Europa Report

Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Sharlto Copley, Christian Camargo, Embeth Davidtz, Dan Fogler, Anamaria Marinca, Daniel Wu, Karolina Wydra
Directed by: Sebastian Cordero
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller
2013

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A group of astronauts travel to Jupiter's moon, Europa. There, they face unexpected challenges as they venture into the unknown.

Review:

Tim: I was pretty excited to watch Europa Report. I really like sci-fi films, and sci-fi thrillers are always a lot of fun. The film was shot in "found footage" style, which lent some added credibility to the story. It made it feel more realistic, which is always a good thing when it comes to outer space movies. Unfortunately, while this film does have a few strengths, overall, I felt a bit disappointed in the quality of the film. This is an average film and there's certainly not much to get excited about. In the end, this is a somewhat lackluster film.

I have to give the film credit on the technical side. This is an impressive looking movie (given what I assume is a pretty small budget). The film felt like we were actually watching astronauts aboard their ship. The scenes that take place on the moon, Europa, are pretty impressive as well. There isn't anything too spectacular (the budget isn't big enough to give this an epic, sweeping sci-fi feel), but the scenes are impressive and make you feel like the characters are standing on this alien world. The film looks really good and the film deserves great credit for that.

The problem is on the human side. The cast is actually pretty good on paper, but slightly less effective in practice. I never connected or cared about anyone on screen. That is a huge problem. I think Michael Nyqvist has some real talent as an actor, but he didn't get much to do here. I was really confused by how he was portrayed. For a while, I wondered if the film was trying to set him up as going insane, but that never occurred. I was just thrown off by him and how he was portrayed- it was not very effective, and so I felt like I never really understood his character at all. I like Sharlto Copley, but he was vastly underutilized here. He does have a dramatic, powerful moment, but it just felt like he was in the film far too little. He makes the biggest impact of anyone on the cast, and yet he gets far too little screen time. The rest of the cast is good, mostly comprised of "Hey, haven't I seen that person before?" type actors. They are all fine, but no one really emerges as a star. The cast is fine, but given better roles and more time to explore each character, they could have been better.

I also thought it was a very questionable choice to tell this story in a nonlinear format. The film jumps around in time, giving clues about where the characters end up, and then backtracking to show how they got there. Nonlinear storytelling can be a powerful tool, but here, it seemed like a gimmick and it added absolutely nothing to the film. If anything, it just muddled the story and made the whole thing more confusing than it had to be. I love this device when it's utilized for the right reasons, but it really hurts the film in this case. There's no reason to do that here.

The saddest thing about Europa Report is that it could have been so much better. They had a good cast, a cool science fiction idea, and at least some talent behind the camera. Unfortunately, those involved made a series of mistakes that really hold this movie back from its full potential. There were certainly moments here and there that I loved, but as a whole, this movie squanders its potential. In the end, this film is far too forgettable and never gives us a reason to get invested in anything happening on screen. I love the attempt to do something different, and I hope many more of these kinds of science fiction movies get made. Unfortunately, this one just doesn't do enough right. This is certainly a film that you can skip, and you wont be missing much at all.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Apollo 18, Elysium, Event Horizon