Upside Down Review

Upside Down

2 stars out of 4

By Brett Takeshita

Upside Down is one of the most stunningly original and refreshingly imaginative sci-fi films to come out in recent memory. Its filled with some of the most impressive imagery I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately, an incredible concept and slick visuals cannot overshadow the disappointing screenplay.

Upside Down begins by introducing Adam (Jim Sturgess), a regular guy living in a spectacular universe. He explains the nature of his side of the solar system, where there exists two twin planets that mirror each other. Adam lives on the lower planet, Down. It's a rather shabby and rundown place, where the people are poor but content. The higher planet, Up, is rich and prosperous. It consists of upscale cities instead of ugly little towns. The people of Down often wonder what it is like at Up -- how the people live and what it must be like to experience luxury. However, human interaction between these two planets is impossible, both figuratively and literally. For one, Up's government will incarcerate those who trespass and interact with the higher citizens. And second, the two planets have separate systems of gravity. If someone from Down were to find some way to get to Up, he or she would experience some challenges. This person would have to find a way to flip upside down to be on the same level as the citizens of Up, and he or she would also need to find a way to beat the friction of air and gravity, for it will burn the opposing planet's citizen to a crisp because of two opposing, dissonant forces of nature.

After all of the ground rules are set up, we learn more about Adam and the love of his life, Eden (Kirsten Dunst). Of course, he's from Down, and Eden lives at Up. The two met at these two mountain peaks, where the two planets nearly meet. They conversed while they were teenagers and continued to see each other for many years. Eventually, they fell in love and wanted to be together, even though the universe literally wouldn't allow them to do so. Unfortunately, an incident occurred where the two separated and never saw each other again. Ten years later, Adam sees Eden on the television and realizes that he must find a way to be with her again. He comes across a job at TransWorld, the big corporation that connects the two planets, and of course, it's also the place where Eden works. Thus begins Adam's journey to find a way to transcend space and gravity to be with the love of his life, even though physical forces are working against him.

As you can tell, Upside Down establishes one crazy complex universe filled to the brim with dense science and fantasy. However, it's not too hard to follow along with the ground rules, especially because of Adam's extensive -- if somewhat annoying and way too obvious -- introductory voiceover. And right from the get-go, I noticed a problem with Upside Down. Writer-director Juan Solanas is proving problematic. Writer Solanas is hindering the brilliance of director Solanas.

Solanas the director has a keen eye for imaginative visuals. The way that he presents these two mirrored planets is stunningly gorgeous. It's weird to see Adam right side up and Eden upside down, but it's never disorienting. And surprisingly, it's not annoying. It simply entrances you and creates this hyper-surreal universe that is so extraordinary to behold. Even the CGI effects are extremely impressive, especially considering that this film was shot on a $50 million dollar budget, as opposed to some other slick sci-fi films that are made for well over $100 or $200 million. Solanas always finds beauty within each frame and creates a truly compelling world that sparks wonder and occasionally takes your breath away.

Even though the visuals are consistently brilliant, the storytelling in Upside Down is shoddy. Solanas the writer has a couple of things going against him -- he establishes so much and explores too little. He spends so much time setting up this fascinating universe but never delves deeply into it. It would have been interesting to see more complexity involving the class systems of these two planets, but much of what is presented is so obvious that the audience could have deducted the relationship without extensive on-the-nose dialogue and voice-over. The film drags during the middle, as it becomes a little repetitious and predictable. It lacks the surprises and fascination of the beginning. And then, the film takes some serious missteps towards the end. What should be exciting and thrilling and romantic ends up feeling way too rushed. Solanas ties up plot points so quickly and hurtles so fast towards a cheap and ultimately unfulfilling conclusion that he forgets to flesh out the story and the characters with meaning. It makes it hard to care for what happens when he takes his time in the middle, and then just darts off at the end. The film is a mix of being too long and not being long enough, and it's frustrating that he or another screenwriter couldn't have polished up the script and made it tighter, deeper, and more focused.

Perhaps Solanas' biggest mistake is his approach to the core matter at hand: Adam and Eden's relationship. Here, he has two brilliant actors who bring their A-game and then some. Sturgess is charming and likable and so utterly convincing at really selling this complex universe. Then, Dunst is stunning as always with her soft sincerity, warm facial expression, and deep delivery. Sturgess and Dunst really do have great chemistry. We want them to be together and want them to beat gravity itself. However, we want this relationship to succeed because of the actors and not the characters. Solanas doesn't bring much depth to his characters, and surprisingly, there isn't as much interaction between the two characters as there should be. They spend so much time apart from each other that when they do have time together, it feels rather jarring because the characters and their relationship isn't well-established enough. Surely Solanas was blessed with incredible actors who are willing to do anything, but he doesn't give them enough to do. It's really sad.

Ultimately, Upside Down is a rather large disappointment. I really wanted to love this movie so much. (If you haven't seen the trailer yet, you must. It astonished me and instantly made this film one of my top most anticipated films of the year). However, it falls flat too often. For every spectacular visual sequence, there exists some boring dialogue. For every short instance of beautiful romance, there exists bloated scenes of our protagonists in frustrating solitude. As a visual director, Solanas proves to be a refreshing and unique talent. As a writer, he proves to be lackluster -- the brilliant ideas are there, but he can't gel them together. Upside Down is unique and original and fascinating, but it falls beneath the weight of its ambitions. It has so much promise but often falls short. Maybe give it a chance if you can forgive the writing and simply take in a refreshing sci-fi/romance drama with jaw-dropping images. However, for the rest of us, we might have to wait a while for a film that will truly deliver on every account. Two stars out of four.