Ever since Warner Brothers took a gamble and handed indie directors Andy and Lana Wachowski the reins to The Matrix, the sibling filmmakers have followed a “Go Big or Go Home” motto. That approach is evident in their latest feature, Jupiter Ascending, an utterly bonkers science-fiction tale that possesses the goofy performances, odd tonal shifts, and earnest humanism that are the Wachowskis’ trademarks. While Jupiter is the directors’ weakest film since Matrix Revolutions, it affirms that even a flawed Wachowski joint is more intriguing than most Hollywood genre fare.
The film concerns Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), a Russian-American who scrubs the toilets of Chicago’s elite. Like any Cinderella, Jupiter dreams of a more exciting life. She gets her wish when she unwittingly draws the attention of House Abrasax, a family of galactic nobles who claim Earth as one of their fiefdoms. Jupiter, it seems, is the genetic reincarnation of the murdered Abrasax queen, which naturally interests the monarch’s backstabbing, millennia-old children. When extraterrestrial body snatchers descend on the Earth, Jupiter’s only trustworthy ally turns out to be Caine (Channing Tatum), a brooding bounty hunter with DNA enhanced by wolf genes.
It’s familiar space opera stuff, and the Wachowskis present it with a characteristic slathering of gooey romanticism and clunky humor. The performances, meanwhile, range from utilitarian to nutty, with Eddy Redmayne embodying the latter as the hissing, eerily placid Balem Abrasax. For all its Bad Movie hallmarks, however, Jupiter is still an expansive and entertaining work, replete with bizarre aliens, thrilling escapes, and lavish design that borrows from the best of Dune, A.I., and the Star Wars prequels. Most impressively, the Wachowskis convey the setting’s complex sci-fi mythology with enviable nimbleness, achieving a balance between action and exposition that other genre filmmakers could stand to emulate.
Jupiter Ascending opens Friday, February 6 in wide release.
