Too much of everything

That was an excellent one.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A manned mission to Europa meets problems.A decent cast acts their socks off in nicely realised spaceship interiors in what purports to be found footage, albeit enhanced with dramatic music. This has the budgetary advantage of doing away with the special effects necessary for the alleged dramatic events: instead we get endless closeups of helmet-cams directed at faces instead of events outside.The film is slow-moving and dull and cheats the vewer by not actually showing anything.

I came across the Europa Report by chance while browsing trailers & was utterly astonished at the thrilling beauty of the short movie. With masterful sure-footedness, we are taken on a journey in the form of a faux-documentary about an exploratory manned mission to Europa. I was left as astonished, and more persuaded (thanks to an excellent screenplay & story) as I have been by other sci-fi films 50 x the budget it took to make the Europa Report. I sincerely hope the producer/directors return to this genre. It's so rare to see a truly intelligent, well-thought out sci-fi story brought to life like this….

Take away the flashy special effects and this movie is basically a retread of many black and white "sci fi" movies from the 40s and 50s. The premise is that the potential for life has been found on Jupiter's moon Europa, so a crew comprised of top experts in their fields is assembled and sent to investigate. Somewhere beyond Mars, solar flares damage their communication equipment, cutting their link to Earth. This film is a now-declassified report of what happened to the mission.To achieve the documentary look and feel, the movie combines interviews with mission personnel here on Earth with jumpy, flicking footage from the space ship's various cameras. To further dramatize and confuse things, the story is told out of sequence. You may be wondering where the ship footage comes from if communications with Earth were cut off and the beginning of the movie strongly implies that the mission ends tragically. Never fear, everything is explained by the end of the film.For a film that prides itself on being scientifically accurate, there are a few howlers that break any kind of suspension of disbelief. The one that got me was when they land on Europa and the captain announces that the outside temperature is "holding steady at absolute zero". What a terrible, ridiculous line. And then to make matters worse, a scene or two later darkness falls upon the moon and another crew member notes that the temperature outside is dropping. Apparently below absolute zero.The movie looks great and has a decent premise, the acting is...acceptable and the ending is actually pretty cool. I really wanted to like this movie - it could have been a great sci-fi film. But instead it goes for jump scares, unnecessary confusion and an eerie atmosphere that turns it into a so-so horror flick.

Becoming a fan of "genre" cinema in Europe from the Giallo,Nordic Noir and French Film Noir after seeing the original version,I was sad to learn about Dragon Tattoo star Michael Nyqvist's death. Wanting to pay tribute with a Nyqvist viewing,I re-read a positive review Kim Newman gave to a Nyqvist's Sci-Fi movie,which led to me filling a report in.The plot:Joining up to go on a mission to explore Jupiter's fourth largest moon, astronauts William Xu/James Corrigan/ Daniel Luxembourg/Katya Petrovna/Andrei Blok and Rosa Dasque set off on a rocket (covered in cameras so control room can keep records) to explore the surface of the moon,and find out if it is inhabitable. Landing on the moon,the crew find it to be entirely iced. Going out to explore the lonely moon,the crew find their planned report into the exploration to be interrupted by a radioactive wave.View on the film:Drilling orders into the team like a well-oiled mechanic, Michael Nyqvist gives a terrific performance as Andrei Blok,whose gruff orders to the rest of the crew are softened by Nyqvist keeping it based round Blok's focus on the completion of the mission. Grasping the threads of the research as they are iced up, Anamaria Marinca gives a very good performance as Rosa Dasque,who is given a quick- witted thoughtfulness by Marinca.Largely playing by the rules, ( with a few exceptions being stylish shots of the crew looking out across the galaxy,and the score by Battlestar's Bear McCreary bringing an eerie mood up from the surface) of the Found Footage genre,director Sebastián Cordero & cinematographer Enrique Chediak impressively find space for gripping tension with pristine editing and realistic placings of the cameras landing on the isolation of the ship. Looking towards Horror,Cordero holds back for something more psychological,with an excellent use of sound bringing the unknown things on the planet into the ship.Making the first 30 minutes of the mission a success,the screenplay by Philip Gelatt superbly grounds the Sci-Fi in realism,from the astronauts taking great care to fully explore the planet,to the care that they have for each other never being spoken,but coming across in the tiny gestures they do for each other. Recording over the gory horror of the "Found Footage" genre, Gelatt cleverly makes the terror uncovered be one which actually gives meaning to their exploration,as Europa files a report.