Audiences were thoroughly unprepared for just how weird The Wachowskis really are this year, when Jupiter Ascending baffled just about everybody and was accused of being downright awful. But “weird” is not the same as “awful” and this elaborate and eccentric sci-fi epic, about a woman from the lowest class in the galaxy who discovers she’s suddenly inherited the planet Earth, spoke to many relevant social issues, viciously subverted the old-fashioned “princess fantasy” genre, and boasted the most wonderfully over the top villain performance in years, courtesy of recent Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne. It’s a fun, challenging film that flies in the face of the mainstream, for better or worse, and it deserves more recognition for that.
William Bibbiani providing a sterling defence of Jupiter Ascending in his list of the 15 Most Underrated Films of 2015