Jupiter Ascending – movie review

Grade: C

It’s times like these that I really hate writing movie reviews. Jupiter Ascending is an archetypical story with a great deal of potential, but it falls short in so many ways. But I really appreciate that the Wachowski’s (writers/directors of The Matrix, V is for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas) always try and reach for making an epic movie. They don’t always succeed but when they do it more than makes up for their shortcomings.

The best part of the movie is the visuals. If you really want to see this movie then splurge and see it in 3D, because it’s really well done. From what I can tell the entire movie was shot in 3D, instead of just the CG scenes which some movies do. If you’re not crazy about 3D then this might be worth waiting for the DVD.

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In my opinion the love story is the biggest disappointment. It’s presented as one of those love at first sight scenarios that just doesn’t work for me. Kudos to you if you enjoy that sort of love story. I want to see two characters developed as individuals so that I can feel them falling in love instead of being told they fall in love.

The action was good, especially the first chase scene. After that some of the fight scenes drag on a little longer than needed. In fact I used one of the middling action scenes as a Peetime because it’s just one long grab and go.

There wasn’t anything funny in the movie. I don’t even think they tried. But this is a Wachowski’s movie and I honestly can’t remember a funny scene in any movie they’ve ever done.