for so long, I forgot what the conflict was all about. The action scenes were fast and blurry and had so much going on I got physically tired trying to process the whole scene, then the next, and the next. There was a lot of CGI, and on a positive note, there are moments that are just visually stunning. However they don’t feel real, they always feel so computer-generated, much akin to, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
The overabundance of actions and special effects in this film doesn’t leave room for any proper plot development and there are too many attempted plot twist to ever leave you with a sense of being truly shocked. Overall Jupiter Ascending was not engaging and lacked any real depth. It may be enjoyable for younger viewers who may not value plot over action, however, if you want any substance you should look elsewhere.
| Stars: | 1/5 |
|---|---|
| Available on: | ITunes, Netflix and DVD |
