The Wachowskis' Jupiter Ascending (2015) (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Sun]

High concepts of planetary ownership, coupled with interplanetary bureaucracy hijinks, and genetic jackpot royalty standards adds up to lot of space opera visuals and cliched intergalactic plot mechanisms, but the script fails in engaging in the stakes of the outcome between the small group of protagonists (characters played by Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, and Sean Bean), and antogonists (amongst them, there is the main one most absurdly played by Eddie Redmayne in an irritating manner), so lots of explosive action, flights of fancy, and chaos show up on the screen, but ultimately a bland meal of sci-fi cinema.


Also, I felt the action scenes lacked any sense of inertia or excitement, so the special effects were not all that special at all, looked rather cheap to my eyes. Some of that has to go to the direction by the Wachowski siblings, all in all, a disappointing effort.


I give it 2 stars or a grade of C.

 

[Greg.K]

After maybe the 4th or 5th time Tatum's character literally swooped in to save Jupiter in the nick of time, I began to think that this would be the basis of a decent drinking game...

 

[joshEH]

Actually really enjoyed this. Was way more fascinating than I was expecting, going by what a few sorehead critics are saying at the moment. This is basically the third film in a trilogy consisting of Flash Gordon and The Fifth Element, with more interesting notions and subtext than both of those movies put together.


And ridiculously entertaining, on top of all that: Jupiter's zany Russian family (especially cousin Vlad). The little nods to UFO lore (grays, abductions, crop circles). Balem campin' it up with his henchmen from Gargoyles. Titus of the House of Eurotrash wanting to marry his mom. Caine getting his wings at the end like he's Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life. Bees!


I was kinda waiting for the father to come back in a Recurrence, or whatever. They cast James D'Arcy, who was great in Cloud Atlas, and who's killing it on Agent Carter. I thought he might end up being some space king, or something. Maybe in the sequel in my head.


But, back to Balem. He was, by far, my absolute favorite thing about this movie. I've always been drawn to larger-than-life movie villains. It's a hard performance to master, because most actors tend to go too broad and lurch into parody, but Eddie Redmayne was fantastic here. Whispering, and then SHOUTING, and then whispering again while reclining on his chair; eyes glistening as though he'd just finished a mammoth crying-session, and a smile that continually popped up at the wrong time. It's such a crime that we had so few scenes with him.


However, I have a Jupiter-sized soft spot for audaciously-large space opera. And the visuals, both the action and the design, are top-notch. Some rich guy should seriously buy up everything that has to do with Jodorowsky's Dune and get the Wachowskis to make it.

 

[Greg.K]

And

Spoiler

Sean Bean survived.

That has to count for something.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

The film, written and directed by The Wachowskis, opened in around 65 territories and cost a whopping $175 million to make, but only managed to take a pitiful $19 million domestically,

Yeee - ouch!


The Ws next movie will probably be filmed on one static, FX free set. If not, they should seriously consider it.

 

[Michael Elliott]

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/jupiter-ascending-flop-wachowskis-failure-1201427887/


I can't speak for the quality of this film or if it's original but just another case in point that original work usually means crickets.

 

[Ejanss]

Yeee - ouch!


The Ws next movie will probably be filmed on one static, FX free set. If not, they should seriously consider it.

Speaking as one who never went geek-nuts over the Matrix in '99...maybe they were just always loonies, and we never noticed until now?

(The sequels would rather attest to that.)


Granted, they were crazy enough to make a good movie out of Speed Racer, but that's when somebody else comes up with the basic concepts.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/jupiter-ascending-flop-wachowskis-failure-1201427887/


I can't speak for the quality of this film or if it's original but just another case in point that original work usually means crickets.

I agreed with the intent of the article but not the inference that original equals quality so therefore deserves automatic support. Reaction to JA has been decidely subpar confirming early symptons ie pushing the movie to the dumping ground of February.

 

[Ejanss]

I agreed with the intent of the article but not the inference that original equals quality so therefore deserves automatic support. Reaction to JA has been decidely subpar confirming early symptons ie pushing the movie to the dumping ground of February.

We're getting JA and Seventh Son in the same February dump, two movies I would always see scheduled, and think "They haven't released them yet? Thought they came out two years ago! "

 

[Alan Tully]

Ouch! 19 million US in the opening weekend, & it doesn't sound like word of mouth is going to do much for this week & next weekend. I suppose if you gamble big, you can lose big. I take no pleasure in this, some peoples jobs could be on the line, & a studio looking at big losses will be less likely to gamble on a new director or a challenging script.


I won't be seeing this, or the new Avengers, or any other of the superhero stuff. I've had enough of these special effects epics.

 

[TravisR]

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/jupiter-ascending-flop-wachowskis-failure-1201427887/


I can't speak for the quality of this film or if it's original but just another case in point that original work usually means crickets.

Yep and somehow people will still wonder why Hollywood is making more Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, Marvel and Star Wars, etc. movies. Audiences want what they know and Hollywood gives the people what they want.

 

[dpippel]

I think that audiences simply want good films, and IMO JA isn't a good film. There has been plenty of successful original work and plenty of "what they know" work that has completely sucked.

