Europa Report [Blu-ray]

This movie is quite real and not full of the impossible. Done very well, almost felt I was there. I streamed it and then bought the DVD I liked it so.

I am admittedly not fan or supporter of the Found Footage genre with only 2012's Chronicle being the exception. Since the genre's breakout hit in The Blair Witch Project the found footage genre has been boring, predictable and simply uninspired as writers and directors just cut and paste the same formula that was in Blair Witch without inspiring themselves to create something unique and different instead of the same crap that is turned out multiple times year after year simply because it is cheap to make and highly profitable, so who needs anything new or original, so I was very hesitant about the Europa Report. I enjoyed the trailers of Europa Report still I was hesitant to see it believing it would be the same old crap that I've seen dozens of times before, but after viewing the Europa Report I can happily say I was wrong about the film as it is an homage to great science fiction films of the past and a celebration of the human spirit.Europa a moon around the planet Jupiter is believed or theorized that life could be possible on the moon for decades as the moon has ice covering its surface, and believed to have oceans deep beneath the surface of Europa, and where there is water there is the possibility for life in some form. Even in recent years scientists are beginning to theorize that there is actual life on Europa. These theories of life evolving even in places with great distances from the heat of the sun has been used in many science fiction films, and Europa has been used has a backdrop for many science fiction films with the most notable being 2010: The Year we Make Contact. Director Sebastián Cordero and screenwriter Philip Gelatt use these discoveries and scientific theories for the backdrop of their Found Footage, Doc*mentary and Science fiction blended film.The script isn't original or really unique, but I don't think it was intended to be as Cordero and Homage was paying homage to films like Apollo 13 and especially 2001: A Space Odyssey as early on in the film The Blue Danube is shortly played. As always with science fiction films that don't involve aliens slowly killing off the crew of the ship some inevitably goes wrong whether it be an explosion in an oxygen tank like what happened with Apollo 13 or cross purposes programming that lead to Hal killing the crew in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The same thing happens in The Europa Report, which leads to the expected tragedy and loss. While the plot was not original it was well written. You feel as if Gelatt really believes in exploration and the human spirit to strive, persevere and overcome all obstacles to achieve a goal. Gelatt's story is also a call out to the lack of innovation and wonder to go reach father than man has gone before. As for the Found Footage element of the film I can say that The Europa Report won't change my view of the Found Footage genre I thoroughly enjoyed the Found Footage/Doc*mentary style science fiction film. The story runs nonlinear with both the astronauts and mission planners explaining their stories, and how the mission ultimately succeeded. Outside of Sharlto Copley the unknown cast added greatly to the plot helping me to become emotionally involved with the film and characters.Ecuadorian director Sebastián Cordero does a beautiful job directing The Europa Report. The budget for The Europa Report is miniscule, but it works for Cordero and The Europa Report as this isn't a film about aliens or a film with huge budgeted battles. It is a film about exploration, the human condition, the human spirit and overcome and strive to reach the stars, and Cordero filmed that nearly perfectly. Cordero focuses mostly on the astronauts on Europa One, and with the Found Footage/Doc*mentary style he adds to the isolated and claustrophobia of the crew as well as the interactions of the crew which greatly add to the film, and along with the aid of NASA has created one of the most compelling and realistic films about exploration in years.I miss science fiction films that actually try to be realistic in story and human interaction with space along with giving you a sense of wonder and celebrate the human spirit to push beyond what is believed humanly possible to achieve greatness and explore the unknown. Moon achieved some of that, and I have high expectations for Gravity; yet films like this are few and usually far between, and while The Europa Report isn't perfect it does achieve all of the above. Director Cordero and writer Gelatt to a great job bring to life a relatively predictable film that almost perfectly blends Found Footage with science fiction creating an inspiring science fiction thriller that is added by strong performances by the cast and music. The Europa Report is not a film to be missed especially if for fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Moon, and Apollo 13 as it is one of the best pure science fiction films in years.

