What's most surprising about this film though, is that it's NOT an adaptation of a young adult novel. It clearly owes much to the recent successes though, as the eponymous Jupiter is the chosen one - who is swept up into a galaxy spanning adventure, where everyone needs her but she has almost no agency.
The reasons for her being the chosen one are even more hilarious than usual. Despite being a highly technological society, apparently this galaxy spanning civilisation is practically religious about DNA and what amounts to reincarnation exists... and so, Jupiter is what amounts to the prophesied reincarnation of the matriarch of what amounts to this universe's interstellar equivalent of big pharma.
And, if you hadn't already guessed from the Matrix reference earlier, humanity (existing on presumably hundreds or even thousands of planets) is harvested for the purposes of a super duper youth formula that allows people to live for tens of thousands of years - so long as they're alright with entire planets, whole CIVILISATIONS just being erased from existence so they can go on living.
That might actually be an interesting idea for a film if it was explored but the film is far more interested in Jupiter scrubbing toilets and being a damsel in distress. Say what you will about things like the Hunger Games and its myriad rip-offs but at least they understand that the heroine should DO something.
Jupiter spends most of her time being a credulous fool, waiting to be saved and getting saved. She's not tough, she's not clever, she's not strong - she just wants to make googly eyes at Channing Tatum, her genetically engineered half-dog protector (it's OK, she always liked dogs).
Anyway, after having recklessly endangered all of humanity JUST to save her extended family and been saved about a dozen more times by Channing Tatum - Jupiter is the heir to an interstellar empire (on account of reincarnation allowing for you to write yourself into your will) and decides to just... go back to scrubbing toilets.
One might argue something about humility, except for the fact that Jupiter is ignoring however many billions of humans are still out there, being harvested when she is now eminently placed to help put an end to this. It would be like Frodo getting back from destroying the One Ring, finding Saruman running the Shire and going "That's cool, man. You gotta do your thing." Which is to say, as stupid as it is negligent.
She doesn't even THINK of doing it. There's no suggestion of alternatives and yet, we KNOW that she's one of the richest and most powerful people in the galaxy. OK, maybe explaining to the people of Earth that she owns their planet would be counterproductive but she's now afforded a place amongst the nobility (although, they seem to use companies/houses/nobility/royalty entirely interchangeably) and just goes back to cleaning toilets.
The heroes journey shouldn't be seen as the beall and endall of storytelling but to have a protagonist go through all their trial and tribulations, end up back where they began and just shrug and say "Back to scrubbing toilets!" with a smile on their face? Whether it's an attempt at a subversion of the genre or just idiot writing... well, given the rest of the film - idiot writing but it's just baffling as to how this could be considered a GOOD ending?
And, if you hadn't already guessed from the Matrix reference earlier, humanity (existing on presumably hundreds or even thousands of planets) is harvested for the purposes of a super duper youth formula that allows people to live for tens of thousands of years - so long as they're alright with entire planets, whole CIVILISATIONS just being erased from existence so they can go on living.
That might actually be an interesting idea for a film if it was explored but the film is far more interested in Jupiter scrubbing toilets and being a damsel in distress. Say what you will about things like the Hunger Games and its myriad rip-offs but at least they understand that the heroine should DO something.
Jupiter spends most of her time being a credulous fool, waiting to be saved and getting saved. She's not tough, she's not clever, she's not strong - she just wants to make googly eyes at Channing Tatum, her genetically engineered half-dog protector (it's OK, she always liked dogs).
Anyway, after having recklessly endangered all of humanity JUST to save her extended family and been saved about a dozen more times by Channing Tatum - Jupiter is the heir to an interstellar empire (on account of reincarnation allowing for you to write yourself into your will) and decides to just... go back to scrubbing toilets.
One might argue something about humility, except for the fact that Jupiter is ignoring however many billions of humans are still out there, being harvested when she is now eminently placed to help put an end to this. It would be like Frodo getting back from destroying the One Ring, finding Saruman running the Shire and going "That's cool, man. You gotta do your thing." Which is to say, as stupid as it is negligent.
She doesn't even THINK of doing it. There's no suggestion of alternatives and yet, we KNOW that she's one of the richest and most powerful people in the galaxy. OK, maybe explaining to the people of Earth that she owns their planet would be counterproductive but she's now afforded a place amongst the nobility (although, they seem to use companies/houses/nobility/royalty entirely interchangeably) and just goes back to cleaning toilets.
The heroes journey shouldn't be seen as the beall and endall of storytelling but to have a protagonist go through all their trial and tribulations, end up back where they began and just shrug and say "Back to scrubbing toilets!" with a smile on their face? Whether it's an attempt at a subversion of the genre or just idiot writing... well, given the rest of the film - idiot writing but it's just baffling as to how this could be considered a GOOD ending?
