It is summertime at the movies and that means it is time for an endless parade of big budget spectacles with an average IQ inversely related to their swollen budgets. Hollywood’s idea of science-fiction is lots of running, explosions, and the barest framework to hang a plot upon. The movies of summer generally do not fare well upon close inspection, pull on a story thread and the entire plot is subject to unraveling.

This is not the case with the low budget independent film Europa Report. The cast doesn’t have anyone who was paid fifty million dollars to be in the production, the special effects are special in the manner that they don’t look extraordinary. Rather they do what special effects are supposed to do, make a fantastic setting feel real. If you saw the previews you might have the impression that Europa Report is some sort of alien horror film. That is not the case.

Europa Report is serious a Science-fiction film about a private enterprise venture to Jupiter’s moon, Europa. That moon is encased in ice, but there is every indication that under the kilometers of ice there is a liquid water ocean, and if there is water they may be life. That is the mission of Europa One, confirm if life exist beyond the thin fragile sphere of the Earth.

The crew of the Europa One are not super models playing at scientist, but have the feel of real scientist. They feel like real people stuck in the tiny tiny confines of a spacecraft while traveling the unimaginable distances to the outer solar system. There are hardships along the way, but not the usual meteor swarms or other tacky and unlikely catastrophes. The film is grounded with a sense of realism that is grounded in real science. Oh it’s has a few errors here and there, but they are slight and forgivable.

The conceit of the film is the well-worn trope of ‘found footage.’ Personally few found footage films have worked for me. That said, Europa Report uses the technique better than any of the other film of that recent genre. Because are watching from camera throughout the spacecraft we do not have to scream at the camera with a character continues to film when any rational person would have dropped the extra mass and ran. Also this gives us a steady frame and not the nausea inducing storm-tossed handheld camera work of most found footage movies. Just on those two points alone, this film is ahead of the game, but they also managed to find an ending that worked, something that I think only Cloverfield has achieved in the genre. The reason for finding the footage and the ending makes sense, unlike say the idiot movie Apollo 18.

In short this is a movie for people who care to think and who look up at the stars with wonder. If it is not playing in your area it is available as a Video on Demand from Itunes and Amazon. I  have not regretted seeing it.