Female Regime

Jupiter Ascending

Every so often new batches of visionary directors invade Hollywood and create some new groundbreaking movies for all to enjoy. In 1999 two such directors, Lana and Andy Wachowski (Bound) created a movie that defied everything that film goers knew about the sci-fi/action genre by creating the world of The Matrix. The film would go on to generate millions of dollars in revenue and maybe ten times that in followers. Due to the large amount of success, The Matrix spawned two sequels and a few video games. What have The Wachowskis done since then? A whole lot of nothing. After a couple of highly-anticipated films come and fizzle, The Wachowskis have returned to the sci-fi genre in hopes to regain their success with this year’s Jupiter Ascending.

Life sucks for cleaning lady Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis Black Swan). However, things are going to get a lot worse for Jupiter when she is unknowingly sucked into the middle of a family squabble. The family feud involves an intergalactic royal family looking to take control of the Earth. In order to do that, the three siblings (Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, and Tuppence Middleton) must somehow convince their reincarnated mother, Jupiter, to either sign over the rights or kill her. Unfortunately for Jupiter all three siblings have chosen the ladder. Jupiter is not alone in her fight to stay alive as Caine Wise (Channing Tatum 21 Jump Street) has vowed to keep her alive at all costs. That vow will surely be tested.

I very much wanted to like this movie. I really, really did. I just couldn’t get past the overly complicated plot and almost cartoonish characters. I know that the Wachowskis are famous for creating some very outlandish and almost unbelievable characters, but these siblings take the case. Of course the visual effects were noteworthy and some of the underlining elements of the ideology of the film, but that's about it.

The fact that the Wachowskis create a sci-fi world that is dependent on a female leader is almost unheard of. With Jupiter Ascending the directors create of universe that features a decent female lead. Maybe not a very strong female lead, but a female lead nonetheless. I wholeheartedly agree with most female sci-fi fans when they took offense to most critics and their skepticism about Kunis’ character. Kunis isn’t horrible, per say, but I do think that her character could have been a little better written.

As I was watching the film, however, I started to get this feeling of nostalgia. An unaware human savior that has been plucked out of their dull existence to save all of mankind…anyone else following me? Jupiter Ascending certainly has some differences from its older sibling; I just couldn’t get past how much the Wachowskis fell back into that mold. I undoubtedly have respect for people that try to stick with what works, but not this close.

Jupiter Ascending surely projects a positive female sci-fi lead, but it seems a little too familiar. The acting is also something that could have been improved, but the visuals are very stunning. This movie was on my most anticipated for 2014 and I think I should just conjure up that anticipation. The Wachowskis most definitely need to find their mojo again because their earlier films were such a pleasure to watch.

The Verdict: Watch On Cable.