Europa
Report is definitely not your average found-footage film. A fictional story
about an international voyage to one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa Report is about
scientists’ search for life outside of Earth, and how said voyage goes
(predictably) horribly wrong. On its face this sounds a lot like Paranormal in
space, but the pacing and cinematography serve to set this one apart.
It’s hard to
know what to think of this film; the use of all the cameras on board of the
vessel to present the whole story is very well done, and not nearly as
distracting as many other found-footage movies of the past; also, the movie
effectively makes you believe the crew is really in space and if you’re into
astronomy there’s a lot for you to like in this one, but the fact remains, this
movie is really slow.
The movie
breaks up the footage of the crew with interview from scientists back on the ground,
who tediously explain the mission and its purpose to us, which is honestly
something I could have done without. It seems as if this is only done to try
and foreshadow a horrible end for the astronauts on Europa, and also in part to
stretch the length of the film, (it runs at a tight ninety minutes) but
honestly it messes with the flow of the film and makes the whole movie less
tense.
Another
problem with the film is the wooden acting by all of the astronauts throughout.
There are no recognizable American film stars in this one, but a few foreign
actors that I recognized, such as Michael Nyqvist so it’s not as if these
actors are inexperienced. However, I found it strange that for the most part
the astronauts remain emotionless and cold through several, shall we say,
emotional situations (no details in interest of spoilers) I don’t know if this
was intentional or not, but it didn’t cause me to sympathize with the characters
any more (if anything I sympathized less).
It’s hard to
say much about the end without giving the whole movie away, but suffice it to
say that most of the action takes place in the last twenty minutes. I
definitely respect this movie for not going the jump-scare route that most
found-footage horror movies tend to go (I’m looking at you Paranormal Activity
7), however, what does happen isn’t particularly exciting. In fact, a lot of
what happens seems to be the consequences of questionable decisions made by the
astronauts. In addition, I have to say I don’t understand the mentality of the
crew; it’s clear that they are willing to risk their lives, despite the fact
that many of them have families, all for the sake of proving that there is life
elsewhere in the universe. Of course, I’m in full support of space exploration,
and finding evidence of alien life would be ground-breaking, but I have to
think my survival and my love for my family would have to come first, but I
guess that must be why I’m not a scientist.
Europa
Report is a confusing movie for me, I honestly can’t tell if I like it or not.
On the one hand, the space footage is breath-taking and the idea behind the
mission is original and refreshing; on the other hand, this movie simply lacks
a heart and soul and fails to make me care about any of the characters. This is
a shame because there is a real good film under the surface here. Really all
Europa Report needs to make it a really good movie is a little less data and
little more humanity. Of course if you’re obsessed with tales of space
exploration this one is definitely up your alley, otherwise it has little else
to offer.
-Ryan Maples
Rating: 6.75
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