JUPITER ASCENDING 3D [2014 / 2015] [3D Blu-ray + 2D Blu-ray + Digital HD ULTRAVIOLET] [UK Release] From the Creators of ‘The Matrix’ Trilogy! Visually Stunning!
Born under the signs predicting great things in her future, Jupiter Jones [Mila Kunis] wakes to a cold reality and an endless run of bad breaks. But when Caine Wise [Channing Tatum], and ex-military hunter, tracks her down on Earth, Jupiter Jones glimpses the fate that has been waiting for her, an extraordinary inheritance that could alter the balance of the cosmos.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 2015 Golden Schmoes Awards: Nominated: Worst Movie of the Year. 2015 International Online Cinema Awards: Nominated: Halfway Award for Best Visual Effects. Nominated: Halfway Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. 2015 Kids' Choice Awards, USA: Nominated: Blimp Award for Favorite Male Action Star for Channing Tatum. 2015 Teen Choice Awards: Nominated: Choice Movie Actor for Sci-Fi/Fantasy for Channing Tatum. Nominated: Choice Movie Actress for Sci-Fi/Fantasy for Mila Kunis. 2015 Village Voice Film Poll: Win: VVFP Award for Movie Everyone Is Wrong About. 2015 World Soundtrack Awards: Win: Film Composer of the Year for Michael Giacchino. 2016 GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics: Nominated: Dorian Award for Campy Flick of the Year. 2016 International Film Music Critics Award: Nominated: Film Score of the Year for Michael Giacchino. Nominated: Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film for Michael Giacchino. 2016 Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA: Nominated: Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing and Music in a Feature Film for Alex Levy (music editor), Daniel Pinder (music editor) and Paul Apelgren (supervising music editor). 2016 Online Film & Television Association: Nominated: OFTA Film Award for Best Titles Sequence for the closing credits. 2016 Razzie Awards: Win: Worst Supporting Actor for Eddie Redmayne. Nominated: Worst Picture. Nominated: Worst Actor for Channing Tatum. Nominated: Worst Actress for Mila Kunis. Nominated: Worst Director for Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. Nominated: Worst Screenplay for Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. 2016 Yoga Awards: Win: Worst Foreign Director for Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski.
FILM FACT No.2: Producer Grant Hill and visual effects supervisor Dan Glass have noted that the Wachowskis never repeat themselves. Grant Hill has described the design as an original take on the look of space environments, while Dan Glass mentioned it was influenced by cities around Europe rather than science fiction touchstones. Examples include Renaissance architecture, modern glass and Gothic art. An eight-minute-long chase sequence, code named "Fifty-Two Part" by the film's crew, depicts Jupiter and Caine fleeing from aliens and spaceships in downtown Chicago shortly after they first meet. It was the longest sequence in the script, involving some of the film's most difficult stunts. To complete it, Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum had to film every day for six months.
Cast: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, Tuppence Middleton, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Christina Cole, Nicholas A. Newman, Ramon Tikaram, Ariyon Bakare, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Frog Stone, David Ajala, Doona Bae, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Edward Hogg, Tim Pigott-Smith, James D'Arcy, Jeremy Swift, Kick Gurry, Larissa Kouznetsova, Demetri Theodorou, Lieve Carchon, Oleg Nasobin, Emily Warren, Vanessa Kirby, Spencer Wilding, Andy Ahrens, Charlotte Beaumont, Georgia Winters, Elsa Mollien, Sean Baker, Bryony Hannah, Sarah Campbell, Jiggy Bhore, Samuel Barnett, Terry Gilliam, Rupert Frazer, Katherine Cunningham, Luke Neal, Simon Dutton, Neil Fingleton, Derek Lea, Cliff Fleming, Hazel D'Jan, Elina Alminas (uncredited), Karen Anderson (uncredited), Alexandra Fraser (uncredited), Julie Graham (uncredited), Kara Lily Hayworth (uncredited), Demi Kazanis (uncredited), Charlotte Rickard (uncredited), Clem So (uncredited) and Symara A. Templeman (uncredited)
Directors: Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski
Producers: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski and Grant Hill
Screenplay: Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski
Composer: Michael Giacchino
Cinematography: John Toll (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audio: English: 7.1 Dolby TrueHD [Dolby Atmos],
English Audio Descriptive Service,
English: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
German: 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
Italian: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, German and Italian
Running Time: 127 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Warner Home Video
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘JUPITER ASCENDING’ is a baffling mix of material that is both impressively innovative, and sometimes utterly ridiculous. ‘JUPITER ASCENDING’ takes the classic “Cinderella” fairy tale and blows it up into a big, sci-fi space adventure about a girl named Jupiter Jones [Mila Kunis], who dreams of a life better than the one she has. Losing her father before ever being born, Jupiter grows up spending her days scrubbing toilets in upscale Chicago suburbs, and her nights crammed into a house with her big Russian immigrant family.
