Jupiter Ascending - Movie Review (New Format)

Hello again.  Time for a new movie review by yours truly Baatezuu.  I am trying a new format for this review, let me know what you think in the comments below.  I went once again to my favorite movie theatre, The Alamo Drafthouse.  This time I saw the Sci-Fi epic Jupiter Ascending.

General Comments

For anyone who knows me, I am a geek.  For those of you who do not know me, suffice it to say if it has cool tech gadgets I am on that movie as fast as a superhero to a damsel in distress.  No offense meant to the strong ladies in my life.  I am well aware that women kick butt too.  Anyway, back to the comments, this film is full of some of the most imaginative tech I have seen in a movie to date.  It is not just the tech gadgets that stun and amaze, it is the story and visuals as well.  There is even a love story too, so you can take your girlfriends that only like mushy films and she will not hate you for it.

Let me take a moment to explain the new blog format.  I felt I needed more room to express how I felt about the movies I decided upgrade to a seven smiley Mike head format.  In doing so I have more smileyness to work with, and no more strange half Mike heads.  Lets face it, half a Mike head is like something out of a horror movie.  Also, I now have more clearly defined section, and each section gets its own rating.  I will take these individual rating and combine them into some math magic machine to get the overall rating for the movie.  I think this will help to bring a little more logic into my rating system.  So without further ado, I will get on with the review!

Costumes    

Since I currently live with a costumer, I feel it necessary to put this category at the top.  This section is going to be rated on a scale of 1997 Batman & Robin to Downton Abby.  Of course that is not to say that Downton Abby has the best costumes ever, I just think period pieces should rank higher on the scale due to difficulty alone.  Having said that, this film has some of the most spectacular costumes I have seen since The Fifth Element.  That is saying something, since the costumes in The Fifth Element were designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.  We have everything from functional hero wear to elegant high fashion wedding dresses.  There are many different settings for the film, and many different sets of costumes.  The costumes always seem to match the mood and setting of the film, so kudos to Kym Barrett for her stellar designs.

Special Effects

 This section is going to be rated on a scale of paper figures on sticks, to Avatar.  I always say that special effects should help to tell the story, and not get in the way.  This film manages to accomplish that feat and then some.  While I am not a fan of bullet time, especially when overdone or when it is stretched out, this film seems to get it spot on.  It is used very rarely, and for just the right amount of time.  The action sequences are phenomenal as well.  There are a few scenes that are filmed over Chicago where things get blown up and it looks amazingly real.  Ships get blown apart while people are still inside of them.  It is all done so well that you just go, OK that could happen.  Yeah, I think I saw that happen to my uncle Jimmy once.

Cinematography

This is a section that I use to describe the overall camera work in the film.  To me there is nothing worse than a shot that is too close to see what is going on that is being filmed by a guy having a seizure.  you know what I am talking about Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence.  Or perhaps something being filmed by the stunt double with a Go Pro strapped to his head.  I think you get my point, onward.  This film was very will filmed.  They placed the camera at an optimal distance in almost every scene.  You could actually tell what was happening, but were not forced to count Mila Kunis' nose hairs.

Acting

The actors in this film were mostly veteran actors.  The movie stars Mila Kunis as Jupiter Jones.  Mila does a great job of playing unassuming, vulnerable, and a little bit tough.  She does a great job creating very natural transition in the Jupiter character throughout the film.  

We also have Channing Tatum as Caine Wise.  Channing pulls off BAMF quite well in this film.  What is a BAMF, well start by using Google, since this is a family friendly blog, but I am sure you will see a photo of Samuel L. Jackson by the term.

There is quite a long list of actors in this film, and none of them were sub par.  Everyone did an amazing job.  All the character were quite will fleshed out.

Writing 

The story is quite fascinating.  It starts off a bit slow, they keep feeding you nuggets of Sci-Fi and intrigue to keep you interested until the really fun bits kick in.  While it does feel a bit Dune like, this particular story line does have a different feel to it.  The rich aristocrats are interesting to watch in their power struggles and political processes.  There may be some familiar elements to the story it does manage to feel mostly original in the telling.

Closing Thoughts

This film is one of the best Sci-Fi films I have seen in quite a while. There is a lot going on, but it is not so heady that you must have a college degree to understand it all.  I personally want to go and watch it again five more times right now.  If you like actions films, and do not mind a little geekery this this film is for you.  If you like films with a little bit of romance, then this film is for you.  If you like puppets, go see the Muppet movie, what are you doing reading this review.

Magic Math Machine says we rate this film a 6.2, so round down carry the one, split an atom, shake your margarita, and you get six out of seven smiley Mike heads.