eddie redmayne

Review | Jupiter Ascending

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Universally known and celebrated for their classically favoured action masterpiece The Matrix, visionary free-thinkers the Wachowskis return with another world-building sci-fi shooter in the oddly-titled Jupiter Ascending. But can the previously-acclaimed sibling team still deliver the goods over 15 years on, with the action market now somewhat changed in the face of their previous efforts? If this lackluster space epic is anything to go by, certainly not.

Boasting a host of familiar faces and blockbuster visuals, Jupiter Ascending charts the adventures of titular heroine Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), a lowly toilet-cleaner who, swiftly following a visit from genetically-engineered super-soldier Caine (Channing Tatum), discovers she is in fact the rightful owner of Earth itself. After being whisked away by the powers that be to uncover her destiny, Jupiter soon finds herself thrust into the centre of a cosmic conflict between the snobby siblings of a tyrannical family, eventually being forced to battle it out with the galaxy’s oldest overlords in order to save her dying planet from potential extinction. 

Firstly it should come as no great surprise that such a dense plot-line comes with quite a significant warning: not everything explored in Jupiter Ascending makes complete sense. Rumours that the Wachowskis’ original script rounded in at over 300-pages begin to seem somewhat likely the further and further one journeys into the siblings’ world, as it becomes clear that there’s simply too much history beneath the film’s surface to warrant the space-surfing adventure Jupiter leads with. Entire characters (take a bow Sean Bean) seem to exist solely as human text-books, reeling off fact after fact, and all just to provide weak context for the next big battle sequence. Put simply, the Wachowskis have created a rich, detailed universe with its own laws and cultures, but instead of exploring and exploiting the intricacies of this world fully, they’ve simply used it rather bafflingly as just the back-drop to an otherwise brainless action blockbuster.

This ultimately forms the most infuriating issue with Jupiter Ascending in that the film’s individual parts are actually rather incredible, its only when they’re combined that the entire structure completely falls to pieces. Visually, the world that the Wachowskis have created, from its star-scraping galleons to its gravity-bending space-skates, is breathtaking. The action sequences flow with unbridled creativity and almost total coherency, despite a great deal of pretty significant moving parts. Yet sadly, none of this matters as the actual substance of the picture seems jumbled beyond repair. It’s never clear why these astonishing battles are actually taking place or what the stakes really are and so, there’s no real reason for one to form any real investment in them.

Even just tonally the film could have been saved, had it embraced its more extravagant, melodramatic side, as opposed to opting for the more straight-laced sobriety it instead pursues. Gene-spliced space-warriors and bizarre elephant-like alien pilots would prove somewhat entertaining if the whole picture was as dedicated to such outlandish antics. Alone, they’re simply just laughably silly.

A great deal of these tonal issues seem to be able to be traced back largely to the cast. Although leads Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum prove somewhat functional, both seem to simply snore through their performances, providing little flair beyond their otherwise more po-faced attempts at romance. However, whereas Tatum appears lazy, for Kunis, this is likely more of an issue with the blandness of her character. Jupiter is something of a useless protagonist, seemingly spitting in the face of feminism as she does little beyond screaming for help from her hunky hero, whilst cluelessly playing into the villain’s hands time and time again. In fact, the only member of Jupiter Ascending’s cast that truly seems to bother at all with any sense of theatricality is an audacious Eddie Redmayne, who’s frankly ridiculous big-bad might appear genius had the Wachowskis followed a similar approach. Instead, his preposterousness is just another unintentionally farcical nail in the coffin.

Leaving what it once was or could have been strictly to the side, Jupiter Ascending is a tragically beautiful mess of a space opera. Despite being fuelled by a grand scope and purely creative aims, it ultimately stumbles onto screens both flabby and shamefully bland. There is fun to be had amongst its tattered ruins, but not nearly enough to warrant the scale and majesty of its intentions.

Jupiter Ascending (2015), directed by The Wachowskis, is released in UK cinemas by Warner Bros., Certificate 12A.

Review | The Theory of Everything

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If the very idea of acting exists as simply a way for one person to become another, then surely it must be true that the biopic genre holds the key to acting in its purest form. After all, the richest of characters are often the most real. It comes as no great surprise then that the biopic’s focus is usually trained solely on its lead, but is it always right to do so? Surely there must be more buried within the formula for a film’s success; something beyond the abilities of its performers alone? Oddly enough, according to Oscar-winning director James Marsh’s latest film The Theory of Everything there really isn’t, and more importantly it doesn’t matter.

Aptly titled for the never-ending quest for knowledge by its primary subject, The Theory of Everything chronicles the humour, hardships and all-round genius of world-renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking. Beginning first with his studies at Cambridge, Marsh’s film digs deep into Hawking’s history, charting his struggles with both academia and eventually, motor neurone disease (the disorder which would come to disable him), as tracked through his decade-spanning relationship with fellow graduate Jane Wilde.

Without dancing around the topic even slightly, this film is characterised by one thing and one thing only: Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of arguably one of the most famous and well-loved people on the planet. Get it right and the young actor is in awards territory. Get it wrong and no matter how great the script is, or how incredible the supporting cast are, there’s always going to be a gigantic, obtrusive, praise-sucking black hole at the centre of the picture. Luckily for audiences everywhere (not to mention Hawking himself), Redmayne doesn’t just “knock it out of the park”, he rockets it out of the stratosphere. His portrayal here is nothing short of exemplary; a beautifully layered combination of the sweet and the troubled. Even in spite of the fact that nearly half of his screen-time is almost bereft of dialogue, Redmayne masters the emotional beats like a true natural and never fails to be utterly convincing; any danger of him wandering over into Ben Stiller’s ‘Simple Jack’ territory is removed within seconds of seeing him don the famous wheelchair. Almost equally as impressive is Redmayne’s film-wife (very much his ‘other-half’) Felicity Jones, whose turn as Hawking’s first love Jane is subtly commanding, although clearly under-spent. 

In fact, if The Theory of Everything is to run into any issues, it’s that its performers are simply too good, to the point where they quite literally begin to show-up the rest of the film. Anthony McCarten’s script covers an incredible amount of Hawking’s life, firing off year after year in bite-size chunks with ease and clarity, never once running into any pacing problems which is highly commendable. However, the ultimate result of McCarten adopting such a broad spectrum is that there’s simply not enough room to elaborate on anything in close enough detail. It’s true that the chances of effectively condensing the entirety of Hawking’s life into a two-hour film is exceedingly unlikely, and the romantic angle that Marsh leans towards pays off fantastically, but there are still very obvious holes left behind. The biggest of which is the ‘theory’ of the title – Hawking’s science is understandably watered-down, but at times this is almost done so to the point of insult; a little more detail and investment in what comes to define the professor’s life would be exceedingly useful here. It’s the equivalent of making a film about The Beatles, but without a soundtrack. However, ultimately this subtraction doesn’t prove to be to too damaging to the overall film, simply being filed under more of a “nice to have” than an “absolutely essential”.

Regardless of its (pretty much necessary) pratfalls, The Theory of Everything stands as an incredibly impressive and somewhat simple portrait of a complex man. Without Redmayne and Jones, Marsh would have but an empty shell, but with them, he’s on awards-worthy form once again.

The Theory of Everything (2014), directed by James Marsh, is released in UK cinemas on 1st January by Universal Pictures, Certificate 12A.