The proverbial “glass slipper” arrives with unexpected horror when Jupiter is accosted by strange alien assailants looking to end her existence. Thanks to an eleventh-hour save by gene-spliced ex-space soldier, Caine Wise [Channing Tatum], Jupiter begins to learn the truth: That she is of royal lineage on a galactic scale, and that others of her bloodline “The Abrasax Family” seek to do her harm, so that they may usurp her claim to the coveted planet Earth. With Caine Wise as her protector, Jupiter Jones is drawn into the Abrasax family conflict, soon finding herself positioned as the lamb that any one of the three ancient royals may slaughter.
A true Cinderella, Jupiter Jones cleans toilets to earn her keep with an extended Russian family that includes her mother and aunt, her astrophysicist father having been murdered back in the old country. Giving literal meaning to sweeping a woman off her feet, a muscle-bound dude named Caine Wise [Channing Tatum], who wears boots that enable him to lift off the ground and skate between the skyscrapers, takes Jupiter Jones in his arms and zips her between the Chicago skyscrapers.
On a directorial level, the Wachowskis have once again constructed an imaginative world that is realized with some masterful design and visual effects. The colour palette and the different scene composition are fittingly vibrant and epic for a blockbuster film of this scope, and many of the ambitious action sequences are well-executed and impressive, which helps to justify seeing the film on a cinema screen. However, while JUPITER ASCENDING’ achieves a certain degree of accomplishment as a sci-fi film and the 3D visual design and an attempt to use more on-location settings, as opposed to sound stage or green screen, look spectacular as you would expect from The Wachowskis, which with certain impressive moments, are juxtaposed to some truly memorable and impressive bits of filmmaking, so all in all, it is a brilliant and stunning viewing experience.
Caine Wise spirits Jupiter Jones to a farm occupied by fellow tough guy Stinger Apini [Sean Bean], who unnerves the young lady by persistently addressing her as "Your Majesty;" he's able to discern her lineage because the bees he keeps start acting up the moment she arrives and, as he explains, “Bees are genetically disposed to recognize royalty.” Any hope that ‘JUPITER ASCENDING’ might be designed to make sense on any level is pretty much jettisoned from this point forward, although ‘JUPITER ASCENDING’ does get an explanation of sorts as to why Mila Kunis's has been become the “Chosen One.” For her part, Mila Kunis maintains her composure and doesn't have quite as hard a time as she had in her misbegotten role in the film ‘Oz the Great and Powerful.’ We all now know from the film ‘Foxcatcher’ that Channing Tatum is capable of this sort of he-man role, while Eddie Redmayne will never ever get my vote for an award, as I think in this film, he is the most atrocious nauseating actor ever for this very stupid brain dead Capricorn I have ever had the unfortunate experience to have to endure through a whole film and I had to crank the sound up to hear what the stupid idiot had to say, so I am so very pleased he never got a chance to win an OSCAR® for him, especially with his pathetic stupid over the top bad melodramatics on display in the film and deservedly so that I was so pleased in the 2016 Razzie Awards he Won The Worst Supporting Actor for Eddie Redmayne and I am so glad I was proved right. But on top of all that and to everyone’s surprise, we find director Terry Gilliam has a bit part in the film playing an eccentric bureaucrat in a distinctly Brazil-like office.
Bolstering things in the film are strong supporting actors like Sean Bean, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Maria Doyle Kennedy, James D’Arcy, Kick Gurry and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, plus a host of other brilliant performers hidden behind makeup and especially brilliant CGI imagery to create the strange awesome alien characters. They all do very well in making The Wachowskis’ unique vision into a tactile and believable world.
In the end, ‘JUPITER ASCENDING’ is another example of the good spectacular sci-fi genre that we can expect from a Wachowskis film, these days. The talent and vision are clearly there, in their own ideas; with results in a sci-fi film seem to be out of this world. So going forward to even greater heights, perhaps The Wachowskis will hopefully be executing their next project with more stunning visions and at least allowing more creative collaborators into the mix. With so much talent and continued support, from both fans and the studio, The Wachowskis should be reaching greater heights in the near future after ‘JUPITER ASCENDING’ has been seen around the world, so watch this space folks.
