Europa Report (2013)

 

Dr. Samantha Unger, CEO of Europa Ventures, narrates the story of the Europa One mission, in which six astronauts embark on a privately funded mission to Jupiter's moon Europa to find potential sources of life.

The mission suffers tragedy even before it makes it to Europa, and only five somewhat demoralised astronauts reach the moon.  Things don't get much better during their landing: first they miss their target zone, then a probe they release is damaged and lost.

Tensions mount over the setbacks, which show that Europa is even more dangerous and difficult an environment than expected.  Worse, the crew cannot be sure they can trust each other.  At least one of their number is clearly still traumatised from what happened during the journey, and it's entirely possible that all of them are at less than their best; just hiding it better than he is.

Despite their skills and determination, this mission may be doomed ...

Europa Report is a 'found footage' disaster-thriller in space. The film has a kind of docu-drama structure to it, interspersing 'after the event' interviews in between segments of footage beamed back by the mission itself.  

The script deliberately presents information in a non-sequential manner so as to build mystery. Or 'mystery'. I don't think there are any major surprises here for anyone who has seen a found footage film, before.

These kind of structural games can irk me, as they're fairly transparent ploys to build tension that would not otherwise exist, but they can be effective when used well and I think the purpose and execution here is solid. The film is able to get moving faster this way, and while it never really does anything unexpected, it does create some interest in seeing exactly how the fairly obvious destination will be reached.

Almost every found footage film I have ever seen has shared the same problem: a point in the movie where I am scowling at the screen and loudly asking "why is this person still filming?".  This is an endemic problem of the form, and a key reason I never see such movies at the cinema.  I'm pleased to say, however, that Europa Report has no such moment. The cameras used are almost always automated feeds not under the control of the person in shot, and where they aren't, they are being used in safe environments.  Big thumbs up for never actively jarring me out of my suspension of disbelief.

I also like that that film manages to find something triumphant and uplifting in what could easily have been yet another 'rocks fall, everyone dies' found footage scenario.  It's a pretty smart bit of writing.

Probably the biggest weakness of the film is the mission itself: there is almost no change our first mission to land on Europa will have a human crew; it is vastly more dangerous and expensive to send people that far than it is to send a robotic probe.  There's nothing that this mission seems to have planned that requires a human presence: the tests could all have been conducted by probes like the Curiosity Rover we sent to Mars.

But of course this is a movie and we need some human characters on screen to care about, and to be fair to the film, the cast are talented - and also quite a bit more recognisable than you might expect of a low budget science fiction offering than this.

Europa Report may be a little low key for some, and a bit bleak for others, but I rather enjoyed this comparatively thoughtful SF thriller.