The premise was fulfilled. Take a very complex machine, newly designed and built, place several space experienced tech-nauts aboard. For the first time send humans, past the moon towards Jupiter's moon Europa, only because a robot craft had detected liquid water beneath thick ice crust. More then a year out to destination, have them deal with all the physical and mental stresses. Expect them to arrive the same people they started out as, and take their unproven machines, land safely, explore safely, discover safely and firstly, send all information back safely, then, if they can, lift off safely, return to their main ship and return to Earth.., safely. The odds of humans returning safely, under such circumstances are not high. Until many have attempted and died to 'field' test' the concepts, technology and strategies for coping with humans under alien conditions, for incredible periods of time, catastrophes will occur. Machines will fail, people will fail. The only thing in the mission that was planned well and had the highest odds of succeeding was the broadcast of knowledge back to humanity. The crew or some members were not given good odds of returning safely. Humans may be the best bio-quantum computers to send out, but they are also the most fragile and vulnerable to failure. Yes, communications did break down, but that was necessary to the plot, for it made the individuals fight harder to survive, even if they must, individually sacrifice their lives. Someone had to survive to relay the incredible news to Earth. Of course after they all perished, communications miraculously returned and the shattering news was received. Makes ya wonder, if the aliens under the ice, interfered with the transmissions, suckered the humans down to their deaths, ate them up or whatever, then released the transmissions to entice the rest of humanity to come visit their mysterious world. Humans are suckers for solving mysteries and becoming victims.., we are sooo delicious.If one is to view this realistically, the plot was sound, the personalities were reasonable. Their purpose and decision making was reasonable, and they accomplished their mission.., which is really what human endeavors are all about. Whether you're sent to dig a ton of coal or gold 1/2 mile underground or search for diamonds on Mars, your mission is to retrieve information and results for those waiting safely above. The crew must have hope of their safe return to encourage them to go, but they must have some doubts tucked away in the back of their minds, which only surface as one technical or human failure begins to occur after another. Even in the midst of impending doom, the 'lone survivor', clings tenaciously to the hope she will make it back.It was a decently produced and acted presentation of 'what if'. If you really want to make a difference for humanity 'discover' something significant. Thus, Einstein, Dawkins, Henry Ford, Darwin, Madame Curie, Pasteur, S. Jobs, Galileo, products like fire, wheels, velcro, zippers, internal combustion engines, Butter, beer, vinegar, planes, trains, cars, rockets. Discover, invent and create Something significant.., and you don't have to survive for it to make a difference for those whole are to come. Good subtle flick.

