The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth: ‘Jupiter Ascending’s’ Descent from The Stars
The old, Biblical adage goes, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth.” In “Jupiter Ascending,” the meek do inherit the Earth, but only because the Wachowski sibling’s latest sci-fi creation lifts off with ambitious aims and returns with only smaller, meeker aspirations satisfied.
With incredible planetary vistas and top-notch production design, “Jupiter Ascending” is epic enough that you want the film to be just as good as it purports itself to be — a cosmic battle between warring royal factions for Earth’s resources, as well as an incredible adventure for one young woman, who stands to inherit the planet’s fortunes and become its savior.
By featuring Mila Kunis as Jupiter Jones, an average earthling turned space queen, the film also holds out the exhilarating possibility that a woman might actually take a new and original space odyssey into intergalactic orbit.
Unfortunately, Jupiter Jones is no iconic, female counterpart to “Star Wars’” Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), nor does she hold a candle to the feisty Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) or the powerfully expressive Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman).
This, however, is not Kunis’s doing, but rather the fault of writer-directors Andrew and Lana Wachowski, whose writing and storyline underestimate Kunis’ potential for playing a much fiercer, more compelling heroine. (Kunis gained critical acclaim for her beguiling and assured quality as a backstabbing ballerina, opposite Oscar winner Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”; it’s unfortunate that those same reserves of fiery intensity could not be tapped for “Jupiter Ascending.”)
Although Wachowski & Co. go to great lengths to make Jupiter appear destined for greatness even before her birth — she is born with an inexplicable, royal sequence of DNA, in the middle of a trans-Atlantic voyage, under a combination of auspiciously aligned stars and planets — she is a character, willing to settle for an ordinary, unassuming existence.
The daughter of a large Russian family in Chicago with a corner on the housekeeping market, Jupiter cleans houses with her mother and aunt, day in and day out. By the end of film’s opening sequence, she declares that her life “sucks.” Besides gawking over designer dresses and shoes in her rich employer’s enormous closets Jupiter doesn’t have many aspirations beyond sporting a sampling of these coveted items one day. That she wants to buy a $4000 telescope on eBay also doesn’t align with her taste in haute couture, (although it might have something to do with her dead father being an obsessive stargazer and astrophysicist.)
When we learn that Jupiter intends to sell her reproductive eggs so that she can purchase the pricy item, it becomes awfully apparent that the writers never thought to explain Jupiter’s own fascination with stars. Clearly housemaids can’t also be aspiring astronomers, taking science classes part-time at the local J.C. and working full-time in the family business. Heaven forbid that Cinderella advance herself with an A.A. In the Wachowski’s world, she’s too busy admiring other people’s expensive shoes.
While the Wachowskis fail to endow their heroine with any driving ambition, they do invest a great deal of vision into creating the interplanetary spaces between earth and the sprawling, cosmic spaceship-castles of the royal Abrasax family, (skillfully rendered by Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Glass).
The Abrasax siblings, who rule the universe, are as privileged as a band of ultra-wealthy, prep school kids and as treacherous as a Roman triumvirate. The eldest, Belam, is reptilian and raspy-voiced, (i.e. Eddie Reymane attempts to do a creepy Voldemort impression) and bent on reclaiming the title to Earth from Jupiter, at any cost. Kalique (Tuppence Middleton) is a superficial creature; she involves herself in matters of state only to keep up appearances — literally. Finally, Titus (Douglas Booth) is the hedonist and charmer of the family, preferring to play on Jupiter’s “gullible” sympathies. The Wachowskis attempt to add gravitas to their saga by having Titus propose marriage to Jupiter, who is the genetic reincarnation of his mother, but the Oedipus Rex allusion here is not profound — just unsettling.
As these siblings scheme against each other, manipulating Jupiter into playing their game of interplanetary chess, the complexity of their world — built upon the planets that they “harvest” — does, however, emerge. This is due, in large part, to Production Designer Hugh Bateup, who furnishes the administrative halls of Ascension with a tech-infused whimsy, reminiscent of the Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley or Ministry of Magic.
A curmudgeonly bureaucrat with Albert Einstein’s flyaway hair, the mysterious disposition of Mr. Ollivander and an eye ensconced in a translucent-orange monocle like Mad-Eye Moody (Terry Gilliam), adds both veracity and a certain prophetic aura to this world. He congratulates and expresses his condolences to Jupiter on her inheritance of the Earth, finally giving the chosen one some ominous credence to her place in the universe.
While the stakes seem high, Jupiter’s claim to a heroine’s throne in the sci-fi, cinema kingdom is weak. Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen and Shailene Woodley’s Tris, of the Divergent franchise, reign far more supremely.
In the end, Jupiter does get some of her dreams fulfilled. In more than one scene Kunis is dressed to stun, modeling coiffed, high-end, alien couture that evokes Trisha Biggar’s most dazzling looks for Queen Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Stud-muffin Channing Tatum, playing a Spock-like, bad boy (Caine Wise) to Kunis’ celestially dressed Jones, devotedly hangs around her like a pertly slung designer handbag.
Though “Jupiter Ascending” attempts to boldly go where no film has gone before, its heroine’s most compelling moments are unfortunately spent in descent — falling from exploding skyscrapers, or spaceships. And these falls nearly always culminate with Jupiter draped in Channing Tatum’s muscular arms, taking on a gag-worthy posture — the DID, or damsel-in-distress.
Some might be comfortable with Jupiter staying right there, wrapped safely in her lover’s arms; there is certainly nothing wrong with choosing to stay in such a position by choice. Jupiter, herself, seems quite happy to return to her humble beginnings on Earth — to her family, even to her old job, cleaning houses. Yet the Wachowskis poorly chart Jupiter’s fate. She may inherit the Earth, but it’s impossible for her to actually reach for the stars.
