Europa Report (2013) User Reviews

Better than the other reviews would let on

[shawn4004 · 7/10 · 30 June 2013]

I liked this movie. It was a good sci-fi flick, but based in a believable near-future world. The voyage is captured by stationary cameras throughout the ship and a story is patched together from them. The acting was very good. There admittedly wasn't much in the way of character development, but I didn't notice it. The whole film I was hoping the story would move forward faster and faster to the end, to find out what, if anything, was discovered, and the fate of the crew.

Mostly what I liked about it was that it wasn't over-the-top storytelling, nor was it over-the-top with special effects. It used them only to tell the story that needed to be told and weren't overused. One reviewer chastised the special effects as being poor, but I disagree. They were believable. Bad is the crap they make for the Science Fiction Channel.

This movie may not appeal to everyone precisely because it's not over-the-top. It was simple, with building tension throughout the film and a good ending. There weren't monsters and aliens everywhere, there was a distinct Hitchcocian feel to it.

Very good; well worth watching.

A unique, realistic and a gripping Sci Fi movie

[Mizbar · 6/10 · 29 June 2013]

As a science/space enthusiast, I found this movie to be really interesting and enjoyed it. I think all the viewers who like these types of plots would enjoy it, but the directorial approach may be annoying to some viewers. The shaky statics videos and limited angels of camera view might not be too popular. There wasn't any character development or focus on the characters, it was pretty straight forward. The documentary style used was reasonable. The best thing about this movie was it was a low budget indie movie which did a wonderful job. A lot could have been better. Humans traveling to space and land on Europa, a moon in Jupiter, that itself is a reason to watch it, Do not expect a typical Hollywood style movie. However this movie takes a very realistic approach to present the complex space mission depicting the psychological and the physical strains on the astronauts.

Recommended for at least one viewing

[kuarinofu · 7/10 · 9 August 2019]

While Europa Report isn't mind-blowing and doesn't bring any groundbreaking ideas to the table, it is still watchable at least once. This is a situation when you make the most of what you have. A good budget sci-fi.

The performances are ok, the story is a basic sci-fi one, CGI is very noticeable but they tried, I think I even spotted a couple of good sets and a good matte painting.

The story works mostly because of the characters, which are relatable and imperfect. Their motives and deeds are understandable.

While the pseudo-documentary style opens new options and provides for interesting scenes, they never do anything creative with it besides some fast cut-ins for you to spot. My biggest complaint is that sometimes it gets overly sentimental and somewhat tells you to feel the same, which just doesn't work with the style they've established.

A good one-time sci-fi watch if you thought you've seen it all and if you are desperately looking for good low budget ones.

More authentic than most space movies

[Miles-10 · 7/10 · 7 August 2022]

"Europa Report" is relatively authentic in its details about the large, icy moon of Jupiter called Europa, But it is not perfect, and it will strike many viewers as, at first, slow and claustrophobic. After all, as one of the astronauts observes, the space inside the ship is extremely limited even while the space outside is vast.

That said, I recommend "Europa Report" for being sufficiently adventurous while not making the intelligent viewer cringe over obviously fake science. In fact, it is a horror movie made more horrifying by the plausibility that, just as there are dangers in nature here on earth, there might be equal or worse horrors lurking on the many moons and planets we have yet to explore.

There are some tropes here that are similar to those of other space movies, but many that are different, too. No, crew members do not become infected with an alien bug that makes them kill each other. Yes, they argue, but it is mostly about taking chances versus safety. The crew cooperates, and they take care of each other in admirable ways--if ultimately futile ones.

There are however, several don't-go-down-those-stairs moments. ("Actually walking on the surface of Europa was always a question mark," says one astronaut as the crew is about to vote on whether one of the scientist-astronauts should go outside.)

The scene that confused me most was the one about the attempted repair of the communications system; I thought they were all in the lander on Europa's surface, but apparently they left two astronauts on the orbiter high above the surface. Anyway, that is the first genuinely scary scene. There are subsequently some more scary scenes including the ending.

For those who do not know. Europa is Jupiter's fourth largest moon (Jupiter has well over 80 moons and moonlets), and it is one of three big Jovian moons that have liquids on their surfaces. In fact, Europa has an all-ice surface with nothing much other than a salt-water ocean beneath that ice. While the surface of this planet-sized moon is absolute zero degrees (utterly frozen), its innermost core is molten hot so that the salty ocean between the hot core and cold surface is relatively warm--warm enough that some of the creatures in earth's oceans would probably be able to live in Europa's ocean. So, does Europa have life of its own? That is what the astronauts in "Europa Report" want to find out.

There are some scientific quibbles: Although the movie acknowledges that radiation is a huge problem, it seems rather cavalier about it. (Europa is pretty close to Jupiter and is hit by 5.40 Sv of radiation a day; as I understand it, that quickly translates into deadly exposure.)

