Europa Report - Blu-Ray

Content: Suspecting a vast ocean beneath the mighty ice sheet of Jupiter's moon Europa that could contain traces of life, the Europa One mission is the first attempt to send a manned spacecraft into deep space. On Jupiter's moon, the team is to investigate some unusual heat zones observed there. But just before the ship reaches its destination, contact breaks off. There is no sign of life from the crew for sixteen long months. Just as the lead organization Europa Ventures is about to declare the mission a failure, they receive new signals from Europa One. There are many hours of video footage documenting the crew's final days. It is deeply disturbing footage, showing how an accident nearly caused the crew to abort the mission and what happened when they did decide to land on Jupiter's moon. A fatal decision?

With Europa Report, Ecuadorian-born director Sebastian Corbero has staged a fairly minimalist but extremely effective sci-fi thriller that falls somewhere between Moon, Gravity and Blair Witch Project, proving that you can create great suspense with simple means. The film itself is presented as a mix of documentary and found footage thriller. In interviews, Dr. Samantha Unger (Embeth Davidtz), the head of mission planning, tells viewers about the planning of the project, the difficulties, the breakdown in communication, and the obtaining of the video footage based on which the fate of the crew can be traced. The rest of the film is a mix of video diaries from the crew members and footage from the various cameras inside and outside the shuttle and on the astronauts' helmets.

Stylistically, this is admittedly not new territory. But Corbero manages very well to use these familiar elements in a way that creates an oppressive atmosphere that makes this almost chamber-play-like thriller extremely suspenseful, despite the many very quiet, dialogue-heavy scenes. If you're expecting great effects or rousing action, you're sure to be bitterly disappointed. Because although there are some visually very engaging sequences, Europa Report is primarily a psychological thriller that actually only superficially deals with the question of whether we are actually alone in the universe.

With Sharlto Copley (Disctrict 9) and Michael Nyqvist (Millennium trilogy), two extremely strong actors could be engaged, who also deliver very strong performances in a rather minimalist style. And the rest of the international cast also delivers performances that more than do justice to the production style of this unusual science fiction film. True, the relatively low budget Corbero and his crew had to make do with is noticeable here and there. But overall, he's done an excellent job of turning the financial limitations into one of the film's very great strengths. Because instead of concentrating on extremely expensive effects, the focus here could be put on the development of the characters, the story and the atmosphere. And that makes Europa Report a really intense, exciting and extremely worth seeing movie! Friends of somewhat more sophisticated sci-fi dramas should not miss this mission in any case.

Picture + Sound: Technically, there is hardly anything to complain about the Blu-Ray. The picture is absolutely clean and the sharpness is in many moments on a very high level. Due to the documentary style of the film are used here and there stylistic effects such as image noise, noise or blurring, but these are no real weak points, but just to support the atmosphere of the action. This also applies to the often rather undercooled colouring. It captures the threatening, oppressive atmosphere that prevails more and more on board the shuttle. The sound is mainly dominated by dialogues and smaller, but extremely atmospheric sound effects. Again, there's really no reason to complain, which is why the bottom line is a more than deserved Very Good!

Extras: Bonuses include a short making of on the visual effects, image galleries on the filming and alternative poster designs, as well as text panels with background information, the trailer and more programming tips from the provider. Not really mind-blowing, but for a small production like this quite alright!

Conclusion: Europa Report is an atmospheric and, despite its quietness, very exciting science fiction thriller, which proves that viewers can be well entertained even without big effects fireworks and fast-paced action - if the story is right. And that, in addition to the good actors, quickly proves to be the great strength of a rather unusual work, which presents itself on Blu-Ray in a very appealing audiovisual realization. Lovers of quieter, more sophisticated sci-fi entertainment absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp