Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This movie might not have been the best screenplay ever written. It might not even be the best science-fiction movie of this year. The writing wasn't the best thing I've ever seen, there were some worldbuilding holes that I thought could have been filled in ... But you know what? I don't care. As someone with a vested interest in things science fiction and fantasy, it's so rare to come across something with a female lead in those genres. Or, at least, a female lead that doesn't fall prey to the dreaded failed attempt to make a strong female heroine, someone who shuns all things feminine and female in favor of Proving She Is As Good As A Man. As a woman myself I have lurked in the small section of good female authors of science fiction and fantasy, but have not really seen any do well, or many female-led movies that aren't chick flicks. (What can I say, I prefer a good explosion to romcoms.) There's been some small success recently with the Hunger Games, but non-romantically based movies with strong and accurate heroines have been few and far between. And for that, this movie freaking rocks. It's wish fulfillment, pure and simple. It's exactly what the phrase someone told me says: it's that fanfiction you wrote when you were fourteen and never showed anyone. Jupiter makes mistakes, but that's okay, because people make mistakes. Where she takes charge, she grabs a hold of things with both hands. The only times where she's saved by the male lead are literally times where she could /not/ save herself (because of things like, you know, not being able to fly). She acts like both a woman, and a person in charge. She doesn't have to sacrifice one to have the other. She is the type of heroine people should be writing. Someone who isn't diminished by her femaleness, and who even gains power from it. A woman who tells the male lead to back down and let her make her own decisions, no matter how terrible they might be. I honestly think that if this movie had been about Caine Wise, sent to a backwater, underdeveloped world to save the reincarnate galactic queen, having to constantly run in and save the day because she's incapable of making good decisions (despite making good decisions, just based on incomplete information) and having to protect her from the warring Abrasax siblings, the special effects ALONE would make this a cult classic. If Jupiter was a wilting flower capable of only getting herself in trouble, and Caine the troubled-yet-professional hunter sent to retrieve her, we'd have middling to positive reviews coming out our asses. Instead, we have a female heroine who knows who she is and what she wants, and the troubled hero whose story is wrapped up in the romance. Both are there for a reason, neither is there just for sex appeal or for the other to bone later in victory. And, it's only getting around 23% scores on Rotten Tomatoes. (That's what it was last time I checked.) And that upsets me, because it means people aren't going to take a risk like that again. Which means it's time to go back to gritty, male-dominated science fiction where a woman's place is behind the male lead, not beside or, heaven forbid, in front of him. Also, (spoiler) Sean Bean doesn't actually die. I feel like that alone deserves a special mention, and possibly an Oscar.