Jupiter Ascending is a 2015 American-Australian space opera film written, produced, and directed by Lana and Andy Wachowski. Starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis, the film is centered on Jupiter Jones (Kunis), a down-on-her-luck cleaning woman, and Caine Wise (Tatum), an interplanetary warrior who informs Jones that her destiny extends beyond Earth.
Supporting cast member Douglas Booth has described the film’s fictional universe as a cross between The Matrix and Star Wars while Kunis named its underlying themes indulgence and consumption.
The film was co-produced by Grant Hill, who acted as executive producer on The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and as producer on V for Vendetta, Speed Racer, Ninja Assassin and Cloud Atlas, making Jupiter Ascending his seventh collaboration with the Wachowskis.
Several more longstanding Wachowski collaborators since the creation of The Matrix films have contributed to the picture, including production designer Hugh Bateup, visual effects supervisor Dan Glass, visual effects designer John Gaeta, supervising sound editor Dane Davis and costume designer Kym Barrett. Other notable past collaborators include Speed Racer’s composer Michael Giacchino, Cloud Atlas’ director of photography John Toll along with its editor Alexander Berner and hair and make-up designer Jeremy Woodhead, who worked on both.
~~Plot~~
In the story, Earth’s residents are unaware that life on Earth and countless other planets has been seeded by families of alien royalty for the purpose of “harvesting” the resulting organisms at a “Darwinian state of perfection” to produce a type of youth serum for the elites on still other planets.
After the death of the matriarch of the House of Abrasax, the most powerful of the alien dynasties, her children Balem (Eddie Redmayne), Kalique (Tuppence Middleton), and Titus (Douglas Booth) quarrel over the inheritance, with Balem inheriting an enormous production facility on Jupiter and Titus declaring his intention to dismantle the youth serum trade, of which Earth is the next intended source.
Protagonist ‘Jupiter Jones’ narrates that her father Maximilian Jones (James D’Arcy) met her mother Aleksa (Maria Doyle Kennedy) in Saint Petersburg. After Maximilian is killed by a robbery, Aleksa names their daughter Jupiter, after his dying wish, and they move to Chicago to live with Aleksa’s family.
Many years later, Jupiter (Mila Kunis) works with Aleksa and her Aunt Nino (Frog Stone) and cleans the homes of wealthy people. To buy a telescope, Jupiter agrees to sell her eggs with the help of her cousin Vladie (Kick Gurry), under the name of her friend Katharine Dunlevy (Vanessa Kirby).
At Katharine’s house, Jupiter and Katherine are attacked by extraterrestrial ‘Keepers’; and when Jupiter photographs them, they erase her memory of the incident. During the egg donation procedure, the doctors and nurses are identified as Balem’s agents, sent to kill her; and she is saved by Caine Wise (Channing Tatum), a genetically engineered ex-soldier sent by Titus.
Stinger Apini (Sean Bean), an old comrade of Caine’s, agrees to help Jupiter; but a group of hunters take her to Kalique’s palace on a distant planet, where Kalique explains that Jupiter is genetically identical to the dead matriarch, and therefore heir to the Earth. Supported by Captain Diomika Tsing (Nikki Amuka-Bird) of the Aegis (an intergalactic police force), Caine retrieves her from Kalique, and brings her to the planet Ores (the intergalactic capital city) to claim her inheritance.
On the way back to Earth, Titus detains Jupiter and Caine. He reveals his plan to marry and then kill Jupiter and claim Earth before throwing Caine into the void, but Caine survives and saves Jupiter at the altar. Jupiter asks return home; but her family has been taken hostage by Balem. In his citadel in the Great Red Spot, Balem demands Earth in exchange for Jupiter’s family. Realizing that Balem can “harvest” Earth only if she signs it over, Jupiter refuses. Balem tries to kill Jupiter; but she defeats him in a fight.
She escapes and is rescued by Caine, Stinger, and Tsing.
~~GALLERY~~
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Jupiter’s family is returned home with no memory of her disappearance, while Jupiter secretly retains ownership of the Earth.
Her family buy her the telescope she wanted and Caine is granted a pair of wings earlier removed from his body.
From the streets of Chicago to the far-flung galaxies whirling through space, “Jupiter Ascending” tells the story of Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), who was born under a night sky, with signs predicting she was destined for great things.
It Is What It Is 