"Europa Report" (2013)Pilots aren't great thinkers. At least not Rosa Dasque.Rosa apparently has a saying that goes a little something like this:"Compared to the breadth of knowledge yet to be known... what does your life actually matter?"Well Rosa, I'll tell you what it matters; it matters everything!If you're not alive you can't know any of your knowledge.Knowledge can only exist if someone knows it.Knowledge without life... is an oxymoron.So Rosa, my advice to you; stop thinking and just concentrate on the piloting!Ok, stepping out of the movie's universe; Anamaria Marinca is well cast as Rosa Dasque. I was very impressed with her performance and character-vividness. She's clearly a competent and skilled actor. In fact all the actors do a wonderful job in this movie (or maybe the director is just really good)Actually it's much easier to simply jump straight to the conclusion, which is that "Europa Report" is really one of the most impressive space-themed movies around.There is so much to like about it that it easily qualifies as one of the best scifi movies you can find as of the year 2014. I think you have to go all the way back to the 1960s to find movies that attempt to keep it real as much as "Europa Report" does. And that is truly refreshing!Tech-stuff first:The image-quality (I watched it on blu-ray, which is sadly not available in all countries. In Denmark it's only officially released on DVD so to get a blu-ray version you have to import it. That's so sad) is top-notch. Clearly worth watching on blu-ray for the finer details and the visual candy (and there's plenty in "Europa Report" to feast the eyes). It's shot on digital, but that works in favor of this movie actually (since it's styled to appear in part as a documentary. Incidentally, if that turns you off, don't worry about it, its style does actually feel like a regular movie and not like a gimmick). There was a single thing I might have done differently if I was the maker of this movie, and that is that I think I would've opted for a higher frame-rate, to avoid the typical movie-judder, and rather go for the traditional smooth look of video (but I'm biased since I prefer judder-free images in all movies I watch, and it's not really an issue since modern TVs can mostly smooth the images for you anyway)And I have to mention the color-grading to, at pet peeve of mine, THANK YOU for grading this movie in such a beautiful way! None of that crazy duo-color tone that so many modern block-busters is haunted by. The color-grading of "Europa Report" is spot-on! That's how you do it! Perfect!The audio and soundtrack is top-notch. Dialog is easy to hear (this movie is not plagued by the annoying trend of lowering speech to levels that are foolishly low and raising effects to levels that are foolishly loud. Good balance which still retains impressive sound-effects) and sound-track does an excellent job of setting the mood without becoming obtrusive or taking attention away from the story. Great work.Style-stuff:It appears we're watching a special documentary about this space-mission (supposedly presented to us as something that has already happened) to Jupiter's moon Europa. That's the premise, it seems.While this may sound like it couldn't possibly carry a whole movie, it is actually not very intrusive. I didn't feel much different than I do when watching a 'normal' movie (with the usual type of linear storyline progression). The suspense and immersion, for me anyway, was just as good as with 'normal' movies. I wasn't thrown off by this style-choice. In fact I think it was a good choice, the way they did it, for the story of this movie.There's a good balance between personal stuff (the typical 'getting to know the people', whatever the main story is) and the actual story (the events that our little band of likable protagonists are thrust through)The movie never resorts to pointless clichés, unless you consider launch countdowns a cliché (there are a couple, but this is a space-movie afterall, launch-countdowns are mandatory.), or tons of geeky stuff like foolish techie-talk without real meaning that is just there to sound cool and smart (the movie never takes any cheap-shots like that)The storyline (the space-mission events), when considered linearly (in the movie its presented non-linearly), is rather fluid in the sense that you never have any definite character-leads but rather a team-effort (there's no good-guy vs bad-guy stereotyping, but a sense of allroundness/completeness to all the characters. They appear more real, more human, than characters often do in most movies. I liked that a lot)The movie-set, both inside and outside the space-ship, is actually quite impressively made. Again they hit the perfect balance between coolness and meaningfulness. For example, there is no flashing lights that flash just to have something flashy flashing.The outfits aren't parodies either. Too many space-themed movies have space-suits that make you cry, but thankfully "Europa Report" is not one of these movies. And they're not wearing gadgets that are just there for the fluff-effect. Everything really seems to have been given thought rather than being left to randomness (an effort you have to respect given that this movie, as most space-themed movies, aren't likely to appeal to the same broad mainstream audience as more traditional movies)There's a lot of good to say about this movie.It may not be a chick-flick as such, although that obviously depends on the chick, but is likely more appealing to those who already have an interest in the theme of space.All in all I can easily recommend getting and watching this movie.It's easily one of the best scifi movies you can find as of the year 2014.It is really brilliant and well done in all aspects of the production.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbw9hlBnG74

Si vous attendez de ce film héroïsme grandiloquent, effets spéciaux en cascades, scènes d'actions ininterrompues, suspens insoutenable, voire poésie et philosophie débridée, ainsi que des images et un cadrage cinématographique, passez votre chemin.Ce film est avant tout réaliste dans sa mise en scène. L'image se veut généralement provenir de toutes les sources A/V crédibles de la missions (caméras de contrôle extérieur/intérieur, des sondes, des scaphandres, des caméras portatives, etc.). Pas de travellings sur des plans majestueux ou des gros plans minutieusement préparés sur les visages pour transcender l'émotion. Non, l'image est plus statique que ça, les paysages (magnifiques au demeurant) sont ceux imposés par la direction des caméras. Au final, la mise en scène dispose de vues variés, plan (assez) large et rapprochés, mais l'enchaînement est volontairement non conventionnel, ce qui peut déstabiliser.Le film est également réaliste dans son scénario: ici, la mission s'appuie sur des technologies disponibles ou raisonnablement à portée dans les prochaines années, pas de propulsion ou de design de vaisseau révolutionnaire. L'équipage est donc tributaire de paramètres tels qu'on peut les imaginer en 2014: temps de missions longs, radiations autour de Jupiter et de ses lunes, volumes habitables restreints, fragilité des paramètres environnementaux internes (e.g. qualité de l'air). Certains aspects sont volontairement simplifiés (lesallers/retours de fusées nécessaires en orbite basse terrestre pour assembler le vaisseau ne sont pas ou très peu évoqués, de même que le paradoxe entre la grande épaisseur externe de glace estimée d'Europe et la situation de glace très fine en surface rencontrée à certains endroits par l'équipage (on voit cependant un schéma -s'appuyant sur des travaux réels- de coupe de l'épaisseur de glace où apparaissent des poches d'eau liquide (des lacs)) proches de la surface, faisant la quasi-jonction entre la surface et la mer intérieure), enfin le principe de l'équipement de forage de glace n'est pas expliqué de manière claire(la glace forée ou fondue n'étant pas évacuée du puits, on peut se demander où elle passe. J'imagine que la glace est sublimée directement en vapeur d'eau, ce qui est une approche réaliste, mais il me semble que ce n'est pas expliqué dans le film). Mais au total, on colle de très près à la connaissance scientifique que nous avons actuellement des lunes Galiléennes.Bien-sûr, le film prend des libertés avec l'exobiologie, mais c'est un des objectifs du film et je ne voudrais pas gâcher l'expérience des spectateurs en en dévoilant davantage. Il y a juste à savoir que les auteurs ont été ici audacieux sans être non plus délirants.Au total, un film non conventionnel mais à mes yeux très réussi. Mais impossible pour moi de le relier à des œuvres existantes. Ce n'est pas un documentaire, et contrairement à ce que d'autres commentateurs ont pu avancer, le film est éloigné des expériences cinématographiques qu'on pu procurer 2001 ou Moon, bien qu'il y ait effectivement quelques similitudes de surface.Sinon, ne gâchons pas notre plaisir: les films valables d'exploration des lunes de Jupiter ou de Saturne sont quasiment inexistantes (je me souviens avec plaisir de la saison de la série Eureka où une mission vers Titan était mise en place, quoique traitée sous l'angle comique) et ce film trace le début de l'aventure avec maîtrise et précision.Je le conseille donc à celles et ceux que la description qui précède n'a pas rebuté.Sinon, sachez que le film dispose d'une bande son française et anglaise, mais que de sous-titrages français. Donc pas de vo sous-titrée anglais, dommage, mais je ne retire pas d'étoile pour ce film très maîtrisé.

