MOVIE REVIEW: JUPITER ASCENDING (2015)

Jupiter Ascending came after a last minute delay to its release schedule. Starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis, this movie is a mixture of space-opera and sci-fi. It has the general story about a chosen one just living a pretty underwhelming life in a world full of wonders.

Mila Kunis stars as the titular Jupiter, a Russian immigrant cleaner. However, she is also the exact genetic reproduction (and this believed to be reincarnation) of the former queen of the universe. He (former) children are each trying to find her so that they can trick her to signing away her inheritance. Channing Tatum is a wolf-soldier tasked with tracking her down. However, once he realises he was tricked, he turns into her superhuman protector and general bad-ass.

And that really is the meat of the story. Jupiter is kidnapped a few times, shows increasing agency in not throwing her inheritance away (which would mean the death of the earth as it is harvested for genetic material), and having Channing Tatum do cool stuff with his futuristic technology (such as rocket boots and temporary doorways) to save her. Which isn’t to say it is all bad.

Jupiter Ascending does an admirable job of keeping the movie pace up and not being caught up to much in world-building. It would have been easy for the movie to get stuck on some part of the lore it is building up. However, a couple of action scenes do overstay their welcome and seem to drag out a bit just to show some cool set-piece instead of letting it develop organically.

Overall there is not much to say about this movie. The lore they build up behind the worlds is quite good, the action scenes are also quite good and the character development of Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum is also good. It was entertaining for its 2+ hour run-time, but not too much stuck with me following the end credits. In the past, it is the very definition of an average movie. Today, however, it is a refreshing movie that is not a sequel/reboot/remake and not a superhero movie.

3.5 out of 5 wolf-spliced waffles.

Movie Review: White House Down (2013)

White House Down is a very solid yet rather forgettable action film. It stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx as the main hero characters. White House Down reminded me of the early Die Hard movies or films such as Never Back Down in that the main hero isn’t some sort of quasi-super-soldier or a hero above reproach or error.

The story of White House Down follows a group of terrorists who take over the White House for various reasons. Unfortunately for them, their plot coincides with the day Channing Tatum, playing an army veteran, happened to be attending an interview for the secret service. His daughter also accompanied him and they are taking a tour of the White House when the terrorists execute their plot.

Jamie Foxx plays the president of the United States and it isn’t long before him and Channing Tatum are teamed up and taking on the terrorists. The confrontations with the terrorists are always tense encounters because neither Channing Tatum nor Jamie Foxx are treated as super-soldiers. Even a single terrorist poses a significant challenge for the duo to take out and they are often out-armed, and as I mentioned, they are not above making mistakes and errors in their dealings with the protagonists (including one instance of a grenade being kicked back at them).

The chemistry between the duo of Jamie and Channing is very important to a movie like this. I found that the light-hearted banter and running gags between the duo enhanced the film. Both characters acted like believable characters and the injection of some comedy with the banter kept the movie from becoming too dark and serious (and subsequently dull). Plus, they also made this hilarious song (which also stars Miley): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPOUgobWTT0.

Some of the supporting characters, and allot of the movie, does suffer from being slightly forgettable. Although it has a smart plot (with some good twists) and good performances, it never really elevated itself above being just a good action movie. The villains were largely generic (although this is explained by the story) but they did nothing to distinguish themselves. That is not to say it is a bad movie. Sometimes a good action movie that doesn’t go too deep is all you need.

4 Channings all over my 5 Tatum Waffles.