This is a movie review for "Jupiter Ascending", released January 27, 2015 at the Sundance Film Festival, USA. I watched this in March 2020 with a friend of mine.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Run Time: 2 Hour and 7 Minutes
Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):
G / General Audiences
PG / Parental Guidance Suggested
PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned
R / Restricted
X
Not Rated
Trailer
Notable Cast
Mila Kunis ... Jupiter Jones
Channing Tatum ... Caine Wise
Sean Bean ... Stinger Apini
Eddie Redmayne ... Balem Abrasax
Douglas Booth ... Titus Abrasax
Tuppence Middleton ... Kalique Abrasax
Plot
Jupiter is the daughter of a star-observing enthusiast and a Russian woman. Her father died before she was born and she ends up growing up with extended family, working as a cleaning woman with some of her family. When she is at one of her client's house, she sees aliens attacking her client. And then, when she goes to see a feminine health clinic, she is also attacked by aliens. Jupiter is saved by an super cute alien named Caine Wise. He tells her that she is special and under attack. If she sticks with him, she might have a chance to survive. How is she special? Can they survive whomever is coming after them? Where is he from?
Rating Criteria
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.
4.5/5 - *SPOILERS* I know that this movie flopped at the box office but I really enjoyed this movie.
So Jupiter is special because she is a reincarnation of a matriarch of the Abrasax family. The family has made their living off of a "miracle cure" created from harvested and processed humans. We don't get the whole "how this works" but the fact that it is made from humans is pretty revolting, even if it does make the user younger and healed from diseases.
Jupiter, being the reincarnation of the matriarch, had been targeted for assassination because she could take over parts of the family business which isn't good for some of the sons' plans. One of the sons tries to have her killed so she is taken out of the picture, as he had done to his actual mother. The other son, however, tries to marry her to take possession of the planets that would have gone to her. (Yes, the one son tries to marry his mother's reincarnation. Think about that for a while... Gross. Talk about an Oedipus complex....)
Anyways, so Jupiter manages to get out of marrying the one Abrasax son (with help of Caine), accidentally kills another son, claims Earth as protected by her (as her charge, she is the queen of Earth) so that Earth isn't harvested for the "miracle cure" stuff, and she settles on Earth with Caine as a protector.
I personally think that there should be a second movie but that's out of the picture since this movie flopped badly at the theater. I also personally think that the bits of awkward conversation between Jupiter and Caine were cute and totally relatable. As for the "4 minutes" of bureaucracy for her to get the rights for Earth, I think it was relatable because who hasn't had to deal with lots and lots of paperwork and headaches, for example the DMV? I think that the laser skates are pretty awesome though there are questions about how effective they'd be in space (especially in a space suit that was a bubble first) or why Caine would be allowed to have them when he was in "prison".
Sure, the whole "use humans as energy" idea has been used a lot but why not. It isn't as blatant as the computers using humans as batteries ("Matrix") but the idea that energy is energy, even when in another life form, is out there. There's "Soylent Green" (which I haven't fully seen), the "Matrix", and vampirism in general. For this movie, who doesn't want long life, even if you know that thousands of people (if not more) had to give up their lives to extend yours? There's a huge moral question in this movie. Our IRL world might not have to deal with this question in this format but you could also take it to stem cell research. If it can cure cancer, why not use disregarded human fetuses, one might ask? Or does it matter that thousands of fetuses had to give their lives to cure cancer, if it saves other human lives? How do you calculate the value of life if you need to make others give up theirs for yours?
At one point, Jupiter nearly let the whole of Earth die for her family to be saved. Now, this seems very selfish but that question is very difficult to decide on because hey they're family. Again, she seemed like a little bit of an anti-hero at that point because you were fighting for Earth and now you're turning them in for your family? Wtf. But at the end of the day, after a few Abrasax deaths, she's the queen of Earth and decides to let everyone live (but is it only if her family is safe???). That's the main reason I downgraded the rating, honestly. Aside that, I rather liked this movie. Corny, sappy, and interesting, in my honest opinion.
Anyways, that's my movie review! Thank you for reading. More reviews to come eventually; keep an eye out.
~ Gracie Mae DeLunac
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Everything Wrong with Jupiter Ascending in 19 Minutes or Less
Credit: @CinemaSins
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