'Jupiter Ascending' is not a complete disaster, but it is one of the biggest wastes of potential personally seen in recent memory. There are some very interesting ideas here and there is some ambitious scope, so 'Jupiter Ascending' had real potential to be great, but these ideas are practically lost in space.
Starting with a few good things, much of 'Jupiter Ascending' looks great. The special effects are out of this world good, the film is beautifully shot and the production design has much colour, atmosphere and astonishing realism, successfully at first allowing the viewer to be immersed in and captivated by the world the characters inhabit. The music is rousing, haunting and lusciously as well as thrillingly bombastically orchestrated. 'Jupiter Ascending' also boasts one good performance, that of an effortlessly cool and sincere Sean Bean.
Channing Tatum is not that awful an actor but he can do nothing with his worthless material, here he's very wooden and displays little involvement and charisma. Worse is Mila Kunis, who shows the emotional range of a zombie. Their chemistry is so cold and clinical, one can be forgiven for thinking that it's non-existent. On the other side of the acting spectrum, Eddie Redmayne tries far too hard as the villain and comes over as more very bizarre than threatening. With the sole exception of Bean, all the cast do a lousy job.
They are disadvantaged by the listless direction by the Wachowskis, very sketchily written characters and a script that is clunky in structure and with such toe curlingly bad dialogue, some of the worst of any big-budget film since 'Pearl Harbor'. While 'Jupiter Ascending' is mostly fine visually, there is an overload of special effects that it comes at the expense of any sense and soul and some of the editing is both sloppy and choppy. The action is a mixed bag, some of it is diverting and other parts lack fun, tension and most of all cohesion.
If there is one element where 'Jupiter Ascending' falls down most heavily, it is the story. The story had a great ambitious concept with some equally great ideas, but explores the concept and ideas very little, barely even, and its themes are only lightly touched upon. Structurally and dramatically the film is a badly disorganised mess, some parts don't even make much sense, indicating that the film was intended to be like at least twenty minutes longer but had to be cut down. There is a distinct lack of suspense, tension and soul, some effort was clearly made but it was like people's hearts weren't properly in it. Pacing is all over the place, the actual story feels rushed, indicating that the film would have worked better at least twenty minutes longer as a film or as a mini-series, but because the experience is so emotionally and dramatically empty it feels dull too.
Overall, a very messy but good looking film. To be admired more for its ambition, which promised much, than its execution, which is quite poor in several big areas. 3/10 Bethany Cox
Starting with a few good things, much of 'Jupiter Ascending' looks great. The special effects are out of this world good, the film is beautifully shot and the production design has much colour, atmosphere and astonishing realism, successfully at first allowing the viewer to be immersed in and captivated by the world the characters inhabit. The music is rousing, haunting and lusciously as well as thrillingly bombastically orchestrated. 'Jupiter Ascending' also boasts one good performance, that of an effortlessly cool and sincere Sean Bean.
Channing Tatum is not that awful an actor but he can do nothing with his worthless material, here he's very wooden and displays little involvement and charisma. Worse is Mila Kunis, who shows the emotional range of a zombie. Their chemistry is so cold and clinical, one can be forgiven for thinking that it's non-existent. On the other side of the acting spectrum, Eddie Redmayne tries far too hard as the villain and comes over as more very bizarre than threatening. With the sole exception of Bean, all the cast do a lousy job.
They are disadvantaged by the listless direction by the Wachowskis, very sketchily written characters and a script that is clunky in structure and with such toe curlingly bad dialogue, some of the worst of any big-budget film since 'Pearl Harbor'. While 'Jupiter Ascending' is mostly fine visually, there is an overload of special effects that it comes at the expense of any sense and soul and some of the editing is both sloppy and choppy. The action is a mixed bag, some of it is diverting and other parts lack fun, tension and most of all cohesion.
If there is one element where 'Jupiter Ascending' falls down most heavily, it is the story. The story had a great ambitious concept with some equally great ideas, but explores the concept and ideas very little, barely even, and its themes are only lightly touched upon. Structurally and dramatically the film is a badly disorganised mess, some parts don't even make much sense, indicating that the film was intended to be like at least twenty minutes longer but had to be cut down. There is a distinct lack of suspense, tension and soul, some effort was clearly made but it was like people's hearts weren't properly in it. Pacing is all over the place, the actual story feels rushed, indicating that the film would have worked better at least twenty minutes longer as a film or as a mini-series, but because the experience is so emotionally and dramatically empty it feels dull too.
Overall, a very messy but good looking film. To be admired more for its ambition, which promised much, than its execution, which is quite poor in several big areas. 3/10 Bethany Cox