Does Jupiter Ascending Deserve a Second Chance?

The Big Picture

• Audiences often struggle with original sci-fi; films like Jupiter Ascending can seem too strange.
• Jupiter Ascending faced challenges with its unconventional style and lack of mainstream humor.
• The film lacked the distinctiveness of other Wachowski projects, making it less memorable.

Jupiter Ascending occupies a weird spot in the filmographies of Lilly and Lana Wachowski. It didn’t become a pop culture phenomenon like The Matrix and it isn’t innately attached to a famous source material that always keeps it around in the pop culture conversation like Cloud Atlas. The film didn’t quickly become a cult classic renowned by film geeks and families like Speed Racer, and though it hasn’t vanished from the zeitgeist per se, its cult following is way smaller than any other Wachowski project.

The current status of Jupiter Ascending leads to a curious question: is it "true true" that we as a culture failed this movie? Is its modern-day function mostly just as a footnote in the career of its iconic directors or a reflection of how our modern pop culture rejects all originality? Or was this just an all-time bad movie that deserved the scorn it got? As usual, the reputation of Jupiter Ascending is, to quote Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, “a lot more nuanced” than any of those notions.

Jupiter Ascending

'Jupiter Ascending's Failure Reflected Troubling Pop Culture Trends

Let’s get this out of the way up front: audiences do often have a tough time signing on for original sci-fi material. Despite being the genre that houses the Star Wars and most Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, sci-fi cinema can sometimes seem “too strange” or “too wordy” for mainstream audiences to become invested in. The largest sci-fi movies at the box office tend to be films like the original Transformers or Jurassic Park titles, where a handful of sci-fi elements are brought to life with groundbreaking VFX interacting with the real world. Unless you're Avatar, Star Wars, or Guardians of the Galaxy, getting folks invested in far-off worlds and intergalactic conflicts is a fool's errand. Flops like Tomorrowland, Alita: Battle Angel, John Carter, The Chronicles of Riddick, and so many more tried to get moviegoers invested in new (or at least previously un-adapted into live-action cinema) sci-fi realms. None of those box office duds were able to lure in the kind of people in the general moviegoing public who clamor for “new ideas.”

Jupiter Ascending had advertising heavy on spaceships seemingly lifted from John Carter, gigantic fight scenes set out in the stars, and images of Mila Kunis being surrounded by bees. It’s an unabashedly ridiculous sci-fi story and exactly the kind of thing that can seem too divorced from reality to general moviegoers. The overall somber tone of the marketing (devoid of the comedy that peppers so many of the Marvel films) also likely prevented the feature from seeming accessible to average audience members. Historical precedent does suggest that some of Jupiter Ascending’s initial box office failure stems from people being averse to heightened non-sequel sci-fi movies.

10 Best Movies Like ‘Jupiter Ascending’ for More Ambitious Sci-Fi Stories

There’s also the undeniable fact that the earnest atmosphere of Jupiter Ascending wasn’t quite what mainstream moviegoers were gravitating toward at the dawn of 2015. A week after Jupiter Ascending premiered in the U.S., Kingsman: The Secret Service debuted in this territory. Here was a movie full of snarky self-referential dialogue about spy movies, not to mention an enormously aggressive attitude as a whole. A feature like Jupiter Ascending, which ends with Channing Tatum as a half-man/half-canine who unfurls a massive pair of angel wings from his back (with nary a joke in sight), was always going to be a tough sell to the modern world. The public’s general unwillingness to enjoy classical and unabashedly preposterous material like Jupiter Ascending was always going to be a massive hurdle to cross.

'Jupiter Ascending' Earned Its Obscurity in Some Ways

While there were qualities about the general patterns of average moviegoers that sealed Jupiter Ascending’s fate, aspects of the film itself are also to blame for why the motion picture hasn’t quite taken off as a cult classic like other Wachowski Sister productions. For one thing, the editing and visuals of Jupiter Ascending are way more bog-standard compared to the downright avant-garde tendencies of Speed Racer or the sweeping scope of Cloud Atlas. There are plenty of beautiful images contained within Ascending, but there are costumes and sets that feel too derivative of other space operas. Idiosyncratic visuals go a long way to cementing any cult classic’s status as an underappreciated gem. Jupiter Ascending, with its often muted costume design (save for a big wedding dress that Mila Kunis gets to don for one set piece) and sometimes generic spaceships, didn’t quite nail that quality.

Plus, in the years since Jupiter Ascending, tons of other sci-fi movies have come out and stolen its thunder as something more "original" and "daring" that provides a counterpoint to typical franchise fare. 2015 also saw the release of The Martian, for instance, while Arrival debuted the following year in 2016. Then, there's the 2018 motion picture, Annihilation, while a few months after Jupiter Ascending, Mad Max: Fury Road (which technically qualifies as sci-fi) dropped into theaters. Even Jupiter Ascending’s status as a female-led sci-fi film didn’t instantly make it one-of-a-kind among 2010s sci-fi features given the existence of titles like Arrival, Fury Road, and Annihilation. With all of these projects garnering universal acclaim, the flawed nature of Jupiter Ascending became even more apparent. Who needed to latch onto Jupiter Ascending as a cult classic when the 2010s offered so many other superior sci-fi movies to enjoy?

The Main Problem With 'Jupiter Ascending'

The biggest problem with Jupiter Ascending’s reputation is that it’s simply a more flawed entry in the canon of Wachowski Sisters' cinema. Most damningly of all, it’s also one of their least ambitious works visually and narratively. In their other works, the Wachowskis wove miraculously-crafted cinema out of building new concepts on clear cinematic inspirations. There are enjoyably weird flourishes to be found and the imagination of these filmmakers keeps the proceedings watchable. However, Jupiter Ascending is simply too derivative for its own good. Films like Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas are so distinctive that people can’t help but latch onto them. They’re so unlike any other American movies out there that they feel like they belong to the viewer rather than the result of an algorithm trying to predict what makes a “successful” motion picture. Jupiter Ascending, by contrast, often seems too clearly cut from the mold of earlier movies, making it difficult to feel as special or unique to viewers.

Did we fail Jupiter Ascending? Perhaps somewhat, especially since it got bogged down in a lot of initial hyperbolic internet hate that so many original sci-fi movies and women-front motion pictures have to contend with. There’s still a ton to admire about this feature, but it’s also clear why it hasn’t become a cult classic in the vein of Cloud Atlas or Speed Racer, especially with the 2010s overflowing with sci-fi films to watch. Jupiter Ascending did deserve a bit better in its general theatrical run, especially when it came to people mocking its most sincere and creative qualities. At the same time, it’s also not necessarily a gargantuan travesty that it didn’t become a Matrix-sized phenomenon, even if Mila Kunis romantically saying, "I love dogs, I've always loved dogs," had become this generation's equivalent to "Here's looking at you, kid."

Jupiter Ascending is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.

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