Movie Review: Jupiter Ascending

When the Wachowskis set out to make a movie, you know it’s not going to be a simple film. After they blew our collective minds with the original Matrix film in 1999, and then disappointed the bulk of moviegoers with the remaining Matrix Trilogy, the Wachowskis have still wowed us with visuals that have no equal in the Hollywood realm.

After the Matrix films, the Wachowskis, Lana and Andy, chose their follow-up by writing and producing “V for Vendetta.” But their directorial follow-up was the amazing visual treat, but box-office bomb that was “Speed Racer.” While its visuals were amazing, anyone interested in a cohesive plot was disappointed. Then, they joined up with German “Run Lola Run” director, Tom Tykwer to co-direct the epically complex (and rumored to be unfilmable) book adaptation of “Cloud Atlas.” What resulted was a somewhat admirably ambitious exercise in both acting and plot. It was another dazzlingly visual spectacle, but another ultimately unsatisfying story adaptation, possibly proving that “Cloud Atlas” was best left on the written page.  

At this point, one wondered if their Matrix success was just a one-off, or if the Wachowskis were doomed with Orson Welles Disease, that unfortunate affliction where a director pops off a superior early effort (Citizen Kane) and never comes close to topping that early effort. The collective question about the Wachowskis has been, has their time run out?

I’d like to say it hasn’t. Jupiter Ascending, while not anywhere close to the visceral pleasures that they offered in The Matrix, is a game effort, and about as close to the ambition and epic scope that filmgoers hoped to see from this genre-innovating duo. However, it is still not an improvement in the areas of plotting, pace, and story, that make movies more than just a visual feast.

The film focuses on a Russian-American named Jupiter Jones (played by Ukranian-American, Mila Kunis, who drops some of her first language in the film very realistically,) whose father was killed when she was a baby. Jupiter is a young adult now living in Chicago with her mother and other Russian relatives and working as a toilet-scrubber and general housecleaner. This is not the life her mother wanted for her.

Suddenly, through a complex series of events, Jupiter is hunted for reasons that if one were not paying close attention, would become very confusing very fast, and she is saved from certain death by a male warrior with flying boots named Caine Wise, played by a hunky Channing Tatum wearing something akin to Spock ears. Jupiter is whisked away and informed that she is much more important than she ever dreamed. To go into the exact details of her importance would be revealing too much of the plot, but she becomes wanted by several factions. Some want to protect her, and others want to destroy her.

In another galaxy far, far away, unbeknownst to Jupiter, plans are being laid for her ultimate destruction by a powerful galactic family with machinations not unfamiliar to anyone who watches “Game of Thrones,” and soon, both Jupiter and Caine are under heavy attack.

What ensues is a grand series of action sequences, shaky alliances, trustworthy friends, outrageous betrayals, and the like, where we must weave our way through an anime-like plot complexity of strange names and unclear motivations to figure out who or what is behind the scheming and why we should really care.

I found the plot at times a chore to follow, but I feel I did reasonably well considering all of the bombast of the film and the spray of alien names and situations thrown our way. Mark my words: Anyone going into the theater to see this should be forewarned not to distract themselves with popcorn or a sip of soda for fear of missing something crucial to the story. If I had missed something of the plot along the way, I think I would have been lost and not enjoyed it for what it offers.

What it does offer is yet another visual spectacle of action sequences, fight scenes, alien settings, and wonderful visuals. Clearly, the Wachowskis love their FX departments. But the film still lacks the kind of clearly focused storytelling to match the ambition of the visuals. It’s another “fish-out-of-water” story and a story of a “chosen one,” both elements that are told much better in the first Matrix film.

Jupiter Ascending wants to be so complex and challenging that its story arc is dizzying, its plot twists are weak and unconvincing, and it’s far too much action and visual intensity, and not nearly enough character-based or emotional complexity for me to recommend this to everyone.

The Wachowskis appear to want to make films that are heavily reliant on special effects, but they fail to see why The Matrix was such a success. That plot was very simple to understand, the villains were easy to identify, and the twists were satisfying. The directing pair, while remaining excellent visual directors, has yet to give us the same combination of complex visuals and story combined.

I would recommend Jupiter Ascending if you love visual spectacles, and for that, I definitely recommend IMAX 3D for this film. But if you want a great story, this is movie is a disappointment.