Jupiter Ascending

Sometimes I really don't get IMDb and critics I avoided this movie like the plague as it had such low ratings by users and critics, so I thought it would be a complete waste of time But I've upgraded my home projector recently, and it supports 3D, and since then, I'm having fun in trying this format. Wachowski's always make great visuals, so I jumped into it because of the 3D, but with very low expectations regarding the movie To my complete surprise, it turned out the movie was very good, in the sense it was highly entertaining The story has it's flaws, like any regular movie, but it's not a complete nonsense like some people try to sell you Can't understand how rubbish movies like Fast&Furious 7 and Iron Man 3 make millions at the box office and have such good ratings, where this one flopped and has such poor ones I mean even complete trash like Godzilla, Robocop (2014), John Carter and San Andreas have a higher score than Jupiter Ascending!!! What a hell is going on with you people?

I must say, the critics of this film seem overly harsh. If nothing else, the film is worth seeing for the special effects. I thought Mila Kunis was better in Black Swan, but she wasn't bad in the lead role. The plot was very strange, but that is what the Wachowski's do best. A lot of small rolls and cameos from big stars. And I wish Doona Bae had a larger role, as she stole the show in Cloud Atlas.I can see, why this movie cost 175 million dollars. The sets were brilliant and very imaginative. The 3d was also cool. If you are looking for something which isn't your boiler plate science fiction, give this film a day in court.

I'm not sure how to start this review so I'll just get right into it: This movie isn't good. It makes no sense. There is no room to get immersed in this world because there is no story to relate to. It's all just stuff happening; fluff. Beautiful, well made fluff mind you, but at its core this movie is a steaming hot mess.

Here's the plot from what I gathered: Mila Kunis is suddenly the majesty of the Earth and has to protect it from a bunch of rich douchebags that live in Jupiter's atmosphere who want to use it for harvesting grounds or something. It's a dumb plot, and every scene that tries to move the plot forward is a scene wasted. The only interesting parts of this movie are the visuals and Channing Tatum's character, but even he is given absolutely no character development. He's just a badass space agent, or something. I don't even remember.

The characters end up the same way they began - there was no journey to redemption or revelation for anyone. It was just do this, do that, stop this, go home, the end. And they try to include multiple stories, like Mila Kunis' relationship with her family (boooring); Caine (Tatum) and Stinger's (Sean Bean) history (wholly underdeveloped), the whole villain arc...

The villains in this movie are spoiled brats. Seriously. They're not scary, they're not intimidating, there was no point in the movie where I was like "oh man sh*t is about to go down"; there was just no intrigue. Their motives were all over the place. It's not worth trying to piece together every plot point they throw into the movie because it will just lead to confusion and disappointment, and eventually frustration when you realize how much potential was wasted in creating this massive universe. The lizards looked really cool. Why not have more of them? Oh we're just going to focus on the playboy brat now, okay.

I really wanted to care about this universe. It has a Star Wars vibe in parts, like the "royal" wedding scene and the space battles, but there were no good characters to experience this adventure with. You're just watching things happen with no consequences, or at least none you cared about.

The acting was fine in this movie. Channing Tatum and Sean Bean in particular gave great performances, and Eddie Redmayne as the primary antagonist was decent as well. Yeah, he's an Academy Award winner, and as much as I hate to say it I have not seen The Theory of Everything yet but I loved him in Les Mis so I was really hoping he would save this movie. Unfortunately the material he's given is absolute garbage, so in an effort to make the character stand out, Redmayne give him a weird, eerie, whisper voice that was akin to a hundred year old man trying to force words out from the back of his throat. But hey, I think it worked. The guy is completely unlikeable so might as well give him a unique trait to remember him by. Good on Mr. Redmayne because he succeeded. The only things I will remember about this movie are the cool visuals, the wasted potential, and his creepy voice.

Don't see this movie. Unless you want to see some really great CGI for a couple hours, which can be found in much better places by the way, you won't find anything worth salvaging from Jupiter Ascending. It was a nice effort but ultimately a swing and a miss.

This movie came out last year (2015) and has had overall bad reviews. But despite that I gave it a shot having low expectations.

I actually liked it. Sure it was rough in some places. The relationship between Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum didn't seem real (more like cold).

But you have to understand what they were shooting for. It's a very ambitious science fiction fantasy movie. It reminded me a bit of Dune (the book and movies). The special effects were great. A lot of action. It feels like it could have been great if there was real chemistry between the two and if they would have smoothed out a few of the rough spots.

Overall pretty entertaining.

This film is basically a mash-up of Dune, John Carter and Doctor Who (and quite a few others). And a very well made and hugely entertaining mash-up at that. I enjoyed it. Not a classic of the genre but very entertaining - although I can understand some people getting upset at not being able to follow the somewhat demanding, fast paced, multi-level story, whispered dialogue, and unconventional narrative. I especially liked the neat blend of science fiction and fantasy and the nice fairy tale vibe. I loved those dragons. I enjoyed it about as much as I enjoyed Blade Runner and The Fifth Element. It certainly does not deserve some of the ridiculously negative reviews that I have seen. Which just goes to show it is all a question of personal taste I suppose.