Another problem is that the movie assumes that the surface of Europa is rough but relatively flat; yet recent data suggests that the icy surface is made up of huge, closely interspersed ice-spikes; making landing a ship there similar to throwing a tennis ball at the sole of a boot cleated with sharp metal spikes.

Many advocates of a mission to Europa insist that we should send robots, not people. However, the filmmakers should be forgiven because danger to robots would not be as exciting as danger to humans. "Europa Report" gives us a crew of diverse humans who turn out to be relatable (if somewhat generic), who are nevertheless admirable in their determination and bravery.

A mildly scary film which should have been terrifying

[bluejays-88045 · 6/10 · 14 February 2022]

Here is some context about Europa for you: it is a tiny, as in tiny, ice ball located 390 million miles away from Earth. It has essentially no atmosphere and a temperature of -260 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees colder than Mars gets at night). It is one of the most dangerous places in space with a radiation level 1,800 times that of earth on its surface. As has been pointed out before, sending humans to this moon without extreme protection is suicide.

I think this film could have captured the sheer terror of deep space, the deadly environment of Europa, and the possible deadliness of whatever creatures it may, or may not, contain if it ditched the found footage motif entirely. I never liked the found footage format it just never seemed as frightening and in your face scary as experiencing it "live". It's like watching a youtube video of the scary thing instead of being in the scary thing.

Another drawback of the found footage is we lose a wider view of the environment, a big problem here because you want the audience to see Europa and the massive nearby Jupiter. I think I saw more of both in the movie's poster than I did in the actual film. The film loses a few stars for these reasons.

On the other hand, the movie earns some kudos for fairly good acting, reasonably realistic portrayal of astronauts, some stressful and frightening moments, and a generally intriguing look at what could be lurking out there in space. If only it wasn't found footage.

A Potentially Great Sci Fi Movie That Became A Disjointed, Jumbled Mess

[tabuno · 6/10 · 16 January 2019]

31 July 2013. Jumbled, disjointed. This chaotic but visually compelling sci fi movie is about a space attempt to one of Jupiter's moons. Europa has the look and production value of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien and the more recent Love (2011) about survival in space. However it tries too hard being classy. The use of voice-over is unnecessary and excessive. Attempts at the Blair Witch Project documentary approach is uneasily combined with the more stark Kubrick photography. Finally the flash back and flash forwards leave the audience spinning in confusion and disorientation.

If only the director had just simplified and shot the movie in the traditional linear footage like the 50s Forbidden Planet or even First Space on Venus, this movie had the potential to be a great. It had the look some of the best space visuals of any sci fi movie to date. It had serious intention, but the sounds in space and no space-time lag in communications between the space craft and Mission control are real major technical flaws for a movie like this. It had had poor editing making it confusing almost to the point of being unwatchable. Some of the dialogue and space craft activity were penetrating and appealingly jargon-oriented really capturing the ambiance of real space exploration but at other times seemed just too banal, used for impressing an uneducated audience that in these days seems a pretty sad commentary of how the producers or director thought of its audience. The non-linear, broken time flow made the movie into a hodge-podge of scenes that only made sense to the editor or director. The revealed reason for the communication lost, scenes that the audience was subjected to twice wouldn't have been unpredictable as described, it would have been monitored and not unexpected. This seems to be just a convenient script device that only weakens the storyline. Another problem was the strangely edited debate scene about going out exploring which was literally broken in half and completed after another completely different scene was inserted. The approach landing scene was visually amazing, but there wasn't enough of the close up of the landing to be brilliantly, dazzlingly and later one of the Mission specialists gets to look out at a close up of a fantastic landscape while the audience only get to see the specialist looking out the window and only later does the audience get to see what the specialist saw after the fact. Finally even as fantastic as the visual photography and set design and landscape design were, there were too many photographic style changes that prevented this movie from flowing smoothly nor allowing the story to become an intimate compelling close up personal story for the audience. Instead the photographic changes became a background distraction.