JUPITER ASCENDING MUSIC TRACK LIST
U Kogo-to Budut Neptiyanosty (Written by Ethan Stoller)
FANFARE FOR THE HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH (Written by Ethan Stoller)
3D Blu-ray Image Quality – The 3D version of the film is rendered via a stunning awesome 1080p encoded image presentation on a dual-layered Blu-ray disc with no extras. The 2D version of the film is rendered also via a 1080p encoded image presentation on a dual-layered Blu-ray disc. Both presentations are total reference quality with an impressive range of contrast and detail. The 3D presentation is one of the better 3D conversions I have seen. While the majority of the shots are set-up to provide depth effects, and awesome pop-out 3D effects. Two sequences involving Channing Tatum piloting a spaceship in rescue attempts and one through a phalanx of robots and the other through an amorphous cloud of gases are visually hard to track, as the images go so fast, but they are equally confusing in 2D. It is best to view these Blu-ray discs, to decipher what is actually going on.
3D Blu-ray Audio Quality – Both the 3D and 2D Blu-rays have the film's original English language soundtrack presented in a 7.1 Dolby TrueHD [Dolby Atmos] track. Fidelity is outstanding across dialog, music, and effects tracks. Effects and music are spread wide and precisely through the entire sound field and nicely compliment the similarly impressive visuals. The 3D presentation has additional audio and subtitle options not available on the 2D Blu-ray.
2D Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Jupiter Jones: Destiny Is Within Us [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1/1.78:1] [6:56] Here we get to see Mila Kunis [Jupiter Jones] talking about her character in the film and doesn’t really know her destiny in life and whether there is a better life. Next up is Lana Wachowski [Writer and Director] talking about the Jupiter Jones character and that her life is very unhappy and eventually goes in search of a better life, when Caine Wise comes along to shake her up and take her away from her “Cinderella” life style, which Jupiter Jones looks towards him as her Prince Charming. We also get to see lots of behind-the-scenes filming, as well as lots of stunts. What is also totally impressive is all the stunning and beautiful colourful “Concept Art” relating to different scenes in the film. Next up is Channing Tatum [Caine Wise] talking in depth about his character in the film, and also all the different experiences that happens to him in the film in his lifetime. We also get contributions from Tuppence Middleton [Kalique Abrasax] and Eddie Redmayne [Balem Abrasax] who talk about how much they enjoyed the experience of being in a Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, as well as amazing fun all round. One interesting statement that Mila Kunis says, “apparently being their mother, I supposedly spawn three evil children and feel horrible for them, and they are all amazing actors and so much fun to work with.” Another interesting comment came from Andy Wachowski [Writer and Director] who says, “The film is basically an analogy of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and how Jupiter Jones wants to get back to her family.” So all in all, this is a very nice little feature and especially seeing lots of rare behind-the-scenes of filming of ‘JUPITER ASCENDING.’
Special Feature: Caine Wise: Interplanetary Warrior [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1/1.78:1] [5:18] With this special feature, we again get lots of clips from the film, that especially features Channing Tatum. Next up is the Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski, who I feel are the most eccentric couple I have seen in years, are talking about the Caine Wise character and the direction they wanted Channing Tatum his character to progress. Another bonus again, in seeing even more beautiful colourful “Concept Art” of different interpretations of how Caine Wise was to look in the film. contributions from the likes of Jeremy Woodhead [Makeup and Hair Designer]; Kym Barrett [Costume Designer] who both wanted to get away from the old classic horror “Wolfman” films, as well as designing Caine Wise costumes, to show off his muscular physic in the best way. We also get other contributions from Sean Bean [Stinger Apini] who talks about the history between Caine Wise and himself and how they were in battle together, but eventually Caine Wise betrayed him. The final contribution is from Benjamin Cooke [UK Stunt/Fight Co-ordinator] talks about how he wanted the character of Caine Wise to perform his stunts in a certain way and that they spent over 7 months perfecting the stunts for the film, and it shows when you see clips from behind-the-scene filming, that reflected what they wanted to achieve for ‘Jupiter Ascending,’ and what fun they had in the process. And so ends another fascinating fun packed special feature, and a joy to watch.
