As filmmakers, Andy and Lana Wachowski fully embrace their inner teenage geeks, filling in all of the lush details of their fantasies on the largest canvas possible, and they have earned an astonishing degree of trust from the Hollywood studio system world thanks to the mold breaking (and recreating) effects used in The Matrix. But between the two sequels featuring The One (Keanu Reeves), Speed Racer and the epic adaptation of David Mitchell’s time- and genre-bending novel Cloud Atlas (directed in conjunction with Tom Tykwer), the siblings have struggled to establish links with audiences of any age. Now, they’ve decided to dream on an interplanetary level, with an impending war between a despotic ruler (Eddie Redmayne) facing off against a young woman (Mila Kunis) with royal blood aided by a genetically enhanced warrior (Channing Tatum) with moves like Jagger. (Opens wide Friday) (PG-13) Not screened in time for review
This article appears in Feb 4-10, 2015.