Europa Report (2013)

“As the ship passed the moon, it had already gone farther than any human being had ever gone before. Think about that. Across all of human history, that moment was the farthest anyone had ever gone. But they still had millions upon millions of miles to go. Our craft was heading for a moon of Jupiter known as Europa.” – Dr. Samantha Unger

Number of Times Seen – 1 (26 Nov 2013)

Brief Synopsis – Documentary style sci-fi movie that chronicles the events of the first interstellar mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa in the not too distant future.

My Take on it –  This movie set in the near future is done in a very interesting way; it shows us lost log footage from the mission itself after it has been beamed back to Earth following the loss of contact with the crew.

It is as if we are now privy to the real story of what occurred in-flight to the crew based on their own reports of the events as they happened. We are also given access to the news reports leading up to the mission and get direct commentary from those on earth responsible for funding this private mission.

As a space program fan, I enjoyed how they made this movie.

I didn’t recognize any of the actors playing the crew and only one of the ground crew administrators is known to me; Embeth Davies, but they were all able to kept the realism alive.

The movie explains the “science” involved very simply and everything seems feasible knowing what technology we have today and what direction it seems to be going.

One of the best things about this movie is the fact that we learn about whats going on directly from the crew who are attempting to report it all back to Earth and it makes the viewer feel like we are really a big part in the story.

Much better than the recently reviewed The Last Days on Mars (2013)

Bottom Line – Interestingly done in documentary form, which is rare for a sci-fi thriller. Recommended.

Rating – Globe Worthy