The Wachowskis are producers that I always love to see
pop up. While I don’t believe they have had a film as successful or memorable as The
Matrix, I always believe their films are worth the watch. If nothing else their
films are always a technical and visual marvel to behold. That said I am always
hopeful that their next movie will take me on an imaginative thrill ride the
way The Matrix did. So was I astounded by their latest exploit? Let’s review
Jupiter Ascending.
The
Negative
This guy is quite literally the personification of the
male romantic interest trope. He is a bad boy, who has a bad history with
authority, who also happens to be genetically spliced with a wolf but bred
without a pack to look after meaning he is literally a “lone wolf” character,
who also happens to be a fallen angel who had his wings removed, who also
happens to need to be taught how to love someone else, who also happens to be a
daring swashbuckler who fights using rollerblade like hover boots, who also
likes to brood about his past without going into great detail, and so on. The
more details I learned about his character the more I wondered just how many
more tropes they could pile on top of him. The romantic storyline in this film
was incredibly cheesy and poorly written. Mila Kunis tries her best with what
she has been given, but whenever the film wants to suddenly drive forward the
romance plot it always feels incredibly forced and clunky.
This film suffers from a damsel in CONSTANT distress plot
line. While the story has a constantly moving plot with continuous action
sequences, the majority of the film is spent with Kunis’ character being in
some sort of peril and Tatum’s character having to rescue her out of it. Some
scenes literally play out exactly the same way. At times I felt like I was
re-watching the exact same action sequence just in a different setting. It
almost becomes cliché by the end of the film where Kunis’ character is being
held prisoner once more and only manages to get out of her jam with the
bizarrely resourcefulness of Tatum’s character.
The
Positive
If I were to describe this film, I would call it the
modernization of classic sci-fi. This movie feels like Flash Gordon, Jack
Kirby’s New Gods, or Silver Surfer but having the benefit of being produced
with modern technological spectacle. There is a level of fantastic epic that is
achieved by sci-fi stories like these. They don’t fully care to explain
themselves nor should they have to. We don’t need to know what keeps the Silver
Surfer’s power cosmic constantly flowing, we don’t need to know what
technologies allow Ming the Merciless to terrorize the planet Earth, explicitly
explaining those elements would remove the fantastic nature of them. This film
is shamelessly sci-fi fantasy and it loves to be it. This is exactly where the
sci-fi genre thrives. When it has fantastic elements and never feels the need
to sit you down for a lecture about its overall concepts.
As stated before, this is a film by the Wachowskis, thus
it is a beautiful rendered visual splendor. Every action sequence is a marvel
to watch thanks in no small part to the imaginative and fluid design of the
technology as well as the cast of characters that inhabit this universe. Many
of the ships have this beautiful look about them that feels reminiscent of a
mansion fusing with a regal sail barge. Combined with the fact that these ships
move like mesmerizing fish in water, and they are just a spectacle to behold.
Many of the character designs are also praiseworthy, particularly the design of
the human faced robots that seem to populate most corners of this galaxy. These
androids were just awesome to look at in every scene they were featured in.
In
Conclusion
I love classic sci-fi, but I understand that it’s not for
everyone. Jupiter Ascending is a perfect example of what made classic sci-fi so
wonderful to watch, yet at the same time it also suffers from the same tropes
that make classic sci-fi so easy to mock by the average viewer. The cheesy
sci-fi elements that make me truly love this film, stop it from being enjoyed
by the populace at large. I think this film really could have been something
fantastic if a little more caution was put into which classic tropes to bring
into this story. 3.8 out of 5.
