I both looked forward to this (based on decent early reviews) and dreaded it (based on the fact that it was yet another 'found footage' film). Overall, I ended up liking it.

A number of people have compared it to MOON in that it's a thoughtful, rather than action-packed SCIENCE Fiction picture (deliberate emphasis). It's not as good as MOON, but, worth checking out in its limited release (also available on pay-per-view). As far as the Marathon? Kind of slow, but, it would probably do ok.

As to the film itself, it has an interesting premise that might be called a 'spiritual sequel' to 2001 and 2010 with an internatinal crew's voyage to Jupiter's moon Europa.  This may bother some, but, not I (and, I think Arthur C.Clarke would have been ok with it - at least I hope so!) EUROPA REPORT tries to incorporate its found footage aspect in a realistic way. There are cameras everywhere on the ship (more on that later) so there isn't the cheating you sometimes see in lesser found footage efforts. But, it isn't like CLOVERFIELD in that it's not all presented as a single unbroken stream (of course, it would be a TWO YEAR LONG movie if it were - and, that's if you don't watch all the camera angles!) Instead, Director Sebastian Cordero concocts a strange hybrid as the "Europa Report" is actually a video mission documentary of the voyage including on-the-earth retrospective interviews with mission scientists.

Without giving too much away (and keep in mind the 2001/2010 scenario), suffice it to say that problems occur on the mission and they find something of highly important scientific value. The payoff may not be as momentous as one's expectations, but it plays itself out fairly realistically. As with any found footage film, it is sometimes difficult to create strong characters as the story has be molded around whatever extant footage exists.

Embeth Davidtz, Karolina Wydra and DISTRICT 9 star Sharlto Copley make the strongest impressions of the 7 person crew, but, they all do a decent job within the confines of somewhat stereo-typical astronaut types. And, those stereotypes do extend to some of the crew's actions, but, not overly so.

Besides the deliberate pacing, EUROPA REPORT's biggest problem is the Found Footage/Documentary hybrid structure. Why would an international space agency construct a 'report' that isn't chronological? It feels "directed and edited". And, as to to all the camera angles. Sure, ground control would like to have access to any and all data it can, but, it sometimes feels all to convenient that just about EVERYTHING significant has a camera on it. At one point it reaches an almost absurd level when it seems like every character in a group scene just so happens to have a nearly perfect camera angle on them so that Cordero can neatly cut together such a sequence. I guess the space agency hired a Director to place the cameras!

These quibbles aside, it is refreshing to see a Sci-fi film that isn't just a cops & robbers movie dressed up. The sfx are good for a very modestly budget picture. In a summer with seemingly no restraint whatsoever, it's nice to see a quiet thoughtful piece.