Jupiter Ascending

Last mentioned here about a year ago about the concept art, I finally got around to watching Jupiter Ascending, with managed expectations, and... yeah.

Like The Matrix it has a secret culture running the world we live in, influencing it and its legends, just in this case a beautiful baroque space opera empire instead of creepy spider-y robots.

It also has these villains harvesting people... though unlike The Matrix sequels it remembers to address this at the end. So one point to it there!

Like Neo, and Harry Potter, and Luke Skywalker, and so on, Jupiter finds that her sucky normal life is not the only life she could have - it’s been pointed out that it’s a take on the secret princess narrative in particular because she’s offered wealth and power and parties and a big wedding because of her genetics rather than a battle.

Would have liked more of the undercover cyberpunky types and stealth aliens on Earth because I like that kind of thing.

Would have also liked more of the Space Opera NOW happening around Jupiter because I like that kind of thing too.

Would have really liked it if Jupiter had at some point in that super-cool chase flying around Chicago said to get away from Chicago as lots of the near-miss blaster shots were blowing up buildings and cars and probably killing people. I admit to being much more aware of this since Marvel started making rescuing and defending bystanders such a prominent feature. In this case it would have given her something to do besides hang on. Something she needs a lot more of.

Also, Draconians. And less impressively, gimps.

Finally, a spoiler block. While everything else was either spoiled or predictable, very few reviews mentioned my favourite bit - which feels glaringly out of place in amongst everything else.

Away from the super-opulent starships with golden statues and such, the space police have a more Mass Effect look... and the one regular spaceport we see, we get a Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy queueing scene with Terry Gilliam style knackered bureaucratic technology. And then the last rubber-stamp is provided by Terry Gilliam! Lovely scene. Doesn’t fit the rest of the film at all.