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| Directed and Written by Andy and Lana Wachowski |
Nearly two decades ago, Warner Bros. took a chance on a bizarre high-concept sci-fi pitch from two almost completely unknown filmmakers. The result was The Matrix, one of the biggest game changers ever for film making in general, and especially for action films. While I might not think it holds up especially well, it did put the idea that even effects driven spectacle can have something going on under the surface in the minds of the critical press, other film makers, and the movie going public, something that I would argue is an incredibly valuable thing.
Ever since then high concept has been the Wachowski's stock and trade, and Jupiter Ascending is their latest effort in that regard. A galaxy spanning space opera that is finally getting released after a six month delay. Was it worth the wait? Well, let me put it this way. If The Matrix proved action flicks can have a brain, then Jupiter Ascending proves that they can be lobotomized. It wants to be a movie of big ideas, intricately detailed worlds, and overarching themes, but it feels like either the studio or the editors have forced the film currently in theaters as Jupiter Ascending to focus primarily on the action scenes. As a result it's sufficiently entertaining in its current form, but it constantly feels like it could have been so much more than that.
Our story focuses on Mila Kunis as Jupiter Jones, the daughter of a Russian immigrant family that discovers she is the genetic reincarnation of essentially the queen of the universe. The queen's three children, not wanting to lose any of their inheritance, send a group of mercenaries to kidnap her and force her to sign over her title, leading Channing Tatum as a human-wolf hybrid named Caine to protect her long enough for her to claim her title.
The big idea here is that the queen was the CEO of Abraxas Industries, a company in the business of seeding thousands of planets with human populations, letting them grow to the point of overpopulation, and then harvesting them for a life extending serum traded among more advanced species. If that sounds like a new angle on The Matrix's central conceit of humanity being a bunch of cattle unaware and uncaring that they're headed for the slaughterhouse except for one special snowflake that not only knows the truth but can save them all, then your'e right. The difference here is that while Neo always thought he was different and couldn't wait to be told that he was the Messiah, Jupiter has no delusions of godhood and just wants to save her family from planet wide genocide.
That, both the conceit of 'God is an industrial farming outfit' and Jupiter's devotion to keeping her family safe, is what the directors/writers clearly wanted Jupiter Ascending to be about, but somewhere down the road either they or the studio decided to focus it on big effects driven spectacle instead. The fighting is consistently impressive from a technical standpoint, but since the dramatic scenes that would have built up character among the combatants are so few and far between these action beats are almost completely un-involving.
In the end Jupiter Ascending is something of a disappointment, at least in its current form. Its worth seeing for die-hard Wachowski fans, but for everyone else I can say to wait for a directors cut on home video. I'd still call it a good time, but only if you can ignore how much better it could have been.
Have a nice day.
Greg.B
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