In one of the major crises scenes its power was taken away by too much previous random, almost pretentious space banter and not enough film time devoted to building up this crucial scene. Nevertheless it was one of the best scenes of the movie, well done both visually and sound wise. Another great scene was the disembarkation from the space craft that was so authentic and visceral, though too much of the 2001 movie helmet-face shot was used instead of allowing the audience to have an extended personal experience of wonderful out of this world landscape shots. Why there was only one space explorer out there seems odd too. Even this great sequence seemed off when there was a little amount of sample time left then suddenly became time to leave then mysteriously all the crew's concern over radiation levels seems to disappear and miraculously there's more time to explore further creating a bewildering sense of incongruity with the script plot outline overtaking the consistency and believability of the story. Even later there is a final face shot but not of what the astronaut was looking at creating more of a disconcerting unnecessary puzzle. At some point two thirds the way through the movie the continuing anomalies that keep piling up in juxtaposition of the overall tone and presentation of this movie. The more authentic and believable, documentary tone of this movie is in contradiction to the number of calamities that befall this space voyage making it more of a stretch to suspend judgment of its theatrical veracity. Instead of focusing on extended scenes of great potency to captivate the audience, the script and director have chosen quantity over sustained quality, allowing the film's integrity to grow dangerously thin. It's almost as if there were at least two or more short films occurring in this movie. The film also eventually becomes more unclear as to what is supposedly recorded film that the audience is seeing and what is just the movie presentation itself that supposedly wasn't recorded but was shot to help fill in important details for the audience, just more distracting, off-putting film experiences. 2010 (1984) a follow up to 2001 with its own voyage to Jupiter had similar events occur in respect to Europa Report but which Europa was able to exceed in the space adventure depiction of its story but also fell short compared to 2010 in its overall movie presentation and storyline coherence. Perhaps the greatest mistake was the use of the flashback technique which in fact became at least two different flashbacks destroying some of the mystery and unknown of first discovery as if the audience was really only getting a compilation of a report instead of being able to be apart of this amazing visually dazzling space adventure themselves.

Overall, this movie of really great potential and visual photographic power and narrative style is similar to Moon (2009) but became even more of a great disappointment with its poor editing and scene selection that only serve to create a massive jumble of confusion, difficult to follow and comprehend and enjoy. If only that director had stayed with a simple presentation this would have been a great cinematic achievement.

Technical Marvel, Tired Story

[rsj624 · 7/10 · 15 October 2013]

--WARNING: There may be some spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the film, so just a heads up. In order to accurately review this film, it may be necessary to talk about some key moments.--

It's hard to knock Europa Report on the technical aspects, or even for it's premise or it's outstanding performances. My gripe with the movie stems from it's storytelling, and decisions made throughout the film. Frustration starts to occur about 45 minutes or so into the movie when it quickly becomes evident that the film can't keep itself interesting without needing to kill off it's protagonists.

Unfortunately, this film strings you along via a monologue by the one crew member leading you to assume someone survives the whole ordeal, simply to discover within the final moments of the film that she, just like everyone else, will die. Earlier in the film, connections with everyone back on Earth were lost...and they are magically through her quick thinking at the end reconnected so that all the footage of their mission can be received for what they had gone through to become known back home.

It's suppose to be bittersweet I guess, but instead it seems like the movie just forced itself into having reason; like the screenplay itself became too big to handle, and no good outcome would justify everything having occurred in the film. A happy ending isn't always necessary, but space films all too often seem to have this opinion that you're going to die if you leave Earth, and our curiosity will end up getting the best of us. It's a song and dance we've seen before, and honestly, watching Moon was a similar and much better experience years earlier.

One last note, the mystery of Europa and it's 'iridescent' lighting ended up being a deep sea creature, that would've been a cool sort of way to end the movie, however, Michael Bay would be proud, because unless I'm just lacking in scientific knowledge, no see creature would look like something that ended up getting scrapped as a design choice for a creature while making "World of the Worlds".

This is not a bad movie however, as I would recommend it, but it's not all the great things it seems to play itself up to. A decent space film at best, that in every other way aside from how it's story unfolds is worth watching.

Strong little indie sci-fi you should see

[Far-Sky · 8/10 · 29 June 2013]

Europa Report is one of those low-budget sci-fi films that crops up occasionally and starts making the rounds on genre websites (my own first blush with the film was on io9.com) to create a buzz. Since Hollywood has depressingly sworn off any films that aren't megabudget tentpoles with an already-established audience anticipation index (read: sequels, remakes, or pre-existing properties), low-budget genre films are a rarity at best.

In the film, six astronauts embark on a mission of discovery, planning to land on (as one would expect) Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, after recent discoveries showed a possibility of microbial life underneath its icy oceans. What we see is the recorded video from their ship's cameras (yes, it's a found footage film) that tell the story of their ill-fated voyage.

It's a simplistic premise, and director Sebastián Cordero seems to be a bit unsure of himself at the outset. The film refuses to follow a linear narrative; even before the main title appears, we join the crew many months into their trip, and are given the knowledge that there's obviously been an incident onboard already, one that's robbed the journey of one of their intrepid space explorers.

Two things worried me at the outset of the film: one: the much-ballyhooed attention to detail (the filmmakers even brought on NASA to make sure the film was meticulously designed and scientifically accurate) and two: that constantly-shifting timeline of the film. The first point was worrisome because most films that lean so heavily on their technical accuracy forget to be dramatically compelling, and the second (similarly) because an over-reliance on storytelling gimmicks often betrays a weak story.

