JUPITER ASCENDING is another movie that got mostly bad
reviews, and if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that means there's
a pretty good chance I liked it. And so I did.
Mila Kunis is Jupiter Jones, a Russian immigrant working as a maid in Chicago. Channing Tatum is Caine, an intergalactic bounty hunter. It shouldn't come as any surprise that the two wind up being connected, as a three-pronged war that involves two brothers and a sister who control one of the universe's biggest business dynasties comes to Earth. (Earth, of course, despite being just a backwater planet, is key to every intergalactic war. Just ask the Kree and the Skrulls, or Apokalips and New Genesis.)
So, lots of stuff blows up real good. Tatum zips around like the Silver Surfer, only instead of a cosmic surfboard he has flying boots. Kunis dresses up like a space empress. The great Sean Bean is Tatum's tough, grizzled old mentor. The villains are thoroughly despicable. Spaceships dart around through wormholes. Planets explode (speaking of stuff blowing up real good). What's not to like? This ain't cinema, folks. It's a flashy, over-the-top space opera, and I had a grand time watching it. It was made by the Wachowski siblings, and honestly, I liked it considerably better than either of the Matrix sequels. As always with movies like this, I expect to be in the minority, but I think JUPITER ASCENDING is pretty darned good.
Mila Kunis is Jupiter Jones, a Russian immigrant working as a maid in Chicago. Channing Tatum is Caine, an intergalactic bounty hunter. It shouldn't come as any surprise that the two wind up being connected, as a three-pronged war that involves two brothers and a sister who control one of the universe's biggest business dynasties comes to Earth. (Earth, of course, despite being just a backwater planet, is key to every intergalactic war. Just ask the Kree and the Skrulls, or Apokalips and New Genesis.)
So, lots of stuff blows up real good. Tatum zips around like the Silver Surfer, only instead of a cosmic surfboard he has flying boots. Kunis dresses up like a space empress. The great Sean Bean is Tatum's tough, grizzled old mentor. The villains are thoroughly despicable. Spaceships dart around through wormholes. Planets explode (speaking of stuff blowing up real good). What's not to like? This ain't cinema, folks. It's a flashy, over-the-top space opera, and I had a grand time watching it. It was made by the Wachowski siblings, and honestly, I liked it considerably better than either of the Matrix sequels. As always with movies like this, I expect to be in the minority, but I think JUPITER ASCENDING is pretty darned good.
4 comments:
I've been wanting to see this but I've been hesitating because of the awful reviews. Something told me I should take the plunge. Now you have, James. So I'm going to watch it.
I haven't seen it yet, either, but I liked the trailers. I'll buy the DVD soon. Thanks for the Review, James. We like the same stuff, so I'm sure I'll like it.
Pete,
It really needs a weightless striptease like BARBARELLA, but other than that, it's pretty entertaining.
Always felt that Mila Kunis was a good draw to see it - it's the involvement of the Wachowski's that makes me hesitate though.
I was severly disapointed in The Matrix (after the first movie, which should just have been left standing alone).
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