Film Review: ‘Jupiter Ascending’ Might Cause Attention Descending

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CHICAGO – “Jupiter Ascending” is certainly one of the oddest and densest of sci-fi movies, this side of “Dune,” and has some of the most laughable acting and dialogue seen in a major film in awhile. But the worst offense is that the film is dull, and practically without emotion or human empathy.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

There is one major current Oscar nominee is in the film – Eddie Redmayne – and fellow cast member Channing Tatum is also in the Best Picture nominated “Foxcatcher.” There might be a “Norbit Effect” (the horrible film starring Eddie Murphy, that was released the month he was favored to win Best Supporting Actor for “Dreamgirls,” which has been attributed to his loss of the trophy) for Redmayne, as the character “Balem Abrasax,” which nicely can be described as an “eccentric performance.” Not that anybody else survives the wooden script by Andy and Lana Wachowski (the “Matrix” series), and in addition Mila Kunis portrays a toilet scrubber, as she did in last year’s “Third Person.” It all adds up as mishmash of non-comprehensive moviemaking, both in form and execution, with some showy partially-set-in-Chicago special effects.

Mila Kunis is Jupiter Jones, a Russian emigrant who cleans toilets for a living (as a montage shows us). For some inexplicable reason she is a descendant of the Queen of the Universe, which is ruled in space by a family resembling the Greek Gods. The two brothers are Balem (Eddie Redmayne) and Titus (Douglas Booth), and they vie for the capture of Jupiter’s soul.

Luckily, there is a genetically engineered warrior name Caine Wise (Channing Tatum), who is programmed? predisposed? to protect Jupiter, and the stand off becomes between him and the brothers. Through many worlds, spaceships, a destructive fight over modern day Chicago and Channing Tatum’s dog roots, Ms. Jupiter just might be the key to saving the Earth and the Universe.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Jupiter Ascending”

Caine (Channing Tatum) and the Title Character (Mila Kunis) in ‘Jupiter Ascending’
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Jupiter Ascending”