Jupiter Ascending

For a movie that takes place in another time on a distant planet, the pitfalls for Jupiter Ascending are straight out of contemporary Hollywood.

The latest science-fiction epic from directors Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix) is an ambitious but muddled intergalactic opus about alien invasions, reincarnation, young love, and probably a bunch of other stuff.

It’s all conceived on a grand scale as it tracks Jupiter (Mila Kunis), who works a custodial job and lives with her Russian family in Chicago. She suspects something might be amiss after a friend experiences an extraterrestrial encounter, and not long afterward, Jupiter meets Caine (Channing Tatum), an ex-military warrior with jetpacks on his shoes who insists she is critical to solving an interplanetary conflict.

As it turns out, that involves a royal family dating back centuries to which the Earth dweller might have a connection. Its members are led the malevolent Balem (Eddie Redmayne) and his younger brother Titus (Douglas Booth), who tries to seduce Jupiter before turning the tables. As the ensuing war escalates, Jupiter’s loyalty becomes divided with the fate of the universe in the balance.

The sibling filmmakers — who were known as the Wachowski brothers until Larry became Lana several years ago — are known for their imaginative renderings of futuristic worlds, and Jupiter Ascending is no exception. In this case, that includes visually striking cinematography, seamless 3D special effects, and lavish costumes and makeup.

The screenplay, however, doesn’t adequately supplement that elaborate vision. It adopts a video-game mentality and conveys a feeling that too many ideas are being compressed into a two-hour framework, meaning that either it should have existed in longer form or jettisoned some of its extraneous subplots for the sake of narrative coherence.

As it stands, the script relies too heavily on exposition and thinly sketched characters, but the specifics of the story remain cloudy. Jupiter gets an explanation on two or three different occasions about her royal significance in the conflict, but she still seems confused, and so will the audience as to the rooting interest in her working-class underdog story.

So in blending together themes of evolution, spirituality, socioeconomic class, and astrophysics, it’s a high-minded exercise in spectacle over substance that winds up getting lost in space.

Rated PG-13, 127 minutes.