Remember that old gag from The Three Stooges where Larry, Curly, and Moe would all try to walk through the same doorway at the same time and they'd end up getting jammed? Well that scenario pretty much describes the plot of Jupiter Ascending, an ambitious attempt by the Wachowski's at crafting their own space opera, which while entertaining in its visuals and action, fails to keep up with its own ambitions.
First I'd like to say this movie is beautiful. The opening action scenes in Chicago are fun to watch and once we get off the earth we see an extremely detailed universe that you can tell had a lot of thought put into it. Unfortunately the best way you can tell is from all the exposition.
Now there's nothing wrong with exposition, it's necessary especially if you're going to do a fish out of water story about an earth girl that learns she's actually space royalty. Unfortunately the movie gets so caught up in its own exposition the titular Jupiter is never really given a chance to reflect on it all and just sort of nods her way through it. There's no real discovery of the new world she's been thrown into, it's just explained to her and she reacts accordingly.
Meanwhile there's a subplot about Jupiter's family back on earth and how her cousin is in trouble because he already spent the money he was expecting to get from Jupiter donating one of her eggs. This is played to comedic effect and it works a little, however, it's soon dropped so the family can be kidnapped by Jupiter's genetic... space son? So he can hold them hostage and force Jupiter to sign the earth over to him. This is her other genetic space son, not the one who wants to marry her and kill her so he can own the earth... are you following me?
I don't even remember what her genetic space daughter wanted, but all three of them are involved with harvesting humans to create a sort of fountain of youth they can bathe in to stay young. Basically the earth is like a farm where the space royalty grows and harvest humans every few centuries... I'm not sure if it's only every few centuries or if they wait for the population to get to a certain point then harvest it. It's not very well explained.
So, the main villain's plan seems to be to harvest the earth while he still owns it, but then Jupiter claims it as hers about halfway through the movie so that threat is gone pretty fast. Which is why the bad guy then kidnaps Jupiter's family to force her to sign the earth over to him so he can harvest it. No need to worry though because Space Wolf Channing Tatum is there to save the props previously known as characters from death meaning Jupiter can hold onto the earth and the bad guy meets his implied demise, although I have to imagine they left it vague to keep it open to the possibility of sequels.
I gotta say, I appreciate what's trying to be done here. Unfortunately there's not much room in the plot for characters to actually move around and develop. But because they spend so much time explaining things and setting up all these plot points it's impossible to get a satisfying resolution to everything and most of the points brought up are just dropped.
The movie ends with Jupiter back on earth, now the owner of it, yet the only thing that's changed for her is she's happier living her life as a housemaid because she gets to fly around the Sears Tower with Channing Tatum now. Shouldn't more have changed for her? Shouldn't more have changed for her world? She doesn't know what it means to own the earth, well maybe that's something that should have been explained by the end of the movie!
It may be unfair to compare this to The Matrix, but at the end of The Matrix you actually feel like things are happening, at the end of Jupiter Ascending you're left kinda wondering what the whole point was.
This movie actually may have played better as a TV show. Or even split into two or three movies. Stretch the exposition out a little so you can actually do something with it. And most importantly make Jupiter a real character with an arch, not just someone who just goes along with everything until she needs to be saved.
I'll even give the Wachowski's the benefit of the doubt and assume that somewhere there's a longer directors cut of this that actually brings about a better paced and more satisfying resolution. At least I'd like to see it if it does exist. I would totally be up for watching a 3 hour version of this movie that actually gives it room to move around in its elaborate world as opposed to this 2 hour cut that feels like it can't settle on what it wants to be about.
As is, this movie seems more concerned with explaining the world it takes place in as opposed to giving us a reason to care. It's not terrible, and it actually can be very entertaining at some points, but it just can't keep up with itself.
First I'd like to say this movie is beautiful. The opening action scenes in Chicago are fun to watch and once we get off the earth we see an extremely detailed universe that you can tell had a lot of thought put into it. Unfortunately the best way you can tell is from all the exposition.
Now there's nothing wrong with exposition, it's necessary especially if you're going to do a fish out of water story about an earth girl that learns she's actually space royalty. Unfortunately the movie gets so caught up in its own exposition the titular Jupiter is never really given a chance to reflect on it all and just sort of nods her way through it. There's no real discovery of the new world she's been thrown into, it's just explained to her and she reacts accordingly.
Meanwhile there's a subplot about Jupiter's family back on earth and how her cousin is in trouble because he already spent the money he was expecting to get from Jupiter donating one of her eggs. This is played to comedic effect and it works a little, however, it's soon dropped so the family can be kidnapped by Jupiter's genetic... space son? So he can hold them hostage and force Jupiter to sign the earth over to him. This is her other genetic space son, not the one who wants to marry her and kill her so he can own the earth... are you following me?
I don't even remember what her genetic space daughter wanted, but all three of them are involved with harvesting humans to create a sort of fountain of youth they can bathe in to stay young. Basically the earth is like a farm where the space royalty grows and harvest humans every few centuries... I'm not sure if it's only every few centuries or if they wait for the population to get to a certain point then harvest it. It's not very well explained.
So, the main villain's plan seems to be to harvest the earth while he still owns it, but then Jupiter claims it as hers about halfway through the movie so that threat is gone pretty fast. Which is why the bad guy then kidnaps Jupiter's family to force her to sign the earth over to him so he can harvest it. No need to worry though because Space Wolf Channing Tatum is there to save the props previously known as characters from death meaning Jupiter can hold onto the earth and the bad guy meets his implied demise, although I have to imagine they left it vague to keep it open to the possibility of sequels.
I gotta say, I appreciate what's trying to be done here. Unfortunately there's not much room in the plot for characters to actually move around and develop. But because they spend so much time explaining things and setting up all these plot points it's impossible to get a satisfying resolution to everything and most of the points brought up are just dropped.
The movie ends with Jupiter back on earth, now the owner of it, yet the only thing that's changed for her is she's happier living her life as a housemaid because she gets to fly around the Sears Tower with Channing Tatum now. Shouldn't more have changed for her? Shouldn't more have changed for her world? She doesn't know what it means to own the earth, well maybe that's something that should have been explained by the end of the movie!
It may be unfair to compare this to The Matrix, but at the end of The Matrix you actually feel like things are happening, at the end of Jupiter Ascending you're left kinda wondering what the whole point was.
This movie actually may have played better as a TV show. Or even split into two or three movies. Stretch the exposition out a little so you can actually do something with it. And most importantly make Jupiter a real character with an arch, not just someone who just goes along with everything until she needs to be saved.
I'll even give the Wachowski's the benefit of the doubt and assume that somewhere there's a longer directors cut of this that actually brings about a better paced and more satisfying resolution. At least I'd like to see it if it does exist. I would totally be up for watching a 3 hour version of this movie that actually gives it room to move around in its elaborate world as opposed to this 2 hour cut that feels like it can't settle on what it wants to be about.
As is, this movie seems more concerned with explaining the world it takes place in as opposed to giving us a reason to care. It's not terrible, and it actually can be very entertaining at some points, but it just can't keep up with itself.
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