Happily, neither caused the film to fail: the attention to detail enhanced rather than detracted, and while the unnecessary nonlinearity of the storytelling didn't go away until the end, it did finally calm down enough for the audience to orient themselves. Given that I know now how the story unfolds, I can say that it would have actually been more dramatically compelling for the audience if the film had just told itself in a more straightforward manner, but ultimately it works fine (if weaker than it could have).

The bare-bones plot is aided by some smart writing that refuses to dip into easy characterizations and instead defines its astronauts by their mission, rather than clichéd, singular personality traits. While refreshing to see, it does leave some of the characters as relative cyphers, but strong performances all around (including District 9's Sharlto Copley and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Michael Nyqvist) get the film over that slight bump.

What's most gratifying about the film, however, is that it never loses its sense of awe. The film refuses to give in to the cynical pessimism of standard sci-fi fare, and its astronauts recognize the immense importance of their mission, particularly when things start to go south. Cordero keeps the tension ratcheted up, never forgetting how innately tenuous the safety of space travel is. The performances are all good, and Copley in particular is a standout.

But what I appreciated most about the film was its tactile nature, a by-product of its low budget. The difference between models and fully CGI creations is literally tangible. A week or so ago, I watched Disney's 1979 film The Black Hole for the first time, and while the green-screening is terribly shoddy, the film's effects stand miles taller than most of the genre fare produced today, if only by virtue of the fact that being real, they informed the cinematography and performances around them.

Europa Report fits in comfortably beside Duncan Jones' fantastic low-budget Moon, and while not perfect, compares favorably to that modern classic. This class of film can either be a failure (see: Apollo 18) or a classic (the aforementioned Moon); Europa Report isn't flawless, but it's a great entry in the canon of smart, well-made sci-fi.

Unfortunately Disappointing

[jmillerdp · 7/10 · 25 January 2014]

*** Certain Thematic SPOILERS ***

There is a very good, exciting Science-Fiction story here. But, unfortunately, it is saddled with the thoroughly worn-out "found footage" dynamic. This critically hurts the film.

The found-footage conceit means that the whole movie takes on a sterile feeling. There is nothing cinematic in the movie at all. It's just like someone took a bunch of webcam footage and cut it together, without much passion or creativity.

Plus, right off, we are essentially told that the mission ended in tragedy, which of course undercuts the possibility of suspense for the rest of the running time.

After hearing from the director of the mission, the movie uses those on- board, static cameras in the spaceship to tell the story, augmented with astronaut POV cameras when they're outside of the ship.

The rest of the story fills out okay, with some abrupt back-and-forth- in-time shifts in narrative that don't have any reason for being. They should've told the story in a linear fashion and skipped the "found footage" stuff. Unfortunately disappointing.

***** (5 Out of 10 Stars)

Astro-boredom

[facorread · 1/10 · 11 October 2013]

Any decent sci-fi film combines good science, writing, direction, visuals, and acting. This movie had none of that.

The science in this film was absurd and implausible; the first manned mission after the Moon is Europa, not Mars. Why Europa? Nobody knows. And most presumably no probes or robots were sent to Europa in advance. Everything that was portrayed by astronauts in the film has already been done by current, actual robots in Mars; so why the need to send people to Europa? It looks so weak as a PR move by a corporation. The whole Hydrazine premise is so ridiculous. There was absolutely no justification for so many space walks in such weak suits: fixing batteries and fuses, correcting icing problems in fuel lines... When the time comes for a real-life manned mission to get beyond the Asteroid Belt, you bet that mission will have thousands of safeguards and protection against common things that happen in space like radiation, solar storms, asteroids, battery failures, and icing. The writers probably ignored such basic planning for the sake of dramatic effect, as if a corporation would risk lives with sloppy mission design in this kind of PR move. The only possible exception for this scientific mess is the artificial gravity, which is produced by the fool-proof rotating module that we have seen in other films, and even then who cares? They got the Jupiter-Europa gravity all wrong.

The writing was terrible: the retrospective to the launch events was absolutely unnecessary. Precious time that would have been best invested in character development. Nobody cares about your characters, their intentions, motivation, relationships, deaths, nothing. They enunciate their motives for giving up their lives, but you can be sure they don't feel like saving the day; they might as well let the mission fail. Real-world astronaut training is not Kamikaze training. Real-world astronauts are naturally afraid to die, just as everyone else; in such vein they are trained not to attempt stupid stunts like going after the light or walking without tethers. The writing is so poor that you could switch the characters in their roles, you could change the whole premise to an expedition to the Arctic, like The Thing, or something like The Abyss with little change. No tension, no climax, no suspense.

The whole documentary format was also unnecessary; it had no purpose; it doesn't even look as a direction or art device; I am pretty sure it happened at the editing room: they first tried the basic sequential cut, and then they tried to rearrange the scenes without adding or removing anything, and found it more interesting; anyways the film makes the same sense: none.

