Streaming: ‘Jupiter Ascending’

On his way out to Neptune in “Ad Astra,” Brad Pitt gives Jupiter a passing glance from the cockpit and it jogs a fleeting memory of the recently forgotten Wachowski Sisters’ picture “Jupiter Ascending.”

In it, a sort of interstellar Cinderella from Chicago called Jupiter (Mila Kunis) gets saved from shapeshifting aliens by a semi-human Channing Tatum (his blonde goatee and pointy ears are the result of cross-breeding with a wolf). Though she’s trying to become a less distressed damsel, Jupiter finds herself irresistibly attracted to him - but why? In her words: “I love dogs.”

Jupiter is hunted by a wicked space lord played by Eddie Redmayne, who gives a camp performance for the ages. He employs an insane, throaty whisper and harvests bodies on Earth and other planets: “I create life! And I destroy it.” The role won Redmayne a Golden Raspberry Award for worst acting and, as always, these awards are a better guide to interesting acting than Oscar nominations.

In a period where big budget pictures are almost always defined by safe choices - Marvel and “Star Wars” films cannot seem odd or controversial to any possible set of eyeballs on the planet - one admires the Wachowskis for doing something bizarre. “Jupiter Rising” packs in a ton of laughable accents, winged alligators and righteously appalling space couture. The film is too fun for its genre and suffered the ultimate punishment of our times - it’s not a franchise, it’s only a film.