When people think of movies that take place in space and are (at least somewhat) grounded in reality, they instantly think of Gravity or Interstellar. But what about Europa Report? Why doesn’t anyone talk about this movie that much?
This is one that I’m not sure many people have heard about. It’s a shame, too, because this is a pretty solid film. It’s about an exploration mission to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. The crew has to sit in this one ship, this one singular, solitary, claustrophobic space for 20 months. After landing, they’ll have to look for signs of life, then go back to Earth, which takes an additional 20 months. That’s more than 3 years of being in space. That is one scary thought. You’d probably think 6 people confined to that hell might not be an idea that’ll go as planned. And you’d be right. It goes so HORRIBLY wrong.
What I was a little hesitant about at first turned out to be the best route the filmmakers could have gone with Europa Report, and that would be that the movie is done in the found footage style. As you might know from my review of The Dinosaur Project, I’m not a fan of found footage movies at all. But in this movie, the cameras are all stationary. There are no shaky handheld cameras, which means you get to see everything plainly and clearly! It’s about time this happened! The cameras all have realistic placement around the ship and are always rolling, which means it makes sense that the footage would capture the development of the plot and characters... instead of some jerk shoving a camcorder in people’s faces all the time that just so happens to get all the important parts.
The best element of Europa Report is the feeling of isolation. It’s the dominant mood of the film, and it makes the scenes extremely tense. I'd say that the tone is the main thing that makes the film work as well as it does. The pacing really drives home the dramatic scenes, and the lack of music adds to the feeling.
The acting is on point throughout the film. The actors make it possible to care for the characters, and they aren’t written to be idiots. There was maybe ONE moment in the movie where I thought one of the characters was acting a little dumb, but that’s it. The rest of the time, they’re okay.
The special effects are great, too. The ship, the moon, and the thing at the end look almost photorealistic. It’s a few million dollars above the common low-budget sci-fi films, which means a lot more to use wisely for the visual effects. It might not be Gravity by any means, but it still looks fantastic.
In conclusion, Europa Report is a great sci-fi film. I really enjoyed it, and I suggest it to anyone looking for a good space adventure. It has a lot of suspense, a slow pace that works better than I thought it would, and as a found footage film, it’s the best I’ve seen. If you don’t like slow pacing, you’ll probably get bored. But for those of you that want to check this out, go right ahead. Don’t let this underrated gem stay under the radar for much longer. I think it deserves more attention than it has.
FINAL RATING: 39 / 50
STORY: 3 / 5
ACTING: 4 / 5
CHARACTERS: 3 / 5
SPECIAL EFFECTS: 4 / 5
SUSPENSE: 5 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 4 / 5 (I know, there was no music. I’m rating how effective the lack of music was.)
TONE: 5 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 4 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 4 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 3 / 5
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