There is a reason I don't spend two hours of my time watching security footage: because it's boring. But then there I am, watching security footage of a bunch of people I couldn't care less about doing some implausible things for the sake of dramatic effect. Gratuitous close-ups of nostrils and teeth. I feel ripped off. I think every take on Jupiter, Europa, and the creature were also represented from the point of view of the fixed cameras, so the visuals there are super-boring. The creature had more tentacles than animation frames in this film. Terrible lighting. There are three exceptions to this visual nonsense: the solar storm is pretty good, the ship sets are decent, and the theatrical release poster looks way better than the film's Europa footage. Unimpressive film.

Finally, the acting; I'd really like to say that the good actors had poor material to work with, and that their talents were wasted. But I strongly believe they were so bored with the premise and script that they didn't even care about their performances. Killing Copley off so early was a terrible move, but who cares anyway? Keeping him to the end does not help things.

This film is a fantastic example of how not to make sci-fi. Please take notes.

NASA docu-drama

[astell-1 · 8/10 · 3 July 2013]

Imagine NASA making a documentary about a hypothetical exploration of Jupiter's moon, Europa. Now add elements of high drama to make the documentary a little more entertaining. Et voilà! Europa Report.

In many respects this film reminded me of 2010:The Year We Make Contact: It has much of the feel of 2001 but the decision making, along with the science, is less credible than 2001. So that's about the same as 2010. The film is based on our actual scientific knowledge of Europa which is a big plus for the film.

Europa Report is presented as a retrospective assessment by a mission controller on Earth. It is well done but somewhat flat and predictable. The attempts at drama are equally flat and predictable.

So how to sum up? Europa Report is a well crafted movie and you can easily imagine this is an actual space mission. It makes a refreshing change from space soap operas and silly adventure films like Armageddon. However it will appeal most to scientists, engineers, teachers and those with a genuine interest in space exploration. If all you want is another episode of Star Wars you should look elsewhere, but personally I kinda liked this movie. Of course I'm an engineer.

No science, just fiction.

[zandermnewman · 10 May 2015]

This AWFUL, there is no science to this film. If you value any form of logic, science or even good screen writing DO NOT WATCH THIS.

1. Why would you land the ENTIRE ship on the moon? The ship that has all they need to survive as well as the fuel to return to earth. Why not use a lander module like they did in 1969 on the moon? That way, should there be a catastrophic failure of something the loss of life would be minimal.

2. Why would you not have a drone or remote device that can be sent out to fix and problems with the exterior of the vessel. This would save from any potential loss of life should there be a leak of the incredibly toxic fuel. Again, saving human life and not having to jettison a crew member into the infinite darkness of space.

3. Why, when a member of the crew goes out onto the planet is that person on their own? What if she fell over? Damaged her helmet? Or any infinite number of reasons why it is bad idea to send some out onto the surface of an unknown stellar body on a solo mission. Also, why would you investigate some unknown lights or anything mysterious in the dark of an unknown planet with some level of caution, rationality or logical thought.

4. Why so many people? The amount of food, water and room that would be needed for six people for four years (return journey) would be daft. Also, the amount of fuel that would be needed for the take-off on the return journey could be lessened by having less weight. Why not four people that can do more tasks, a general overview. Surely this is an initial survey mission for future detailed missions.

5. Why didn't they send a probe in the first place? Curiosity has done alright on mars without humans having to go. They would have saved six lives and millions of dollars.

Just full of lazy writing in my opinion, no real thought of how this mission could be done in a realistic manner.

Not worth watching

[miroslav-houdek · 6/10 · 10 September 2013]

The before landing part of the movie itself is so boring and uneventful that authors decided to cut it into pieces and shuffle them into hard-to-follow non-linear mess, which forces you to pay at least some attention to all those things not happening there. It is hard to imagine that flight to Jupiter will be that boring - there might be flybys, awesome views of Jupiter approaching, there might be interesting problems to be solved, there might be interesting scientific sub-missions to be worked on during flight and the crew should be a group of interesting people who discuss interesting things on the long journey. All that would have sparked interest in science in the viewer, as well as interest in the heroes and what happens to them. That does not happen at all, I did not learn anything and did not get interested in what happens with those 1-D cardboard characters aboard.