Special Feature: The Wachowskis: Minds Over Matter [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1/1.78:1] [7:24] Once again, the start of this feature we get to view lots of clips from the 2014 film, but here we see Channing Tatum on the set, talking about his character Caine Wise. Mila Kunis also comments how massive this film is, as well as spectacular. Sean bean also states that the film was very deep and profound, plus other actors say, “the film is totally crazy, exciting, has brilliant storylines, also top brilliant action, with real characters and fantastic worlds created.” Also a lot of the actors comment about the Wachowski’s, in saying, “they wanted to meet the people behind “The Matrix” franchise; also wanted to meet the directors with originality, and fearless in pursuit of producing a film” and also say “they have such an extraordinary visual take on the world, and they work with extraordinary talent.” We also get contributions from Dan Glass [VFX Supervisor] and again Jeremy Woodhead [Makeup and Hair Designer]; Tim Pigott-Smith [Malidictes]; Kick Gurry [Vladie]; James D'Arcy [Maximilian Jones]; Doona Bae [Razo] and Maria Doyle Kennedy [Aleksa] that they had a brilliant time working on the film and that the Wachowski’s like working is “family” environment, as that way they get the best out of everyone. Andy Wachowski [Writer and Director] makes a profound comment, in saying, “that we are all children of the 20th Century and wish there was more original material in the world.” And he also comments that he wanted Terry Gilliam [Director] to be part of the film, in being a character that is straight out of his personal film ‘BRAZIL,’ that is so prophetic and how much he enjoyed having a little cameo in the film. So ends another brilliant special feature that again was such a joy to watch.
Special Feature: Worlds Within Worlds Within Worlds [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1/1.78:1] [9:36] Once again, we get lots more clips from the film, but then we hear from Mila Kunis [Jupiter Jones] that film has so much fantasy, that is reflected in the film. Lana Wachowski [Writer and Director] makes a comment, that space is so vast, that we can project the exciting imagination in the film. We also get other comments from the likes of Grant Hill [Producer] and again Kym Barrett [Costume Designer] talk about the process of creating everything, especially the costumes, that took a lot of trial and error to perfect and Jeremy Woodhead [Makeup and Hair Designer] said he had a ball working with Kym. We again get to see more beautiful colourful “Concept Art” relating to different views on what the film will look like eventually. We also get more comments from Channing Tatum [Caine Wise]; Sean Bean [Stinger Apini] praises the Wachowski’s in how they wanted the film to look and also all the stunning sets they had to work in. We again get to view some more fantastic colourful “Concept Art” of what the planet Jupiter would look like, especially all the colourful vegetation, that eventually were converted from photographs of Iceland. Lana Wachowski talks about the spaceships and that in previous films they always looked ugly, whereas these spaceships wanted to reflect how rich people travel. Andy Wachowski states that the spaceships, especially the battle spaceships, were based on the Nautilus, in the Walt Disney film ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.’ We also get to see some of the film sequences that were actually filmed in The Natural History Museum in London. We also get clips from what they call “Early Pre-visualization” meaning, computer animation. Also a lot of the actors comment on what amazing imagination the Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski have, and when filming you cannot imagine what it will look like, until they viewed the finished film. Once again, this is another fascinating special feature that is packed with so much interesting facts and visual experiences and well worth a view.
Special Feature: JUPITER ASCENDING: Genetically Spliced [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1/1.78:1] [10:24] Once again we get lots of clips from the 2014 film, but we get a nice contribution from Tim Pigott-Smith [Malidictes] who explain that the people on Jupiter are what they call “Splices,” meaning the people are genetically engineered and who are designed for specific jobs on Jupiter. Again we get more stunning beautiful colourful “Concept Art” on the vision of the people who live on Jupiter. Also as you will see all the characters in the film have marks on their neck, which are all totally unique and in previous sci-fi films, hybrids would all look stupid, well this time they wanted all the creatures on Jupiter to look so much more realistic. We also get more contributions from the likes of Edward Hogg [Chicanery Night] says that he is a cross between a rat and a human; Sean Bean [Stinger Apini] says he is a cross between a bee and a human; Tim Pigott-Smith [Malidictes] says that he is a cross between an owl and a human; and finally we get a comment from Ariyon Bakare [Greeghan] who is the 7 feet tall winged creature and is also a mixed match hybrid. We also get informed that the “Keepers” are the small alien creatures you see at the start of the film, and basically they are designed to look like aliens that humans on Earth have supposed to have seen coming out of UFO’s. We also get comments from the Wachowski’s that they like lots of inputs and imagination from the actors and the crew, on how the creatures in the film should look. Once again, a really fascinating special feature, that is well worth viewing.
