Jupiter Ascending

I have been looking forward to Jupiter Ascending ever since I saw the first trailer back in 2013. From the directors of the Matrix, and promising some cool action and effects, I was intrigued. Going in however I was still a bit skeptical that it would be all style and no substance, and sadly that is exactly what it was. Visually, the film is breathtaking, and the effects are some of the best I've seen. The action is well executed, and there is very little shaky camera. There are fights, chases, space battles and explosions, all of which are spectacular. It helps that the score is also very, very good, which makes the action feel all the more epic and exciting. A few of the tracks in the movie even reminded me of John Williams' Star Wars score, as some of the pace and beats are similar. However, this is all the film has to offer, because the rest is really bad. The script is all over the place, and the narrative had no real focus. The movie tries to cram so much back-story and plot points into two hours that it is difficult to keep up. The film lost me a couple of times as I found myself asking "what's going on? " If the writing had been narrowed down and more focused, there could have been a good story in the movie. But sadly, this story is hidden behind so much extra fluff that it is practically nonexistent. Despite passable acting the dialogue is just awful, and laughable at times. The film makes some attempts at humour and while one or two of the jokes were passably funny, the rest just fell flat and it felt awkward listening to them. An action film can still entertain with a paper thin plot, but when the plot becomes so convoluted that it is difficult understand what is happening, none of the effects or action have any meaning to them. Jupiter Ascending is a disappointing waste of time.