Review of Europa Report (2013) by Terence G — 04 Jul 2014

I wanted to like Europa Report. The trailers looked pretty awesome and I'm a pretty big Sci-Fi fan myself. The movie just falls a bit flat, but has some good moments. The film is about an international space crew on a mission to land on one of the moons of Jupiter: Europa.

Europa has vast oceans underneath its ice layer and the crew is sent to find out if there is sentient life. The movie almost feels like a document with scenes intercut with real life scenes of scientists (and actors) discussing Europa's unique characteristics.

The film is also shot like a "found footage" film where it's a lot of point of view shots. This kinda took it away from me. The film was shot for under 10 million dollars (making it a low budget film) and it shows! Theres really only two locations.

The ship and scatter shots of the outside of Europa. The pace of the film is quite slow not really building up until the final half hour. The performances are what hold this film together. The films stars, most of them unknown except for Sharlto Copley (District 9, Elysium) and Michael Nyqvist (the Original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy).

Dan Fogler even has a small random part as a scientist that briefly describes things, but for the most part it's nice to see an unknown cast. Overall, I would still recommend sci-fi fans give it a look.

The trailer makes it look a bit more "action packed" but go into it cautiously knowing it's a slow building thriller!