Movie itself is without expensive stunning special effects. Which I thought to be a good thing, as I expected this to be offset by incredible attention to detail and realism. Needless to say, this was also a disappointment and there are many disturbing details in the movie - a footage of departing command module was clearly a stock footage of a launcher with dual payload capsule. How would astronauts get in? How would they get out if the mission was postponed? In another shot, there is an entry-level consumer camera being unpacked by one astronaut, where in reality, nobody would pay the fuel cost to get a 500 USD digital camera with crappy set lens to orbit and then to a gazillion dollar space mission. They really could have looked at DSLRs used aboard ISS and borrowed some of that high-end stuff for that one scene. Then one astronauts talks to mission control, and they tell him: "Hey, we see here that valve X is damaged", and the astronauts goes: "Yeah, way ahead of you, Joe is already fixing it", at which point some female astronaut says: "Yeah, and don't forget to tell them that this panel is fried". That is not how this works at all, that is not how you fix or communicate problems in space.

The only interesting event during the flight did not really strike me as if that the best of the best are going out to repair something. More like slightly drunk overly confident guys wiggling stuff around, applying brute force immediately and recklessly. Which does blow back in a weird round-about way that does not make much sense ... but why wouldn't there be crucial communications RF boards outside of the ship and full of hydrazine as well, *sigh*. The ensuing problem solving is also not what I'd expect from best of astronauts, it's just a plot ploy with zero effort at realistic portrayal of characters or space flight.

The after-landing part is more of people continuing to behave unprofessionally and recklessly, combined with efforts to create suspense by cameras having bad reception and pointing everywhere else than where the action is. At that point I was not interested in what happens to characters and wished for this movie to end.

The movie is neither eye nor brain candy. I can see how the crew did not have money to make the movie visually stunning but I fail to understand how they did not have time to make it realistic and interesting, which both could have been done almost for free.

From a Sci Fi Aficionado - Amazing potential falls short

[exavia · 1/10 · 7 November 2013]

I would happily classify myself as a movie buff, an enthusiast, a collector and a Sci Fi/Fantasy addict.

Europa Report started interestingly and in my opinion started with great potential. I love the movie being shot from the internal fixed cameras of the ship, the pseudo-documentary style of the movie including key "as close to science" realities as any non-scientific writer could jot down on paper.

I was engrossed in this movie from start to about half way through, what started to kill it for me was this - Ask any rock climber what the most important thing to do when climbing. I'll answer - make sure you tie off.

The first disaster this ship faced was the EVA with the two engineers. I guarantee that both Astronauts would have been tied off independently to the ship (possibly multiple hook up points) and as a back up to each other with a possible tertiary backup.

Any ship designed to travel an extensive space voyage would have, ALL important systems like communication panels located on the internals of the ship. Any mission designed for a 4 year round trip would have 5, 10, 20 backups to deal with problems.

My other gripe is even Astronauts watch Sci Fi movies like the rest of us. They've seen movies like Alien, Space Odyssey, Sunshine, Pitch Black. So when you see strange lights glowing in the distance that move mere hours after your probe got eaten, don't go near it! Use probes!

My last point is this, when a ship is about to take off the engineer usually does a systems check and purge. Fuel lines freezing....come on seriously! Like your sensors wouldn't tell you they were frozen. I've known modified cars with fuel line sensors more advanced than what Europa One had.

Suspend disbelief if you choose to watch this show.

Rendezvous with Europa

[petra_ste · 6/10 · 10 October 2016]

This found-footage movie is quite low-key for a sci-fi thriller - meaning there aren't giant robots fighting monsters or nuclear bombs countdowns. It's a space exploration yarn with an old-school, "Rendezvous with Rama" vibe, where action takes a backseat to mystery and awe.

The main problem is structure. The movie opens with a flash-forward, then alternates between two different time-lines, both the first and the last days of the mission. It's a mistake; not only jumping back and forth is distracting, it also spoils the death of a crew member, an effective scene which would have carried more tension if we hadn't already watched its aftermath.

This also muddles other characters' arcs; they start off as morose and disillusioned, then we jump back to before the incident, when they are still optimistic. Playing with time like that is a dangerous storytelling choice; with a few exceptions (think Memento), the dramatic progression works better as a chronological crescendo from good to bad to worse.

Maybe I'm sounding like The Europa Report is a mess, but it's not. Like Duncan Jones' Moon, this movie looks neat in spite of a slim budget; the cast is composed of competent character actors. After the first two thirds of Interstellar, this is probably as close to a "hard sci-fi / space exploration adventure" as fans of the genre are likely to get in a long time.

6,5/10

Here there be squids

[tieman64 · 14 July 2014]

Sebastian Cordero directs "Europa Report", a film in which humanity hops aboard a spaceship, flies to Jupiter and spots a giant florescent octopus. The film has been praised for its realism. By scientists. Seriously.

"Europa Report" takes the format of a "found footage film", we the audience bombarded with snippets of surveillance footage, sensor reports and staged interviews. It's an annoying aesthetic, but the film's plot is itself mostly dull and familiar, degenerating into a low-key slasher movie in which unconvincing astronauts are unconvincingly killed in unconvincing situations.

