**Spoilers**
Imagine landing your spacecraft on the icy surface of Europa, the fourth largest of Jupiter’s 67 moons, 390,400,000 miles from earth. You’re now completely cut off from human contact other than your fellow crew members, most of whom are dead. To make matters worse, your ship has malfunctioned, the ice surrounding it is fracturing, and you are slipping into the depths of the frigidly cold waters beneath Europa’s surface. But there’s a catch: there is a massive organism down there too that no one has ever seen or even thought could exist . If you really let your imagination go there, it’s a pretty scary proposition, and that’s the proposition the filmmakers of “Europa Report” are asserting with a matter-of-fact, intelligent and often thought provoking clarity. This is a film backed by science; it was written with the cooperation and input of some of the brightest minds in astronomy. This is not an action packed, explosion laden roller coaster movie. Instead what you get is a ponderous, somewhat talky and moderately paced found-footage sci-fi horror flick.

“Europa Report” tells the story of five astronauts who actually make it to Europa. Problems landing the exploratory pod lead the crew to veer off mission to collect data, and as they venture out onto Europa’s odd terrain, a bioluminescent organism beneath the ice stalks their movements. The ice cracks beneath one of the astronauts and as she slips into Eurpoa’s icy waters, the reflection of her attacker appears in her retina.

Time to go! But when the remaining members try to get blast back to the main pod, Europa’s gravitational pull proves deadly and they go crashing back into the surface. At this point the ship is so badly damaged escape seems unlikely. Of the three remaining members, one of whom is a woman, the two men have to go outside to repair the ship. I’ll let the movie take it from there. If you have a chance to rent this one, and you like intelligent sci fi, you’ll enjoy Europa Report. As an added bonus, Bear McCreary’s soundtrack is excellent.

Tags: Indochine