 

[Todd H]

I think that audiences simply want good films, and IMO JA isn't a good film. There has been plenty of successful original work and plenty of "what they know" work that has completely sucked.

Agreed. Look at American Sniper. Who would have thought it would be the monster hit it is. And it isn't based on an existing franchise.

 

[TravisR]

I think that audiences simply want good films...

If that was the case, Boyhood or Whiplash would make $300 million and Transformers would make $15 million. The quality of Jupiter Ascending is basically irrelevant because people didn't even go to see it to decide if they did or didn't like it. It's not because of the reviews (plenty of movies make a ton of money with worse reviews), it's because they're most interested in seeing what they feel is a safe bet for their dollar. They don't know Jupiter Ascending so they didn't go.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Agreed. Look at American Sniper. Who would have thought it would be the monster hit it is. And it isn't based on an existing franchise.

Wait - you're saying "American Sniper" wasn't a sequel to "American Gangster"???

 

[Vic Pardo]

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/jupiter-ascending-flop-wachowskis-failure-1201427887/


I can't speak for the quality of this film or if it's original but just another case in point that original work usually means crickets.

I can't find it now, but one of the reviews I read of JUPITER ASCENDING cited a dozen different sci-fi/superhero franchises that this movie borrows from. So the author's contention in the piece linked that the audience rejected something "original" doesn't quite wash here. Read the comments section for more.

 

[joshEH]

I can't find it now, but one of the reviews I read of JUPITER ASCENDING cited a dozen different sci-fi/superhero franchises that this movie borrows from. So the author's contention in the piece linked that the audience rejected something "original" doesn't quite wash here. Read the comments section for more.

Yeah, but your average ticketbuyer doesn't know that. All they saw were TV ads and posters showing Channing Tatum wearing elf ears, and minus a familiar sequel number or Marvel franchise logo attached to it.


True story: When my wife and I were standing in line at the theater for this, we saw the NASCAR hat-wearing father of the rather large family directly in front of us forbid his kids from going to see this movie literally because it wasn't a known property, something they could at least get a familiar handle on. (He "[wasn't] sure about it," is a direct quotation.) And the kids really wanted to see this, going by the overheard conversation. They split their ticket-purchases between Spongebob and American Sniper instead. At $12.50 per ticket, in a weird way, I actually kinda understood where he was coming from.


My wife looked over at me and went, "Sign of the times."

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I didn't read the book [Cloud Atlas] prior to seeing the film, but I am always looking (and hoping) for deeper meaning and implicit connections when watching movies, science-fiction in particular, that I didn't need to read the book to 'get it,' (I hope that doesn't sound smug,) but I've put the book on my 'need to read' list to feel out how the page does it differently from the visual medium.

The movie's imagery was very much in tune with my own imagination's interpretation of the book. As connections are the theme of the story, I'm not surprised that you "got" the movie if that's what you were looking for.


The main difference between the book and the movie is the structure of the presentation of the multiple stories (which in the book is very clever and original -- I guess maybe they thought it wouldn't work as well in movie form). The stories themselves were not changed significantly. I expect you'll enjoy the read.

 

[Ejanss]

Yeah, but your average ticketbuyer doesn't know that. All they saw were TV ads and posters showing Channing Tatum wearing elf ears, and minus a familiar sequel number or Marvel franchise logo attached to it.

We've had PLENTY of chances (at least, during its first scheduled date) to see how silly it was in the trailer, after that, the studio just sort of gave up telling us about it.

So the audience was divided between those who did know how silly it was, and those who hadn't the first clue, neither prospect good for the movie.


As for the Tatum poster, that's been the problem since the 00's--Since actors know they'll never see profits from the movie, their agents levy to see how prominently they can be featured on the poster advertising. And since every actor's agent has the same demand, that doesn't leave room for anything else except the actors striking poses or a collection of heads, in this case against a cosmic background that couldn't easily be distinguished from Thor 2....And, from the sound of it, wasn't.

(The "My client wants his own poster!" problem is also the reason why we have those new "character series" posters before release, like the one telling us that James Corden IS the Baker in Into the Woods. That way, each actor gets to believe he's getting the profits from his own character merchandizing, like he negotiated for. It's also why the first "teaser" poster will never show the actor's face, and usually have him in shadow or his back to the camera.)

Every time some fan wants to dream up the "Ideal poster!" for his movie, we have to break the sad truth to him.

 

[Bobby Henderson]

Some people are using the failure of Jupiter Ascending and its "originality" as a rationale to keep making derivative sequels, remakes, etc.


I hate to break it to those folks, but the movie studio executives who green-lit this space opera did it in the mindset of it being a sort of Matrix sequel. In all of the marketing both the Wachowskis' name and The Matrix are mentioned at every opportunity. The studio indulged the Wachowskis desire to make this movie because they were the Wachowskis.


Would a movie studio have green-lit a movie like this if it was helmed by a director with no huge hits in his filmography? Hell no.


The Wachowski siblings are probably going to have a much harder time getting any big budget science fiction/fantasy movies made in the future. They may end up having to more modestly budgeted movies and perhaps even movies more rooted into regular reality. That might not be such a bad thing. Bound was a pretty good movie.