Like most recent science fiction films, "Europa Report" pulls heavily from the past, cribbing its aesthetic from "2001: A Space Odssey", its spinning ship from "The Year We Make Contact", its dread from "Alien" and so forth. A scene in which an astronaut sacrificially allows himself to die in space is likewise uncomfortably familiar to a similar and better sequence in Brian DePalma's "Mission to Mars".

Shot on a low-budget, "Europa Report" contains one wonderful, oft repeated shot: a camera, affixed to the rear of a departing spaceship, watches as humanity's Sun slowly shrinks into a pinprick. This shot, returned to again and again throughout the film, suggests the vastness of space, its terrifying emptiness and the painfully slow pace of human spaceflight. In a film filled with supposedly smart astronauts, icy abysses and subterranean spaces, it's the deepest thing on view.

5/10- Worth one viewing. Read Peter Watts' "Blindsight", one of the best first contact novels of recent years.

Europa Report is an Absolute Delight

[abhishek2048 · 7/10 · 28 September 2013]

Being a Science fiction fan, I went to the Screening of Europa Delight with High Hopes.

To say the least, I was not at all Disappointed. Rather, the film really intrigued me. I was very happy to see fresh faces in the cast and pleasantly surprised to see Michael Nyqvist (The Millennium series).

Mild Spoilers Ahead

The movie revolves around a group of astronauts who leave earth in an attempt to find life on one of Jupiter's moons. We get to see the actual trip their emotions, experiences, feelings, frustrations and sacrifices.

To say more would be giving away the plot, but the movie has a great heart and the characters are fresh and full of life. Their love for the work they do and their passion is clearly evident from their eyes expressions and actions.

Add to it a marvel cinematography, brilliant narration crisp editing, and delightful performances and what you get is 95 minutes of breathtaking action and thrill.

The movie had a lasting impact on me several hours after it had ended. It made me wonder - Who are we, How did we come here, what lies beyond in the unknown universe.

How far would you go in your quest for the truth. Do you have it in you to risk it all for this cause? :)

Accomplishes it's goals

[purpix1 · 7/10 · 7 July 2013]

Without being too critical, it is an indie low budget film after all, this movie I believe accomplishes it's goals. Similar in style to 2001 Space Odyssey, Europa Report benefits from NASA involvement to accurately portray a manned mission to the outer reaches of our solar system. With the possible discovery of life on another planet (or in this case Europa, a moon of Jupiter) as the underlying theme, the film is played out mainly through video reports recorded by the crew of the spaceship Europa One.

Don't expect too much in the way of character development, however, you do come to feel for the members of the crew as they encounter plausible technical and mechanical problems, as well as the isolation of deep space, throughout their journey.

With some interesting and sometimes beautiful visual aspects, and a story-line that doesn't try to do too much, Europa Report delivers in it's attempt to provide a technically correct but ultimately suspenseful ride.

Not a Sci-fi blockbuster, but a good story

[lee-sylvester · 7/10 · 30 June 2013]

I think the bad reviews here are missing the point of this movie. I don't think anyone ever expected it to be comparable to films like Aliens or 2001, as there clearly wasn't a big budget for the film. That said, however, I feel the plot was believable and entertaining, and I'd rather watch Europa Report than, say, AVPR. Each death in the film was caused by something imaginable and the pace of the film was enough to keep me engrossed 'til the end. Yes, this isn't a cinema flick, but was it poor? Absolutely not. This is good storytelling and a movie I would enjoy on a quiet night in. No one ever said a big budget was necessary to make an enjoyable film, and this film proves it.

A movie for true sci-fi fans

[juffin777 · 10/10 · 30 June 2013]

If you are a true sci-fi fan, you should see this movie. It doesn't have a lot of visual effects, star cast or action. What it does have is realism, scientific character and honest human emotions. It tells a simple story of astronauts doing their job, willing to make sacrifices for science and not being dramatic about it. The plot and characters are believable, and realistic style of the film creates suspense much better than any cheap effects and tricks. This movie is made in a true spirit of sci-fi genre. Perhaps, it doesn't deserve a 10, but it should definitely have a higher score than something like "Prometheus". After all let us not forget about 'science' in 'science fiction'.

The next low-budget space classic

[dan181818 · 7/10 · 12 July 2013]

For many years we have seen expensive Hollywood movies where space exploration was showed at a Hollywood side: fancy graphics, unrealistic spaceships and unrealistic physics, the worst example was Mission to Mars. However, this movie is unique. First, it was made on a shoestring budget. Second, it makes everything mysterious by not showing us enough and makes us wonder what the ship looks like, etc. It really makes it look like you are viewing recovered footage from a mission to Europa. And third, the movie aims at showing how people behave, the psychological and scientific challenges, the will of people to sacrifice themselves for knowledge. It really makes us want to goto Europa and search for the unknown. I have been saving a 10/10 rating for exactly this kind of movie. And if you get bored for 10 minutes, please don't switch the movie off, just keep watching, you won't regret it.

