Well guys, I'm back! I realise now that doing big reviews and then going on a hiatus for a few months is now the main thing that characterises this blog aside from my somtimes dry humour (hey I'm British give me a break!) and my obsession over comparing small parts of good movies to entire bad movies from the early 2000s and 1980s. However, I do have a good reason this time as I have moved into uni accomodation recently and thus for the last 2.5 months I have been settling into university life and haven't really had much time to get around to making long film reviews although I have been uploading videos onto my YouTube channel which you can check out here!: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmq7KX4Qc46VGhYzWqQfOg/videos. MMM! Delicious self-advertising!
But anyway, what film are we looking at today? Why an overrated, overly-pretentious (bit ironic coming from me I know), overly-cliche, over-expositioned sci-fi adventure film with failing concepts about the 5th dimension (which I'll get into why its so poorly conveyed in a bit), family love and the survival of the human species against what is actually quite a conceivable enviromental threat to our global crops and a really conveluded plot about inter-dimensional beings of imense creation. So yeah, I really do not like Interstellar. Don't get me wrong, the film looks great and all the main actors (Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, Anne Hatheway and MAAAAAAAAT DAAAAAAAMON) are excellently placed and do a great job but sadly for the stars and the much acclaimed director Christopher Nolan this film just does not work. And it really is quite sad to be honest, I do really think that Nolan is one of the greatest modern American filmakers of the new millenium and he has shown moments of shining brilliance in films like Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008). True, those two films were based upon the second most recognisable superhero of all time after superman but if there's someone who knows how to do dark adaptations of Batman and dark psychological thrillers (Inception (2010) duh...) its going to be good ol' Nolan. And true, the last time someone tried to do a dark, large-scale tale of space-travel, interdimensional discovery and beings with deep philosophical underpinnings, it was successfully realised by Kubrik's masterpiece 2001: A Space Oddessey (1968) which is now remembered today as the best movie of the 1960s and one of the best films of all time.
And in some sense, Interstellar does in fact have a similar plot to Odessey in some regards with particular note to be paid to the main character having an existential journey through time and space in which he sees time be congealed as a physical concept. A concept that while difficult to convey was done well in both films (albeit better in Odessey). However, whereas Odessey was moreso concentrating on the exploration part of the interstellar journey (HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEEEE) with some underpinnings of philosophical concepts all linked together by mind-bending visuals, Interstellar also tries to do all this while also informing us of every bit of scientific information that appears apparent to the plot (and I mean EVRY bit of scientific knowledge), fitting in a moral lesson about fathership and family and a strong message about enviromental disaster destroying humanity's last remaining global crop source (i.e. corn). Oh I know that the lesson about the enviroment is not what Nolan was going for necessarily but you'd better beleive you'll be aware of it by the time that we get to the overly-positive ending. In all honesty, that is perhaps what really cripples this film for me, the shitty and I mean REALLY shitty ending of the film. Perhaps the film is also crippled in a sense by its inscistence to pack so many themes besides philosophy about human discovery and interraction and interdimensional experiences but the ending is really what cinches it for me in regards to how badly I feel about this film.
So what's good about this film, quite a bit actually which is wierd...yeah. Considering I think that this is one of the worst films of the year so far it does actually have some great features and aspects that reallly show up Nolan's modern-neo-noire style of filmaking and features some absolutley stellar peformances (PHHHEEEE HEEE...sorry). Nolan's direction is perhaps closest to the same direction and asethetic that he showed on the set and in the creation of Inception and it shows in the mind-bending angles of the camera that are shown when humanity reaches a new way of colonisation wherein whole communities can be fitted into tube-shaped space colonies or when McConaughuey's astronaut captain Cooper attempts to dock his dropship with a space station spinning around ceaslesly as of a result of an explosion caused by a suprise villain. Speaking of which, there are a couple of twists that will turn this film on its head and you will not see them coming. Halfway through the film, Nolan presents us with a moral and practical dilemma that concerns not only the morals of the characters involved in the mission to rescue humanity but also the survival of the whole human species. The other big twist comes a bit nearer to the end of the film in a section of the movie which reviewers are calling a 'slog' (and which I respectfully say that they are wrong in that regard) which while messing up a previously strongly-rooted plot point did not upturn the film as a whole. Admittedly the twists were not as fast and frequent as say Odessey but still knocked me on my arse when I saw the film.
Aside from Cooper, there are multiple characters who are perfectly played. Anne Hatheway as doctor Brand, Michael Caine as Brand's father and MAAAAAAT DAAAAAAAMON as a suprise emotional counterpoint at what is possibly the finest moment in the film in a thematical and storytelling sense. However that's about it and aside from some cool visual concepts, the other attempts to visually conceive certain happenings in the film aside from space travel and travelling though a worm hole or a black hole, the film really doesn't leap out at you. Even though we focus on Hatheway and MaConaghuey for the majority of the film and sometimes leap back to Caine and DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMON we are also focusing on Ellen Burstyn's Murphy Cooper for a large chunk of the latter parts of the film who acts without much emotional clout or even basic body language and skill of emotional conveyance unlike MacConaghuey who just absolutley shines throughout the film. taking into accoutn this terrible narrative baggage and the fact that the other main supporting character of Romilly played by David Gyasi totally lacks any emotional depth whatsoever and only serves as a pointless exposition piece.
