Europa Report - Movie Review

What do you get when you take a cast of incredible character actors, a brilliant hard sci-fi script, add a dash of Cthulhu Mythos, and shoot it in a fixed camera version of found footage? Probably one of the best hard sci-fi films I’ve seen in awhile and also one of the best mythos films to boot.

Let’s discuss.

Europa Report is a 2013 science fiction film brought to us by director Sebastian Cordero and writer Philip Gelatt. With names those huge in the industry, how could it go wrong, right? Right? I’m yanking your chain, I wouldn’t have been able to name these two in a line-up to save my life. It’s always refreshing to see no name writers and directors hit it big and get their movie made. It’s even better when that movie is a tightly wound, slow burn thriller that blows you away.

The film focuses on an international crew of astronauts as they sail across the stars on the Europa 1 vessel. They are each the world’s best in their specific field. Their goal is to find life beneath the icy surface of on of Jupiter’s moons. They are ambitious, foolhardy, and all too human as their carefully planned expedition begins to go awry. As team members begin to vanish, they must each decide what’s more important: the mission or their lives. Will the Europa 1 return from it’s maiden voyage? Find out on this week’s feature: Europa Report.

I loved this movie from the moment I saw the cast on screen. I know to most movie fans, character actors blend into the background, but they’re my favorite part of the movie. I was a stage actor for a third of my life and I appreciate non-verbal performances as much as dialogue heavy takes. It takes the same if not more skill to pull off a character when the lines are limited. In casting a group without a full on leading man or woman, you get a true troupe that can play off the environment and each other without ego. It makes the film so much more convincing. The dialogue feels organic. The relationships between crew members is implied, but never explicitly described.

Let me just do a quick rundown of the notables.

I have to start with that South African sensation from District 9, Malificent, and the A-Team… Sharlto Copley. It’s so strange to see him in roles where he suppresses his signature accent. He is normally the best part of the films he appears in and that’s no different here. After seeing him in a string of villain roles, it was nice to see him be the emotional anchor in this. In him is reflected the depression and regret of many astronauts who miss events in their families lives. He gives his all in every performance and is one of few actors who is equally strong as a heel or a face.

Then we’ve got Michael Nyqvist. This man is prolific in Swedish film and television. He’s also a flipping legend. I remember his performance in John Wick much more than Keanu Reeves. He’s so animated when he wants to be, but can flip a switch and turn back to reality on a dime. Whether it’s the original and only Girl With the Dragon Tattoo films I personally recognize or Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, he always brings authenticity to the role.

Oh yeah and they’ve got Daniel “Into the Badlands” Wu leading the team. Wu is one of the most underrated Asian American actors working today. He is a chameleon who can play any role. I mean he’s the voice of Gul’dan in Hearthstone on top of starring alongside Jackie Chan in New Police Story. If that doesn’t show you his versatility, what could?

Alright, Alright, If I keep gushing about this amazing cast, we’ll be here all night.

S P O I L E R S

I know I recently wrote a gushing review for The Last Exorcism which is a found footage films. I want to reiterate, found footage is one of my least favorite film styles. I hated the original Blair Witch Project, because it’s a piece of garbage.

I hear you arguing. Go rewatch it and then come @me.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. You want that 81 minutes of your life back.

The way Europa Report handles the found footage constraints is genius. Much like HellHouse LLC, it uses a lot of fixed cameras in the ship. It’s like Five Nights at Freddy’s, except it’s actually good. There are brief hand held camera segments, but they are the outlier. The majority of the film features the fixed camera and helmet cameras. The helmet cameras do not look outwards, but at the crew member’s face. So you get to see their reactions and if you watch closely, glimpses of the otherworldly being revealed. It’s a great trick that makes you push yourself closer to the screen to try and see what’s happening in those small reflections.

All of this is framed in the narrative structure of a documentary that includes appearances by Dan Fogler, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Embeth Davidtz. You know you’ve got a great cast when Isiah Whitlock Jr. is coming off the bench. Sheesh.

Anyway, this documentary is brilliant because it plays with you mind. You think you are watching footage that has already happened, but in fact the film takes place in the past, present, and future. It isn’t until the latter 30 minutes that you get the reveal and I was personally blown away. I knew the footage was screwy, but I didn’t realize that the crew member interviews were from all different times. The fact that Rosa, played by Anamaria Marinca, was actually speaking to us from the present took me completely off guard. The entire film up to that point, I figured that she was the lone survivor.

SUPER SPOILERS

She wasn’t, because there weren’t any survivors. The entire film asked a question: is your life worth more than the mission. The answer is no. These people are scientists and unlike in Prometheus, scientists follow logic. In her final moments, Rosa decides to forgo survival in order to send Earth photographic proof of extraterrestrial life. The cost? Being devoured by a cosmic entity that would easily fall into Cthulhu mythos territory.

It’s brilliant. Yes, I’m high. Yes, my arm is killing me from the Covid vaccine. But this movie is flat-out amazing.

The one thing I kept repeating in my head was: “This feels like an episode of Love, Death, and Robots!” It figures that Philip Gelatt is the guy who adapted a majority of the stories into the screenplays for the 2019 and 2021 seasons. The dialogue is great especially when a cast believes in it so much. Team with tight direction and structure the claustrophobic horror slow burns until you falling off the edge of your seat.

It’s Apollo 13 meets Alien.

Watch this movie if you like slow-burn science fiction. If you like movies like Life, Sunshine, and Apollo 13, this one’s for you.

It’s currently streaming free on Youtube, Amazon Prime, and Tubi.