Another great film ruined by gimmicky time line BS and garbled dialog

[KevNJeff · 4/10 · 27 July 2013]

Ah - so close, so close. This could have been a SENSATIONAL film - (my favorite movie of all time is 2001: A Space Odyssey). Instead, they chopped up the time line and forgot that dialog is meant to be heard, understood and processed by the audience. Fully 3/4 of all the dialog in this film was lost to this audience member. Poor diction from the actors, poor recording equipment, accents... I have no idea WHY I wasn't allowed to understand the dialog. After a point I assumed it wasn't important. That's like saying the notes of music aren't important in a symphony.

The other major detraction was the chopped up time line. I am so sick of this gimmick. Stop it. NOW. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Just tell that GD story. Beginning - middle - end. We don't need you to take the scenes, splice 'em up, toss 'em in the air, and tape them together willy-nilly. It's stupid, annoying and adds absolutely NOTHING to the experience, except perhaps to show your insecurity as an artsy-fartsy movie maker.

To reiterate: if they would have looped the dialog and left the time line linear, this would have been a SENSATIONAL film. Instead... a fail. No wonder it was released to video.

Oh and by the way - the alien is an OCTOPUS. That's almost as lame as the reason behind the conflict in Star Wars was.... TAXES.

Stop treating me like I don't have a brain.

Left field space travel flick with good science for a change

[greenmemo · 10/10 · 27 June 2013]

This is a phenomenal sci-fi movie with a realistic approach to what it would be like to send a manned spaceship into the outer solar system, most precisely Jupiter's moon Europa, known for having an ice crust beneath which scientists suspect exists liquid water, maybe even an ocean. Six astronauts (four men and two women) make the team of the expedition; these knowledgeable fellows unlike those from some much bigger and dumber examples of the genre of recent memory. In their mission they will encounter many dangers being radiation one of the most deadly, and they will take sometimes calculated risks, some other times crazy ones because there is no other choice. Do not get fooled by the fact that the movie chooses the found footage format to tell the story of these brave souls: this is nothing like Apollo XVIII; this is more like "2001" and "Sunshine", with an atmosphere of mounting dread and eerie cosmic landscapes reminiscent of "Alien", alternating between the claustrophobic, the agoraphobic and the awe inspiring. The narration or I should say "assemblage" of short circuit video and spacesuits' helmets feeds is tight, and the film is so well crafted technically, that you get the impression you've been watching real footage from NASA; there are also a handful of genuinely jaw dropping sequences, like the landing on the title moon (accentuated by an intense musical score), terrific weightless scenes and a terrifying "plumbing" accident towards the end of the movie. Overall, it is a great genre achievement that will leave you wishing you could get the chance to explore the arcane mysteries of space yourself, in spite of knowing so well that you might end up like the proverbial moth that is mesmerized by the light of the burning flame.

You may like it if you are a "core scifi fan"

[massimo-berta · 7/10 · 13 August 2013]

The premises are good, the "documentary" style give a sense to the limited camera angles and limited locations.

However, the iper-realism of the spaceship and video footage is not lining up with a "stupid" script that throw things in to build up a story that is almost non existent.

The astronauts that are dying are all doing so in a stupid and frankly unrealistic way, they take risks to easily and they seems a group of friends deciding were is safer to camp with the tend rather than professional astronauts.

When things start to go wrong they start to behave even in a more childish and unreasonable way, like when out on the surface one of the character being exposed to high radiation levels and being short on oxygen indulge in coming back and walk even further going of course to die.

Or the copilot un-fasten from the seat while the are doing a crash landing...

And the shining octopus at the end just destroy the "documentary" and "realistic" feeling of the movie...

I gave it a 7 because I'm a space nerd and I enjoy to look at spaceships for a 2 hours movie, you've been warned anyway, avoid if you're not a core scifi fan

If you appreciate good SciFi do not go near this SPOILERS

[geoff-rowe-830-556852 · 1/10 · 21 December 2013]

The premise was good, though Arthur C Clarke might like to have a few words given the rather blatant ripoff from 2010. I would have to say it is a blessing that he didn't see this badly thought out drivel.

Where to start. Zero character development, I really didn't care that they all died. The way the film was made sucked, it got boring. As has been previously mentioned too many technical goofs to mention so it fails the reality test.

My main gripe though is, why do we have to suffer the whole 'we are all going to die; there is an alien 'thing' that is going to kill us all one by one' device in EVERY ONE OF THESE DAMN MOVIES?

What was wrong with discovering a microbe and returning triumphant to Earth? No, we have to have some multi tentacled thing killing off our guys.... Bah!

In short this was 90 mins of my life I will never get back.....