The Matrix has rightfully earned its keep as the cautionary tale of our generation, popularizing simulation theory in ways that still hold water today. Created by the Wachowskis, who also gave us V for Vendetta and several successful Matrix sequels, their instincts for social commentary framed through the lens of modern dystopia are unmatched. This makes me wonder what exactly went wrong when they cranked out the 2015 space opera, Jupiter Ascending.<\/p>\n
The film drags on for about 45 minutes too long, and it doesn\u2019t say much about society that we didn\u2019t already know. Yes, intergalactic imperialism and consumerism are bad, but you\u2019d think our protagonists would at least act excited about the adventure of a lifetime, especially considering the reported $210 million budget.<\/p>\n
As somebody who enjoys scraping the bottom of the Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> barrel, I expected to find some joy or redeeming qualities in Jupiter Ascending. Instead, I was baffled at how critics justified its generous 27 percent rating.<\/p>\n For a space opera to work, your heroes need to actually want to be there. Mila Kunis\u2019 Jupiter Jones (yes, that\u2019s really her name) gets whisked across the galaxy to learn about trade routes, bureaucracy, and politics. She teams up with Caine Wise (Channing Tatum), a soldier\/dog hybrid, and ends up stuck in a trade war between the Abrasax siblings. Oh, and she can control bees with her pheromones because she\u2019s apparently space royalty according to Han Solo<\/a> surrogate, Stinger Apini (Sean Bean).<\/p>\n Despite the setup, Jupiter Ascending never allows its heroine to become the fearless lead the story needs. Kunis\u2019 one-liners fall flat, and her delivery lacks expression even as humanity\u2019s fate hangs in the balance. It\u2019s strange, considering how expressive she can be as a voice actor. Meg Griffin might not be a fan favorite Family Guy<\/a> character, but she comes alive thanks to Kunis\u2019 line delivery. None of that energy makes it to the screen here.<\/p>\n The one thing Jupiter Ascending does have going for it is set design and special effects. Green screen aside, the visuals look impressive. But with two leads completely devoid of charisma, even the flashiest sequences overstay their welcome.<\/p>\n I kept thinking about the car scenes in Seinfeld<\/a>. They\u2019re clearly fake, yet still entertaining because the characters always had something funny or animated to say. If even half that energy had been applied to Kunis or Tatum\u2019s performances, the movie might\u2019ve worked. But it wasn\u2019t, so it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Halfway through a digital copy a friend shared (legally, relax), I paid four bucks to rent Jupiter Ascending so I could speed it up with a browser extension. That has never happened to me before. Space operas should leave your jaw on the floor, not make you fast-forward at triple speed while praying the progress bar moves faster.<\/p>\n There was one line that stuck, though: Kalique Abrasax (Tuppence Middleton), Second Primary of the House of Abrasax, says, \u201cTime is the single most precious commodity in the universe.\u201d I couldn\u2019t agree more because time is the one thing you never get back, and I seriously considered holding a funeral for the 127 minutes I spent watching Jupiter Ascending.<\/p>\n As of now, Jupiter Ascending isn\u2019t streaming anywhere, but you can rent or buy it through YouTube<\/a>, Prime Video<\/a>, Fandango at Home<\/a>, or Apple TV+<\/a>. Just know that no one\u2019s going to fault you if you skip it entirely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Matrix has rightfully earned its keep as the cautionary tale of our generation, popularizing simulation theory in ways that still hold water today. Created by the Wachowskis, who also gave us V for Vendetta and several successful Matrix sequels, their instincts for social commentary framed through the lens of modern dystopia are unmatched. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2060747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[384223,334852,384224],"class_list":["post-2060746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-jupiter-ascending","tag-mila-kunis","tag-space-opera"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/How-The-Matrix-Resulted-In-A-200-Million-Space-Opera.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2060746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2060748,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060746\/revisions\/2060748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2060747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2060746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2060746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2060746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Nobody Wants To Be There<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Stellar Setpieces And Special Effects, But Who Cares?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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You Can Probably Skip This One<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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