Movie Review: Upside Down
Plot:
French-Canadian romantic science fiction film written and directed by Juan Diego Solanas, starring Jim Sturgess and Kirsten Dunst.
To watch this film, these things must be understood :
Hero Adam lives in a two-planet home world, unique from other planets or planetary systems as it is the only one that has "dual gravity". This phenomenon of dual gravity allows the two planets to orbit each other in what would otherwise be impossibly close proximity. There are three immutable laws of gravity for this two-planet system:
1. All matter is pulled by the gravity of the world that it comes from, and not the other.
2. An object's weight can be offset using matter from the opposite world (inverse matter).
3. After a few hours of contact, matter in contact with inverse matter burns.
The societies of the two worlds are segregated by law. While the upper world (Up Above) is rich and prosperous, the lower (Down Below) is poor. Up Above buys cheap oil from Down Below and sells electricity back to Down Below at higher prices. A person from Down Below going Up Above (or having contact with anyone from Up Above) is strictly forbidden and can be punishable by incarceration or death. People from Up Above regularly visit Down Below to experience novelties like dancing on ceilings. The only physical connection linking the two worlds is the headquarters of the "TransWorld" company.
This movie is a lovestory with gravitational twist. Adam lives in the Down Below which is relatively poor and fells in love with Eden from the Up Above.
They meet on the mountains and Adam uses a rope to pull Eden towards Down, and they head to the woods for a stroll. They are later discovered, and while Adam frantically releases Eden back to her world, he catches a bullet in his arm and drops her. Helpless, he watches Eden lying motionless on the ground as blood oozes from her head. When he returns home, his aunt Becky is arrested and her home is put to the torch.
After ten years we see Adam working on a beauty cream when he sees Eden on a television show whom he assumed dead for so long. After watching her alive and working in transworld he makes an attempt to go Up Above by getting a job in Trans World.
With the help of Bob, Adam meets Eden by putting Up-material in his clothes to disguise himself as a worker from Up, using Bob's name as his own. But Eden doesn't recognize him because of amnesia from the accident as a teen. The Up-material in Adam's clothes starts to burn so he has to return to Down. Later on, Bob is fired but as he leaves, he secretly gives Adam his ID to help him exit the TransWorld building and into Up. Later, by calling Eden through Bob's phone, Adam manages to get a date.
Meanwhile, his cosmetic cream becomes of great importance to the company. While Adam is doing a presentation of the cream, Eden enters the lecture hall and discovers his true identity. After she flees the auditorium Adam runs to find her but Bob's ID, having been terminated, lands him in trouble. He escapes to Bob's house. He shows him that mixing liquids from both gravity fields can make a hybrid solution that resists both gravitational fields and simply floats between the two. Adam then reveals that he didn't give TransWorld the main secret ingredient of his compound, leaving the company unable to manufacture the product without him.
With Bob's help, he goes back to the restaurant where he met with Eden before and finds out she has begun to recover old memories of him. But the police arrive and he has to run. Upon returning to his planet he goes to the mountain top where he met Eden. Eden comes to find him and they meet again as they did long ago. But police are on their trail and, as they fail to escape, Eden is arrested while Adam falls the remaining distance between worlds. But he survives because of a vest containing inverse matter which he still had strapped to his torso. TransWorld agrees to drop the charges against Eden if Adam gives them his formula and never contacts Eden again.
Now Adam has gone back to his old life, believing he will never see Eden again. But Eden, not so easily dissuaded, goes to Bob for help. Bob finds Adam and surprises him by showing he can stay Down without the help of the opposite-matter accoutrements; Bob has been able to use Adam's methods to create a way to negate the effect of gravity. Bob tells him he had purchased the patent of his beauty cream before TransWorld attempted to do so. He finishes by informing him that Adam also has a "date" with someone.
The film ends with Eden revealing she has become pregnant with twins. Adam tells of their act and how it has changed their societies forever, the two worlds now in permanent physical contact and equalized in wealth and status as well.
Review:
This Lovestory with a gravitational twist is a little hard to digest with all that physics involved. However it’s a creative move and the special effects are outstanding.
Cast is good but performance wise this movie is a let down.
"In spite of its wonderfully unusual premise and talented cast, Upside Down fails to offer much in the way of compelling drama to anchor its admittedly dazzling visuals."
The whole concept of dual gravity is brilliant and so much could be done to enhance its attraction but blending it into a romance that dull was just like wasting the bright idea.
This movie is an eye-candy if regarded to its visuals but story wise it fails every criteria.
Performance Ratings:
Adam:
Jim Sturgess.
What a mess. He looked more like a puppy in need of shelter than a man who owns a formula of a golden fate.
More to your disgrace he wore the Worst Hair-style ever!
**½
Eden:
Kristen Dunst.
Even though she has done well but there is always some unknown nagging thing about her that you never like.
Not at her best here.
***
Bob:
Timothy Spall.
Best as ever.
One can never say negative about his performance.
****
My Rating For This Love Tale Is:
**1/2
