Review: JUPITER ASCENDING

JUPITER ASCENDING  (SCI-FI-FANTASY/ACTION-ADVENTURE)

2.5 out of 4 stars 
Directed by The Wachowskis
Starring: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, Tuppence Middleton, Douglas Booth, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Christina Cole, Ramon Tikaram
Rated PG-13 for some violence, sequences of sci-fi action, some suggestive content and partial nudity.
127 minutes
Verdict: If you can wade through all the over-plotted science fiction mumbo jumbo, the Wachowskis' space opera has a bit of summer fun to be had, even if it's only a bit.
YOU MAY ENJOY JUPITER ASCENDING IF YOU LIKED:
JOHN CARTER  (2012)
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY  (2014)
STAR TREK  (2009)
ENDER'S GAME  (2013)
SERENITY  (2005)

Andy and Lana Wachowski are just about the weirdest filmmakers who can get over $100 million from a major Hollywood studio to make an unsellable movie.  JUPITER ASCENDING is the third film from the Wachowskis since the Matrix trilogy, following the box office bombs SPEED RACER in 2008 and CLOUD ATLAS in 2012, and it's their biggest film yet.  They simply don't make movies like this in Hollywood- a $176 million space opera with a wholly original story and no brand name, unless you count the Wachowskis, who haven't had hit since THE MATRIX RELOADED and THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, both released in 2003, and most people don't even like those.  JUPITER ASCENDING is an insane movie with the deck stacked against it, and even still, the fact that we're unlikely to see something of its breed come along again anytime soon is kind of sad.  Plus, it's kind of fun.

Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is an unassuming cleaning lady who lives with her big Russian family in Chicago and hates her life, but when she's attacked by supernatural creatures on orders to assassinate her, and a genetically-engineered warrior called Caine Wise (Channing Tatum) rescues her, she discovers that she's actually at the center of an intergalactic family feud.  Believed to be the reincarnated matriarch of the House of Abrasax, a powerful interplanetary dynasty that measures its wealth in the inhabited planets they own and harvest the lifeforms of to create a valuable youth serum, Jupiter represents a new tangle in the scheming of the three Abrasax heirs; Titus (Douglas Booth), Kalique (Tuppence Middleton) and the most brutal with the most to lose, Balem (Eddie Redmayne).  With a bounty on her head, and Balem threatening to harvest the Earth rather than lose it to Jupiter, who possesses a claim to it, Caine resolves to help her claim her royal status.
As you can probably tell, JUPITER ASCENDING lays the science fiction mumbo jumbo on very thick.  There's actually a sequence in which Jupiter has to work her way through all the comically convoluted intergalactic bureaucracy of various forms and governmental departments, dealing with arbitrary rules and absurd conventions, providing a commentary on the the movie as a whole in a way that almost seems aware.  In doesn't help that the movie is severely over-plotted, with constantly twisting narratives driven by continuously changing politics.  There's no strong through-line in the thick mishmash of the Wachowskis' Eastern philosophies and loosely stung together scenarios.  In all the pieces that struggle to come together in a cohesive whole,it is comprised of YA fantasy, Star Wars and Terry Gilliam styles of science fiction, and other elements.

 They have a cast however, that is surprisingly adept at dealing with their material, especially Tatum, who just keeps getting better and better, and gives JUPITER ASCENDING a sly sense of humor about itself as a "splice", a genetically-engineered warrior, part man, part wolf.
The movie was originally scheduled for release on July 2014, prior to being rescheduled just a couple of months before, citing the necessity of more time to finish the visual effects.  Maybe they did spend some more time on visual effects, but it doesn't take a box office analyst to see the obvious difficulty of selling a summer blockbuster without a brand to go with it.  Even in February, it isn't expected to do the business necessary to justify a $176 million budget, although it might be able to break even in the international box office.  But there's no mistaking it for anything other than a summer movie, even with its slow season YA adaptation traits.  With a Michael Giacchino musical score and colorful, exciting (if somewhat over-designed) action set-pieces, JUPITER ASCENDING is actually a fair bit of fun once you wade through the convoluted plotting and over-explained sci-fi world-building.
It's not for everyone, but it's kind of fun if you just go with it.