Review of Jupiter Ascending (2015) by Jon-Luc A — 11 Jul 2015

It isn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but it's definitely one of the most unexciting ones, when you take into account that the trailers for this movie suggest an epic sci-fi action flick. To be fair, there IS a decent amount of action alright, and the special effects are undeniably impressive, but the plot is so thin, so uninteresting that any momentum the film manages to generate from time to time is killed anytime a character opens their mouth. There's a lot of dialogue, too. About what happened between different races, planets, siblings or whatever. But the question is always this: why should we care? There's so much explaining, and yet none of it has any weight, because the plot, or it's characters, are never properly developed. The actors do what they can with their roles, which isn't saying much considering the laughable lines they have to recite. At best it's wooden but serviceable, but occasionally it's embarrassingly over the top.

As mentioned, the action and special effects are good, but when there's no substance to anything that's happening, they can only bring a little bit of life to what's otherwise a dull experience. Perhaps the only other saving grace is the occasional humor: more of it might've made things more bearable. Jupiter Ascending has an intriguing premise, but any interest I had dissipated after about the first twenty minutes, and after that things quickly 'descended' into a bunch of nonsense. It might be worth a look if you're a fan of the actors or a sci-fi junkie, but otherwise, I'd pass on this slick but often boring adventure.