Oh yeah! Did I mention the fucking exposition!?!?!? Beleieve me, the science in this film is largley spot on with exception to points made at the end of the film about the 5th dimension but the characters go on and on and on and on and onandonandonandonandonaondaon about telling you EVRERY...FUCKING...THING about the damn journey! Sure! You can spend a large proportion of the movie expositioning to the audience about facts but you have to make it in some way interresting either thematically or in terms of its presentation! With the exception of Caine and sometimes MacConaghuey, no one explains any scientific knowledge or understanding in the film (especially Burstyn) with anything more than a blank, dry look in their eyes and with little other purpose than showing the filmakers did their homework. I've been told that this is a minor point and it really isn't, it takes away from the human and emotional suspense and development of the actual characters involved and refuses to let go even when we find ourselves and the movie in interesting situations such as a planet almost entirely made of water where one hour there equals 7 years on earth. The time-jumping between the narratives of MacConaghuey's and Burstyn's characters is well explained in an interesting manner to be fair and the idea of the 5th dimension and worm holes are fascinating things to consider but the film expositions the hell out of pretty much everything else without simplyfying it in any way for those who (like me) didn't pay attention in science class and want ot understand as much of the film as possible.
Furthermore, this ties into what I think is one of the most controversial points about Nolan's method of filmaking in that he is too dark, grim and stoic in his inter-story narratives, tone and philosophy. I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't see this in the Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) or Man of Steel (2013) the latter of which I probably gave an overly-positive review to at the time. And while I'm usually indifferent to this form of filmaking and its general asethetic, I do think that Nolan tends to overuse it sometimes particularly in the case of Man of Steel and I am tired to a considerable degree of big action, superhero (with the exception of course being the marvel movies in that case) and in Interstellar's case, adventure films being grim and everything having a purpose and every word and moment being heavy and impactful. I'm not saying that you can't make a movie or even a good movie like that but we see it so often today that I sometimes get depressed and worn out when a big action/adventure piece like this comes out with a great cast and doesn't utilise their greater talents in favour of being dour the whole fucking time.
However, to some degree or another I can forgive all that. What's that Ted? Are you pussing out on us at the last stretch? No. Absolutley not and I still think that the flaws I mentioned above are painfully apparent in the film. However, what is unforgivable about this movie is the GOD...DANM...ENDING. Needless to say, the ending of this movie FUCKING SUCKS. Instead of giving us a deeper philosophical understanding of what is at play in the movie's narrative and how the adventure of Cooper to finding the problem solving formula needed to save humanity we're given a long-winded and conveluded explanaition about the 5th dimension (with very little linking to the 4th I might add), a really convinent and overly-sweet plot twist that means but fails to warm the heart and a collosall cop-out that tries so hard to show a happy ending to this otherwise grim tale. I'm sorry but that doesn't happen. Throughout the second half of the film we had this subplot about either two of the plans proposed to MacConaghuey and his team having the potentional to fail and this suprise twist plan we are presented with at the end just falls into our lap, convinetly explains a minor but already ridiculous plot point about a supposed 'ghost' (don't worry the film explains it, albeit stupidly). How then are we supposed to accept this ending that ties up all lose ends with no emotional baggage and more hopefulness for the advancement of the remaining characters who survived the ordeal? If Nolan had any idea how to make Interstellar's narrative consistent with the tone, he wouldn't have made the ending such an overly-sweet cop out and instead offered a positive outlook on humanity's future in the age of space travel but perhaps made it somewhat bittersweet on a character level. Instead we have one of the worst explanations of inter-dimensional beings I have ever heard to neatly tie up every point so the little darlings are not left feeling sad after the movie has ended.
So in conclusion? I fucking hate Interstellar. I really have absolutley no clue as to why people are giving it a fucking 9/10 on IMDB when its barely worth the 3/10 I rated it on there. It really upsets me that this film is so disappointing because all of the potentional therories and concepts and talent behind it is excellent. But the execution is poor, the narrative is amateurish and the conclusion PISSES ME OFF! It was bad enough that the film had a poorly-expositioned (although interesting) hook and twist but to be just straight up a bad sci-fi movie is alltogether something different. And Interstellar managed to pull off both. DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE.
Plot/Storyline: 1.5/10
Acting: 5/10
Directing/Writing: 4/10
Action/Set pieces/Key moments: 5.5/10
Camerawork/SFX: 8.5/10
Overall rating: 24.5/50
