Jupiter Ascending fails to rise; A Most Violent Year makes its point

Jupiter Ascending has some wonderful moments; it’s just frustrating searching through the rubbish to find them.

A scene from Jupiter Ascending.

It seems like only yesterday DVD Letterbox was sticking the boot into a film by the Wachowski siblings, Andy and Lana. Cloud Atlas went straight to DVD last year, as befits a big, muddled melange of a film.

The duo’s latest film is Jupiter Ascending, the one we hoped would work. It doesn’t. But the Wachowskis have subsequently found another deep-pocketed rube in Netflix, which has just released their sci-fi television series Sense8 (reviews of which are pending: there is no water-cooler talk possible with on-demand streaming).

Back to Jupiter Ascending (M, Roadshow, 127 min, $29.99). Frankly, it lost me in the opening reel when astrology was mentioned, and when the tale leapt from the travails of a Chicago toilet cleaner (Mila Kunis) to an unfeasibly advanced planet that looks like The Jetsons’ Earth (with a more lavish budget).

Somehow Kunis’s Jupiter ascends to this planet and into the role of Earth’s new queen, before exerting a certain power over three spacey heirs, including the evil Balem Abrasax, played by Eddie Redmayne (who seems to be impersonating Benedict Cumberbatch).

Two things to note. Sci-fi films need to have a particular point of view and the great ones have a sense of clarity. Their worlds might be odd, fantastical or just weird, but at their core, they make sense.

The Wachowskis’ early triumphs, including Bound (1996) and The Matrix (1999) made narrative and stylistic sense (the former was less sci-fi, more latex-y).

Secondly, no matter how big your canvas, less is always more.

I couldn’t help compare this cramped jumble of a film with Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, which the kids watched recently to prepare them for seeing bigger, louder, more realistic dinosaurs tear torsos apart in Jurassic World.

That original film, like pretty much all of Spielberg’s films, had an essential simplicity despite its scale and technical acuity. (Note to self: it’s probably time to have another look at his A.I. Artificial Intelligence.)

The Wachowskis’ recent endeavours have been too big, ambitious and ultimately confusing. Which is annoying because Jupiter Ascending possesses some wonderful moments; it’s frustrating searching through the rubbish to find them, though.

Contrast it with a notable little film also being released on DVD or on your digital interface this week: JC Chandor’s third film, A Most Violent Year (MA15+, Roadshow, 125min, $29.99). It has a clear point of view in its tale of what it takes to rise in the heating oil business in New York in the 1980s.

Doesn’t sound like much, but the director of Margin Call and All Is Lost extracts a glorious, menacing lead performance from Oscar Isaac (aided by Jessica Chastain) and a wise, precise tone that recalls the tight dramas from Sidney Lumet in the 60s and 70s. Chandor definitely knows to keep it simple, stupids.

OUT THIS WEEK

Paper Planes (G)

Roadshow (96 min, $29.99)

Chappie (MA15+)

UniversalSony (120 min, $29.99)

Rosewater (M)

Transmission (103 min, $29.99