Europa Report
{4/5} “Andrei and James had to do an EVA to repair the system. A bit like performing ballet and rocket science at 125 000 miles an hour.”
On Europa, a moon of Jupiter, ice covers the surface — beneath the ice, water and heat signatures have been discovered. Scientists believe that microscopic life might exist there, so an expedition is launched to find out. At one point on their journey Mission Control loses contact with spaceship Europa One. The crew of Europa One, knowing they’re out of contact with Earth, nevertheless decides to continue with their mission.
Europa Report was released earlier this year.
It’s about the wonder and danger of exploration. The movie is another realistic depiction of space travel, like Gravity.
It’s presented as footage — news reports on Earth and footage from cameras on Europa One. This isn’t my favourite technique, especially when there are multiple cameras at once and/or distortions.
The crew on Europa One is made up of experienced astronauts from around the world. The characters aren’t larger than life, like most movie main characters — they’re low key people who would make good astronauts.
The story jumps back and forth through time, so you have to pay attention. You know something bad is going to happen, but you’re not sure what or when.
Parts of it are interesting but I was a bit impatient with other parts. I didn’t feel as connected to what was going on as I did with Gravity.
The music by Bear McCreary (the TV show Battlestar Galactica) is repetitive but effective in spots.
Sharlto Copley (Elysium) plays James and Michael Nyqvist (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) plays Andrei. Embeth Davidtz (Bicentennial Man) plays Samantha.
The movie was directed by Sebastián Cordero (Chronicles).