for 2013, making a fake “found footage” horror movie was out of fashion. But for whatever reasons, making a space-based sci-fi movie out of Convincing The found footage had never really been made. That is, until Europe report.
Nine years after its release in 2013, this indie thriller remains one of the most realistic sci-fi movies of all time. Now that it’s streaming on Amazon Prime Video, here’s why it deserves another look, or if you missed it the first time, a look at why it’s a modern sci-fi classic.
the premise of Europe Report is also the style of Europe Report. I like it The Blair Witch Project either Paranormal activityWhat drives the film’s tension is primarily its non-linear, phony non-fiction structure. this does not mean Europe Report It doesn’t have great performances and great sci-fi concepts, it does. But if he had to read a synopsis, he would probably be very disappointed. But if the assignment was to make a nail-biting sci-fi movie that completely rely on style to create narrative emotions, then Europe Report understood the task.
Featured as missing footage of a failed mission to one of Jupiter’s moons, the film announces its calamity ahead of time. In the contemporary “present” of the film, this space mission has already taken place and therefore what we are seeing is a reconstruction of what went wrong. This means that characters’ demise often occurs before we meet them, creating a creepy and disorienting feeling that stays with you, even while other things are happening.
In this film there is no monster that eliminates the crew, but rather a series of realistic but unfortunate events that lead to various tragedies, big and small. for fans of the expansion either for all mankindessential space travel issues will feel familiar, even if the tone is more serious.
Europe Report it also inserts a tantalizing plot question into almost everything that’s going on. Is there some kind of extraterrestrial life in Europe? Will we get to see it? Hiding the real alien from moviegoers in a movie about aliens is a very old trick. I like it jaws, the less we see of the alien here, the scarier it is. This elusiveness and fear also give Europe Report the feel of a very low budget version of Prometheuswhich is actually a compliment.
While all the actors give commendable performances, one who easily stands out is Daniel Wu, who, these days, is probably most familiar to sci-fi fans from his roles in Western world. In Europe Report, Wu plays William Xu, who basically functions as the de facto captain. Although the point of the movie is to make you think that these are real astronauts who know they’re being filmed, Wu gives the film a bit more star power, which paradoxically helps ground it. In other words, as convincing as the found footage is, Wu’s flawless style helps keep the film from deteriorating. also wrapped in that construction.
Fans of the genre probably know Wu best for in the badlandswhich started two years later Europe Report. If anyone is looking for the hardest working man in science fiction, it may be Daniel Wu. If you are not convinced of the style or concept of Europe Reporttake care of it for him.
More generally, what does Europe Report work is how committed the film is to its premise. It’s not joking and immediately old-fashioned as the martian and it’s not over the top like sci-fi thriller Life. It seems to be in an alternate universe where sci-fi movies don’t need to deliver more than they promise. In a sense, Europe Report it doesn’t really promise anything, so when you get glimpses of events you didn’t expect, it’s exciting and sublime.
Sci-fi tropes are hard to do new, especially in low budget movies. But Europe Report showed that sometimes intentional limitations can make for the best storytelling. The film only tells us what the cameras captured, and that means we get everything we need to know. A different movie would have given us more, but Europe Report it’s brilliant because it’s intentionally less.
Europe Report is streaming now on Amazon.
