Warner Bros. Pictures
There probably has not been, and will not be, a loopier big budget, major studio release this year than the Wachowski’s Jupiter Ascending. In my original review over at CliqueClack, I called the film a gorgeous mess. If you have not seen the movie, and not a lot of people did judging by the box office gross, the story is this: Three intergalactic siblings own various planets in the universe. Each planet they own is curiously devoid of life. The three learn there is another relative, a young woman on Earth named Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), who is the rightful owner of the planet … except she has no idea of her royal heritage (or that she is the reincarnation of the siblings’ mother). While the siblings plot to eliminate Jupiter, a protector is sent to whisk her away and get her registered as the rightful owner of Earth so the others don’t swoop in and harvest it. Secrets are revealed, battles ensue and romance develops between Jupiter and her protector Caine (Channing Tatum), who also happens to be a human-wolf hybrid.
If you missed the movie on the big screen, you now have the chance to see this mind-boggling spectacle for yourself on the small(er) screen with the DVD/Blu-ray release from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (which provided HOTCHKA with a copy for review). Hopefully, you’ve upgraded your home viewing to high definition and Blu-ray because Jupiter Ascending can really only be appreciated in glorious HD. Regardless of how silly the story is, the visual spectacle is well-worth having a look at. The Wachowskis cram the most minute bit of detail into every frame, putting every single penny of their production budget to good use. And not just in the sets and special effects, but in the costumes and makeup as well (we’ll overlook the silly human-elephant hybrid).
The Blu-ray has a stunning 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation that is crisp and clean, with nicely saturated colors and deep blacks. The audio track is Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 as its core) and completely envelopes the viewer with a nice surround sound set-up. Music and sound effects come through loud and clear in the surrounds, effects are nicely directional, and dialog is never obscured. For Jupiter Ascending, the louder the better. This is definitely a reference quality release. If you have 3D capability, the process is striking, looking even better than it did in theaters, with very nice depth and dimensionality. Warners kind of tripped up with the 3D presentation on Island of Lemurs, but they have more than made up for that with this presentation.
The Blu-ray 3D combo package comes with three disks: Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD. The 3D disk contains no extra material, giving the video encode the room it needs to breathe. The Blu-ray contains about an hour of bonus material:
- Jupiter Jones: Destiny Is Within Us (6:56) — Mila Kunis, Lana Wachowski, Channing Tatum, Tuppence Middleton, Eddie Redmayne, Andy Wachowski discuss the character of Jupiter and her, and the story’s, parallels to The Wizard of Oz. (Also on DVD)
- Caine Wise: Interplanetary Warrior (5:18) — Lana Wachowski compares Caine to Dorothy’s Toto. Channing Tatum describes the process of developing the hybrid human/wolf character so that he didn’t look like a werewolf and remained mysterious. Tatum also describes the process of creating the stunts, with behind the scenes footage showing him on rollerblades which became anti-grav boots in the movie.
- The Wachowskis: Minds Over Matter (7:25) — Cast and crew talk about the originality, creativity and vision the Wachowskis bring to each project. Lots of behind the scenes footage shows that everyone seemed to be having a great time making the movie, and seeing all the work that went into it makes one a bit sad that it wasn’t better received (or conceived).
- Worlds Within Worlds Within Worlds (9:36) — Cast and crew talk about the process of designing and creating all of the different worlds, environments, hair and makeup for the film.
- Jupiter Ascending: Genetically Spliced (10:25) — An in depth look at the creation of the “spliced” creatures and characters. (Also on DVD)
- Bullet Time Evolved (9:35) — An in depth look at the complicated stunts created for the film and how the Wachowskis insisted on using real actors and stunt people instead of CGI stand ins.
- From Earth To Jupiter (And Everywhere in Between) (9:34) — A look at the originality and themes of the script.
Say what you will about the way Jupiter Ascending somehow went completely off the rails. It’s still a testament to the vision of the Wachowskis who gave us something original rather than a rehash, adaptation, sequel or reboot of something already done. It may not have been successful at telling a coherent story, but there is still enough to marvel at on screen to make Jupiter Ascending worth a purchase.
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