I had heard
good things about Europa Report, but
found it difficult to get hold of a copy. Eventually I bought a DVD which
turned out to be from a German company. Clicking on the "Spracht"
link on the opening page gives a choice of German or English, and also whether
or not you want subtitles. At first I assumed that the film had been made in
German and that English speakers had a choice of viewing subtitles or hearing a
version dubbed into English, but after experimentation it turned out that the
actors were actually speaking English and the optional subtitles were in
German!
I'll quote
part of the plot summary on the iTunes preview page as it gives a fair
description:
"A unique blend of documentary,
alternative history and science fiction thriller, EUROPA REPORT follows a
contemporary mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa to investigate the possible
existence of alien life within our solar system. When unmanned probes suggest
that a hidden ocean could exist underneath Europa’s icy surface and may contain
single-celled life, Europa Ventures, a privately funded space exploration
company, sends six of the best astronauts from around the world to confirm the
data and explore the revolutionary discoveries that may lie in the Europan
ocean."
The
structure of the film is unusual, interspersing interviews with staff back on
Earth, face-to-camera recordings by the pilot looking back on what had
happened, and both flashback and live scenes aboard the spacecraft. Some concentration is therefore needed to
follow the story, and the structure is cleverly used to mislead viewers as to
what happened, until the finale. The scenes on board the spacecraft are
deliberately variable in quality, and the interactions of the crew seem far
more genuine than the usual carefully polished cinematic dialogue. The pace is
slow and deliberate throughout, the appeal of the film being in its realistic
feel and in the gradual build-up of tension as the crew struggle with a sequence
of problems.
Most of the
cast were new to me, the exceptions being Michael Nyqvist and Sharlto Copley.
Two key cast members were the pilot (played by Anamaria Marinca) and the team
leader back on Earth, played by the American actress Embeth Davidtz - who I was
amused to note spoke the kind of flawless, cut-glass, highly-educated,
upper-class English which no native Brits speak any more!
This won't
be enjoyed by those expecting the feel-good escapism of films like Gravity and The Martian, but Europa
Report is a much better SF film than either, and is well worth watching –
if you can find it.
*************************************
I read
recently that the quantity and quality of dialogue in blockbuster films have
been declining steadily in recent years, for the simple reason that to maximise
the takings the films have to be successful around the world. So they have to
be as easily understood in China as in
the USA. Which means simple plots and a strongly visual,
action-orientated viewing experience with a minimum of chatter. Which leads me
neatly into Star Trek Beyond. Once
again, the only vaguely interesting character is the villain (in this case
played by Idris Elba) – and he's not all that
interesting. Most of the film consists of fighting, chasing, and lots and lots
of the 'splosions beloved of the target audience, but is there anything of
interest to adults? Well, there's the odd flash of humour – including in the
very first scene a good visual joke about relative size and perspective – but
that's about it. The rest is completely forgettable and, as I indicated in my
review of the first film of this series, the old TV series and films of Star Trek: The New Generation are, by comparison, positively Shakespearean.
One
curiosity: the MacGuffin in this film is a supposedly civilisation-destroying
secret weapon, yet on the two occasions it is deployed the effect is little
more than, and significantly slower than, a typical hand grenade.
**************************************
Warcraft is not a film I would ordinarily think of
watching – I have no interest in computer games – but I was prompted to do so
by two things: it was directed by Duncan Jones (Moon and Source Code)
and received a surprisingly favourable review from the BBC's film critic, Mark
Kermode.
I hesitate
to try to describe the plot, as a quick check on the Warcraft game world showed that it is of bewildering complexity,
the plot of this film only being a small extract from it. I will just briefly
summarise it as: orcs – huge and belligerent humanoids – have created a magical
gate which enables them to pass from their own ruined world to another
(Azeroth), occupied by humans (in a medieval stage of development, as usual);
the humans fight back; and much of the conflict depends on a contest between
the magical powers of a few of the participants. I was amused to note the
collection of high fantasy tropes – not just orcs, elves wizards and dwarves,
but also in the names, such as Anduin (one of the characters) which I recall
from Tolkein, and Azeroth, from a book in the 1970s Morgaine cycle by C J Cherryh (Fires
of Azeroth).
Overall, I
think that this film is a pretty good example of its type. It suffers somewhat
(as do all such fantasy films) in comparison with the Game of Thrones TV series, which is much more grim and adult, but
represents a couple of hours of good entertainment. And it includes a very buff
Paula Patton whose good looks are hardly spoiled by a small pair of tusks!
