“Interstellar” is directed by Christopher Nolan and it stars
Matthew McConaughey Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine.
This review contains spoilers so if you haven’t seen the
film you should probably check it out first. If you don’t mind the spoilers then
by all means stick around and enjoy.
There is a VIDEO VERSION of this review you can WATCH HERE.
In
Earth's future, a global crop blight and second Dust Bowl are slowly rendering
the planet uninhabitable. Professor Brand played by Michael Caine, a brilliant
NASA physicist, is working on plans to save mankind by transporting Earth's
population to a new home via a wormhole. But first, Brand must send former NASA
pilot Cooper played by Matthew McConaughey and a team of researchers through
the wormhole and across the galaxy to find out which of three planets could be
mankind's new home
“Interstellar” had a lot of buzz around it. The teasers and
trailers looked amazing and everyone was hyped with the film. Christopher Nolan
is a name that sells itself these days. Everyone rushes to see any film with
his name on it. A status he achieved with great films like “The Dark Knight”
and “Inception”.
“Interstellar” is visually stunning. The cinematography is impeccable. Nolan once
again chooses to shoot some scenes in IMAX which always adds that extra layer
of immersion. Especially if experienced in theatres. The performances are solid
and Hans Zimmer brings yet another mesmerizing score to a Nolan film. Despite
its running time of almost 3 hours, the film is easy to watch. The plot is engaging
and the pacing is perfect.
The film is packed with amazing set pieces and brings to the
table Einstein’s theory of Relativity in a very thought provoking manner. The
film’s scientific accuracy is almost unquestionable. But even with all that, the film is
essentially about a father trying to reunite with his daughter. That’s it.
That’s what the film builds up to all the way through.
That’s also where the film fails dramatically.
The first two acts of the film are amazing and spectacular
but when we break into the third act “Interstellar” falls apart like a house of
cards. It’s like Nolan and his brother Jonathan had a brain freeze. To me it
seems like they got so caught up with the twist of Cooper being the ghost in
Murphy’s room that they overlooked the elephant in the room. The disaster they
had created in the third act. In my opinion the film starts to fall apart when
Cooper goes inside the black hole. That’s when Nolan really starts challenging
your suspension of disbelief. I’m no
expert in physics but I’m pretty sure that - if the spacecraft Cooper is in is
squished so should Cooper. But of course you can argue that Cooper had the help
of the aliens/future humans like the film implies a bit later. Ok, I can accept
that. But still, perhaps to solidify that idea maybe the ship could have
survived too, at least then it would have been more obvious that a third party
was helping Cooper in some way.
The other thing that bothers me is how cryptic the message
from Cooper to Murphy is and how easily she picks it up. And how does Nolan try
to get away with that? He suggests that love is quantifiable and a man’s
connection to his daughter breaks all barriers. Really? Everything was going so
well scientifically in the film but then Nolan decides to get sentimental and
just asks you to go along with it. It just seems to me that the third act
needed a lot more work on it. Ways to maintain the coherence the film had built
up to that point. To add insult to injury Nolan creates a forced and frankly
unrealistic tension between Murphy and her brother while Cooper is struggling
to make contact. Casey Affleck does a tremendous job with such a poorly written
character by the way. How does the film expect me to believe that a father
would put his family at risk just because he’s stubborn and wants to stay at
the house for some reason we don’t fully understand. When he finally gets back
to the house and Murphy runs out excited that she made contact with Cooper,
Affleck is like “Ok! Cool! Should I be angry now? Happy?”. There seems to have
been no reason for Topher Grace’s character to be pressuring Murphy to hurry up
seconds before. That scene is probably the worst scene in the film actually.
Even the performances are below par. Maybe because no one had a clue how to approach
the material.
Then comes the biggest sin the film has. The reuniting of
Cooper and Murphy. The biggest moment the film built up to. The most
anticipated scene of the entire movie. What do you get? You get 2 minute scene
that makes absolutely no sense and honestly fails to pay off gigantically or
“gargantually” if you know what I mean. First of all. Why is the rest of the
family, Cooper’s descendants , simply standing there emotionless? I mean that
guy just helped save mankind and he’s their grandfather, uncle etc… Nobody
reacts? Cooper walks to Murphy’s bedside all sobby and they exchange
underwhelming dialogue. She hasn’t seen her father in years and she’s dying but
she opts to just send him off to go after Brand, (Hathaway’s character), a
person she hardly met as a child and would normally not give two fucks about,
especially at that stage in her life. Cooper walks away looking back all weepy
and that’s it. “Interstellar” builds up to this. Under-developed crap that
contrasts too much with the first two acts of the film. And don’t get me started on how ridiculous it
is for Cooper to be able to just get in a ship and sail off to meet Brand
without any one noticing in this sophisticated and futuristic space station.
You have that very uninspired shot of an engineer guy noticing a ship is
missing. Really? Did we really need that? That shot alone is to blame. If it
wasn’t there I wouldn’t be questioning this tiny detail at the end of the film.
I would just assume it was a planned mission to reach Brand which would have
made a lot more sense.
“Interstellar” is a missed opportunity in my eyes. It brings
to the table so many great ideas and possibilities topped off with bold and
creative filmmaking but manages to ruin it all in the last 20 to 30 minutes. It
tried to be something in the likes of Kubrick’s 2001 but it missed by a long,
long shot. The film is still very much enjoyable but when you setup to become a
masterpiece you’re bound to fail if you don’t pay attention to the details.
It’s like Nolan put so much effort into the first 2 acts and then decided that
it was enough. “Let’s wrap this baby up. It’s awesome now. It’ll work.” But it
didn’t. It needed a lot more development.
With all that said, do I think the movie is terrible? By all
means no. It’s still a very enjoyable experience and I will always recommend it
to people. Christopher Nolan is a very gifted director and you can’t take that
away from him. Matthew
McConaughey’s performance is a delight and you are rooting for him from start
to finish. It’s amazing how far he has gone as an actor. He has always been
talented and competent but he seems to be living the golden years of his
career.
I have a mixed opinion when it comes to Jessica Chastain.
She is a terrific actress but in some scenes she just seems a bit off her game.
Namely the scene I mentioned earlier with Casey Affleck. But I think it’s fair
to blame the material there. The rest of the cast delivers as expected. I don’t
have a lot to add except for Matt Damon. Matt Damon steals the show once he
appears. I don’t particularly love his storyline but he’s a tremendous actor
and always a pleasure to watch.
And I think I’ve said enough. Do you agree with my opinion? What do you
think of “Interstellar”? Let me know in the comments below.
Happy travels gentlemen and I’ll talk to you soon!
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