ジャケットのような映像のオンパレードを期待し、多少ストーリーは犠牲かと考え、海外版を購入！！。しかし、この映画は誰をターゲットに作った映画なのか？研究発表の様でもあり、架空体験報告会の様でもあり、大変弱いながらホラーやスリラーを目指している様でもあり、全く軸が分からない。研究発表ならその路線でCGをふんだんに使ってイメージを見せてもいいし、架空体験報告会ならその旨をはっきり表明してこんなジャケットにしないでほしい。兎に角、中途半端。ＳＦホラーとしてはもっての外、断片・断片に船乗員のインタビューが入るので、間が空いて緊張感が継続しない。全く怖くない。エウロパから木星を見る映像とか所々良いものがあるので、娯楽性の追求とは言わないが、観客を置いていかない映画にしてほしかった。最悪なのは最後、モンスターを出すのは良いが、あれはないだろう！！！。あれが生態系の属するなら捕食関係からすれば、沢山の他生物が必要となるはず。他に何もない中でどうしてあれが生命を維持できる？絶対にあれは出すべきではなかった。

Good Sci Fi film about a an expedition to Jupiter's moon Europa, I would have preferred a greater emphasis on the moon and Jupiter itself with wider vistas as the film feels a bit claustrophobic. Having said that I did enjoy it and would recommend it to other Sci Fi fans.

Bon, d'habitude les films SF style "catastrophe", je trouve ça nul. Par exemple Sunshine est une daube (même si le vaisseaux est de toute beauté et les effets spéciaux magnifiques), Gravity arrive juste à la moyenne, même en 3D (pourtant les images sont belles).Mais voilà, dans les films catastrophe, les équipages sont toujours complètement nuls et prennent LA mauvaise décision qui fait tout foirer, alors que c'est évident que ce n'est pas la bonne décision.Résultat, on s'ennuie à mourir parce que c'est vraiment trop facile de prévoir la suite.Et là, avec Europa Report, et ben incroyable, on arrive à être surpris ! Et ce n'est pas ironique !Pas que l'équipage soit particulièrement brillant : comme d'hab ils prennent des décisions stupides qui évidemment mènent à la catastrophe (ce sont pourtant parait-il les meilleurs de toute l'humanité ... ça fait peur).Non, c'est juste que le scénario est bien ficelé, porté par une réalisation sans défaut.J'ai d'ailleurs bien aimé l'idée du format "rapport de mission". C'est pas mal, ça marche bien.Au final chose assez inattendue : j'ai aimé.Bon, précision : je l'ai acheté parce que je ne savais pas que c'était un film catastrophe. Sinon je ne l'aurai pas acheté. Mais je serai passé à coté d'un film finalement pas mal et qui se laisse regarder.