Special Feature: Bullet Time Evolved [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1/1.78:1] [9:34] Once again we get more clips from the film, but after that we get to see how all the trick stunts are done in great detail, as well as all the trickery that is done via the computers. But we also get more contributions from the likes of Dan Glass [VFX Supervisor] that he feels that they have produced some real killer effects for the 2014 film. We also get more comments from the Wachowski’s, saying that we wanted to let our imagination run wild and it definitely showed in the film to amazing awesome effects. We also hear from Taïg Khris [Stunt Performer] telling us that they trained on the biggest ramp in Germany and you get to see it in this special and I can tell you it is huge. Channing Tatum [Caine Wise] talks about his gravity boots and try to work out the best way to show them off to good effect in the film. We again more beautiful colourful “Concept Art” depicting different scenes on how Caine Wise would look in the film. We also get lots of outside shots of modern day Chicago, as well as lots of outside location shoots that were used in the film and the Wachowski’s wanted this in the film, as they thought the building look so beautiful and stunning. We also get to see lots of high wire stunts and the Wachowski’s wanted this, instead of computer animation of the actors, which were mainly shot in London, as well as more shots of The Natural History Museum in London, which took 7 months to complete. So once again, this is another fascinating insight into how all the very difficult and tricky stunts were performed and also hearing everyone’s experience in doing these amazing stunts. And again a really fascinating special feature and well worth viewing. But one thing that is a mystery to me, is that I don’t understand the Title “Bullet Time Evolved” relates to this special feature, very strange and very confusing.
Special Feature: From Earth to Jupiter [And Everywhere in Between] [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1/1.78:1] [9:34] Here we have the last of the special features, where everyone praises the amazing unique feature of this 2014 film, that they all feel they have not experienced in previous sci-fi films or seen on the cinema screen. They also say the script is rich and complex. But we also get lots more input from other people who cannot believe the Wachowski’s come up with all their fantastic ideas and feel they are very geeky, which does show in this 2014 film. We also get to see more awesome colourful “Concept Art” in how the Wachowski’s wanted the film to look a certain way, plus we also get to see some more amazing computer generated scenes for the film, that look absolutely stunning and of course that is why the films CGI is totally out of this world and it makes you believe that it is all real. This again is a really worthwhile viewing experience and something I really enjoyed viewing. Contributors include: Mila Kunis [Jupiter Jones]; Edward Hogg [Chicanery Night]; Sean Bean [Stinger Apini]; Tim Pigott-Smith [Malidictes]; James D'Arcy [Maximilian Jones]; Lana Wachowski [Writer and Director]; Andy Wachowski [Writer and Director]; Maria Doyle Kennedy [Aleksa]; Ariyon Bakare [Greeghan]; Kick Gurry [Vladie]; Dan Glass [VFX Supervisor]; Tuppence Middleton [Kalique Abrasax]; Douglas Booth [Titus Abrasax] and Eddie Redmayne [Balem Abrasax].
Sneak Peaks: This if the Original Film Trailer for ‘FOCUS’ [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:25]
BONUS: You have the UltraViolet facility, so you can enjoy the film on many different compatible devices. To retrieve the UltraViolet, you must enter the redemption code. It does not include the iTunes file.
PLUS: You have a beautiful designed 3D Blu-ray Slip Cover.
Finally, Andy and Lana Wachowski's ‘JUPITER ASCENDING’ filled to the brim with massive awesome big ideas that does it justice, which is punctuated with impressively staged sequences, that is jaw-dropping beautiful at the same time. The Blu-ray presentations is 100% top-notch image and audio presentation, especially both in 3D and 2D presentation, but definitely preferred the 3D Blu-ray disc. Extras consist of loads of a series of stunning features that have a lot of mutual praise of talking heads with occasional glimpses behind the scenes of the production. If you are a fan of the Wachowski's films, you will love ‘JUPITER ASCENDING,’ like I did, and to be honest I was not a great fan of “The Matrix” franchise. Anyway when you view this 3D Blu-ray release, it will leave you cheering from the rafters. So invite your friends and relations round to experience something totally spectacular. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
