sci-fi “4th of” – Europa Report…

europa-00I’ve strayed away from heroines for a bit but relax, I’ll serve up a good old sci-fi girls-kick-ass flick next time. For now let’s focus on Jupiter. Very enjoyable and a nice change, ‘Europa Report’ is science fiction for science fiction’s sake.

europa-01That’s what this is, a unique vision of the future of manned space travel; no frills, no monsters, no curses… It’s very realistic and offers a compelling, and at times thrilling view of possible things to come. Visually, the film is beautiful and the sets inside the ship have all the prerequisites; all white, antiseptic, logically arranged, efficient… The CGI is seamless and the planetary shots are astounding (both on and above the planets). The landing sequence on Europa is absolutely breathtaking.

OMG! I’m such a frikin’ geek. I just read this back after writing it and I’m such a geek. I’m a tall skinny geek in a suit & high heels. Wow. Oh well. I digress…

The entire film was all shot on a soundstage and the sets are fantastic for a ‘low’ budget film. It’s very well done with excellent production, a very cool cast and a unique and interesting story. Check it out!…

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Europa Report is a 2013 science fiction film directed by Sebastián Cordero. A found footage film, it recounts the fictional story of the first manned mission to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons. Despite a disastrous technical failure that loses all communications with Earth mission control and the death of one of the crew, the remaining members continue their mission to Europa and encounter a baffling mystery.”

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“Dr. Unger (Davidtz), CEO of Europa Ventures tells the story of the Europa One mission. Six astronauts embark upon a privately funded mission to Europa, one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, to try to find potential sources of life. During the flight, the members interact with cameras inside the craft. After a year of mission time, a solar storm hits the ship knocking out communication with mission control on Earth.”

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“The ship finally reaches Europa’s orbit and prepares to land on the moon. During the landing the spacecraft encounters a thermal vent that throws the ship off course from the original target zone. The crew immediately begins drilling through the ice, as their new landing zone has much thicker ice. Several quakes occur due to the shifting ice surface. The crew appears to witness a light outside the ship but is unable to record it.”

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“The crew then probes the ocean beneath the ice, but the probe is then struck by an unknown object and contact is lost. Devastated by this, the science officer dons a spacesuit, goes outside and walks to the target zone and begins collecting samples, which the crew remotely analyzes and discovers traces of a non-terrestrial single-celled organism. With communication disrupted by the increasing radiation, she sees a light in the distance and decides to investigate it.”

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“The crew agree to leave so that they could bring their existing findings back to Earth. After launching, the engines experience a malfunction and the ship crashes back to the surface damaging the ship. Ironically the crash site is in the original landing zone. Unable to repair the ship, the engineer suggests that a repair of the communication array is possible, if he cannibalizes parts from the ship’s life support system.”

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“The ship’s pilot successfully re-establishes communication with Earth and all the collected images and data that have been saved over the blackout months (as well as real time data) are transmitted. The data is eventually de-classified, with experts commenting on the ground-breaking implications of the discovery of extra-terrestrial life and honoring the sacrifices of the expedition members.”

  • Anamaria Marinca as Rosa Dasque (Ship’s Pilot)
  • Karolina Wydra as Katya Petrovna (Marine Biology Science Officer)
  • Michael Nyqvist as Andrei Blok (Chief Engineer)
  • Daniel Wu as William Xu (Ship’s Captain)
  • Sharlto Copley as James Corrigan (Junior Engineer)
  • Christian Camargo as Daniel Luxembourg (Chief Science Officer)
  • Embeth Davidtz as Dr. Unger (CEO of Europa Ventures)
  • Dan Fogler as Dr. Nikita Solokov
  • Isiah Whitlock, Jr. as Dr. Tarik Pamuk
  • Neil deGrasse Tyson as Himself

Europa Report – IMDB / Wiki

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