Interstellar

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, John Lithgow, West Bentley, David Oyelowo, Casey Affleck, Topher Grace, Matt Damon, Bill Irwin (voice), Josh Stewart (voice), Ellen Burstyn
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: A team of astronauts travel through a wormhole to reach another galaxy, looking for a new home for the human race.
Review:

Tim: At the beginning of 2014, I would have said Interstellar would most likely be my top film of the year. If not that, at least in the top 3. While I'd consider Christopher Nolan's latest film a great one, I'm kind of shocked that it wouldn't make my top 10 of the year. Yes, there were great movies this year, but it's a few bewildering flaws that prevented this movie from reaching the zenith of its potential. I do hold some disappointment towards this movie, although I am in awe of the ambition behind it and recognize it's far superior to the majority of films rolling out of Hollywood. While I wanted to to be better, it still does so much right.

One of the aspects of Interstellar I loved was the ambition by Nolan and the crew. Hollywood is so afraid to marginalize their viewers that we often get watered down, lowest common denominator movies. That's not good for anyone. This is a movie that challenges the audiences- treats them like intelligent adults capable of their own thought and of analyzing a story with many layers. Like Nolan did with Inception, this is a challenging, thought-provoking movie. That part of the movie was so incredibly cool.

I'm a big fan of movies set in outer space. Some of the best movies of all time (like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Apollo 13 show humans in space. There's so much to explore here, literally trillions upon trillions of stars, planets, and the vast emptiness of space. In this film, we're exposed to a wormhole in the space time continuum. We get to see the impact of a black hole. In the film's most stark and shocking moments, we explore relativity- and how hours on a planet circling a black hole could translate into years back on Earth. I am so pleased and excited that Nolan tackled this aspect. It still boggles the mind- doesn't time tick forward the same for everyone? Not according to Einstein, and we get to see that principle in all its complicated glory on the screen. That was incredible.

I also really liked the depiction of the robotic helpers, TARS and CASE. I thought they were both wonderful little touches to show the level of technological advancement achieved, but their humanoid personalities added much to the film. Their roles are small, but memorable. I'm not entirely convinced the design would work in real life (it seems like there would be a better way to design them for mobility), but they represent a very cool part of the film.

I also very much enjoyed the cast. Matthew McConaughey is proving to be one of the strongest actors in Hollywood today, and delivers another strong, believable performance. He was excellent as Cooper. Anne Hathaway felt like she was trying a bit too hard. I can't say I ever fully believed her performance or enjoyed her all that much. She has a few decent moments, but was one of the weaker cast members. Michael Caine was great and his voice, especially when speaking the "Do not go gentle into that good night" poem by Dylan Thomas. I also really liked seeing John Lithgow here. He has a few great moments but I wish he had more screen time. Jessica Chastain is very effective as Murph. Casey Affleck had a thankless role, but I still enjoyed seeing him here. I do want to mention one more cast member, but if you haven't seen the film (and didn't pay attention to the cast listing above), I want to issue a SPOILER WARNING. Stop now if you haven't seen the movie. I am a little perplexed as to how I feel about Matt Damon. His presence was certainly shocking, an "I can't believe he is in this!" experience in the theater. And then, his character is kind of disappointing. If you're going to completely stun the audience with a Matt Damon reveal (like Saving Private Ryan), you've got to make it worthwhile. I don't believe Nolan quite achieved that here. Still, as a whole, the cast is effective.

So, it's obvious Interstellar has a great deal going for it. It's a great movie, after all. Why didn't it make my top 10 list? First off, there's the bookcase sequence. I totally get it and I did some research, but understanding it doesn't mean I have to like it. We see McConaughey travel into a black hole- as he approaches the event horizon, I really expected to be totally blown away by that cinematic experience. What we get instead is quite frankly, very disappointing. I get the point of illustrating the fourth dimension of time in three dimensions, but it just felt far too underwhelming to me. SPOILERS AHEAD. I also thought the ending of the film was extremely convenient and didn't make a whole lot of sense. Other people have criticized the limited amount of time McConaughey spends once he returns. That's probably a lot to do with the editing, but it did feel a bit unrealistic. The movie didn't end with as nearly as powerful an ending as I would have liked. It was fine, but after sitting through 160+ minutes, we deserved a better conclusion. I also didn't care for the sound, especially in the theater. I know it was a big controversy and Nolan said it was intentional, but it was so frustrating to not be able to hear dialogue due to all the background noise.

These might not be major issues in and of themselves, but them dampen the entire experience of Interstellar. I absolutely loved specific aspects of the movie and the film's strengths are enough for me to consider this a great achievement. Unfortunately, Nolan has set the bar so high and compared to what we know he's capable of doing, this movie does not live up to that potential. This is a great movie, but it's a rare occasion when great isn't enough.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Inception, The Prestige, Saving Private Ryan, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apollo 13, Gravity, Sunshine