If screenwriters, directors and producers Andrew and Lana Wachowski have proven anything over the years, it’s that any film they make will either be one of two things: a visually stunning masterpiece or a convoluted mess.
Perhaps most acclaimed for creating the Matrix films, the Wachowskis have a number of extremely creative and well-crafted titles on their resumes including Cloud Atlas and V for Vendetta. The most notable aspect of their films lies in their expertise in world-crafting. Be it a dystopian England or a computerized Hell, Wachowski films always promise to take audiences to new and interesting worlds.
Unfortunately the Wachowskis also have a nasty habit of going entirely too far with their writing, oftentimes allowing their stories to become so contrived or convoluted that they almost cease to exist entirely (examples include Speed Racer and the Matrix sequels). Equally unfortunate for the Wachowskis is their most recent film, Jupiter Ascending, which falls prey to this issue more so than any other film they’ve produced.
Despite sporting some impressive visual effects and a backstory that has fantastic promise, the film never really manages to evoke that sense of an otherworldly place similar to that of The Matrix. In fact, the film’s biggest failure is that it provides entirely too little setup and explanation for anything.
Jupiter Ascending tells the story of a young woman named Jupiter (Mila Kunis), an unambitious woman who spends her life cleaning the homes of the wealthy. Despite her mundane life, she soon finds herself pulled into a power struggle from the stars. Apparently Earth is the most recent target of a family of entrepreneurial alien royalty whose job is to create, grow and harvest new life forms in order to process them into some form of youth-preserving cosmetic.
After the matriarch of this alien dynasty dies, her children squabble among themselves as to what is to be done with Earth and the future industry. After one of the aliens targets Jupiter for reasons unknown, she is saved by supersoldier Caine Wise (Channing Tatum). As the two travel together, Jupiter begins to discover precisely how she fits into this grand power struggle, and she must decide for herself what stance she will take on the preservation of planet Earth.
In case it wasn’t clear from the summary, the plot of this film is an absolute cobbled mess. Plot twists come out of absolutely nowhere, unnecessary characters are introduced constantly and the story gives little clear direction on where precisely it wants to go. Most of the storytelling is given through exposition dumps directed to inform Jupiter and much of the plot just consists of her moving from place to place waiting for someone else to explain the plot to her.
Unfortunately, this style of exposition dump affords Jupiter very little room to grow as a character. Despite clearly growing into a new woman over the course of the film, nothing about her development feels earned. She simply travels to a new location, learns something new and reboots. Nothing within her development feels meaningful or compelling. Seeing as the entire film is about Jupiter coming to terms with her larger destiny, this is a particularly huge failing.
New characters are introduced to the story almost completely through to the end, and each new character is given very little time to actually develop before being cast aside in favor of the next plot point. Sean Bean’s character in particular feels especially wasted in this category.
Despite being introduced as a vital ally and longtime comrade to the Caine character, he’s given surprisingly little to do. Once Jupiter is taken off to the next exposition dump his character is more or less forgotten completely.
The same can be said of Tuppence Middleton’s character who seems to have been written into the film for the sole purpose of explaining key plot elements. On the whole it just feels like such a waste of talent to cast these actors into roles that ultimately serve no real purpose. And, to be honest, wasteful is the best way to describe this film as a whole. It was a wasted opportunity.
Admittedly its visuals are stunning. While perhaps not reaching the visual beauty of films like Interstellar or Gravity, the film’s sci-fi elements are handled quite well, making the film very pleasing to the eye. The action scenes are well-choreographed and the musical composition, while nothing special, maintains the atmosphere reasonably well.
Unfortunately, the universe the film depicts is given no room to breathe. There is simply so much going on from so many perspectives at all times that the film is unable to focus on anything long enough to develop it beyond a passing plot point. As a result the narrative dissolves into a mess of swift introductions and plot twists, preventing the audience from engaging with anything at all. The antagonistic alien dynasty, their civilizations and their intentions are given so little focus that they all come across almost comically; character traits are never shown, but simply explained.
Through Jupiter Ascending, the Wachowskis had an opportunity to show audiences something great. They had an opportunity to create a universe that could have been as grand and memorable as those found in prior films. All the elements for such development are there.
However, these elements are never fully realized, which leads to Jupiter Ascending amounting to nothing more than a series of pretty images and a nonsensical plot. If I may reference The Matrix just once more, go ahead and take the blue pill — this rabbit hole is not worth exploring.
Overall Rating: 2/5
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