Official Description: From the streets of Chicago to far flung galaxies whirling through space, Jupiter Ascending is a science fiction epic adventure that follows the downtrodden Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis — Black Swan), who’s destined for greatness. When a genetically engineered ex-military hunter Caine (Channing Tatum — Magic Mike) tracks her down, she starts to glimpse the fate waiting for her all along — her genetic signature marking her as next in line for an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos. Lana and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix films, Cloud Atlas) take us on another visionary journey into the unknown. Also starring Sean Bean (Game of Thrones), Eddie Redmayne (Les Misérables) and Douglas Booth (Noah), this sci-fi thrill-ride will expand your universe. The battle for our world begins with her.
Unofficial Description: As a community, we, the Genre Fans, and perhaps, specifically, Literary Genre Fans, are, in a word, harsh. We decry the Hollywood machine churning out the same PG-13 crap cloaked in a science fictional or fantasy cloak while pleading for some sort of originality. Something to make us sit up and take notice.
And, when Hollywood tries, we, inevitably, trash the effort. There are so few truly original ideas out there that impress us that it’s difficult to point at them and say, “Here. This is what we want. Give us more like this.”
Which would, sadly, be the Hollywood machine churning out more of the same and diluting whatever it was that we loved so hard.
Watching Jupiter Ascending, I get the sense someone was listening. They tried. In fact, I’d go so far as to say they tried ‘hard’. They failed. But they did try.
The FX is done quite well. I even think the story could’ve worked with other actors.
Now, don’t go all Magic Mike rabid Channing Tatum fan on me. Watch this film and tell me he belongs in it. Go on. This isn’t really much better than G.I. Joe for him. Seriously. And Mila Kunis… I don’t think she has found her sweet spot yet. She’s come a long way from That 70’s Show. Her turn in The Book of Eli and Forgetting Sarah Marshall were both quite good. But in this, again, it didn’t feel right.
I imagine there will be a group of kids out there who will view this as -their- science fiction film, the one that got them hooked, made them care, convinced them to dig a little deeper – and that’s fine.
But, for me, not so great.
Like last week’s Dracula Untold, I caught this one on cable and am glad I didn’t spend money on a movie ticket or DVD.
