Interstellar

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Interstellar.

Directed by Christopher Nolan.

Written by Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan.

Review #261

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some intense perilous action and brief strong language.

Run Time: 169 min

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Cast

In order of apperance

Ellen Burstyn...Murph (older)

Matthew McConaughey...Cooper

Mackenzie Foy...Murph (10 Yrs.)

John Lithgow...Donald

Bill Irwin...TARS (voice)

Anne Hathaway...Brand

Wes Bentley...Doyle

Michael Caine...Professor Brand

David Gyasi...Romilly

Josh Stewart...CASE (voice)

Jessica Chastain...Murph

Topher Grace...Getty

Matt Damon...Dr. Mann

It's no secret that I am on Team Nolan. From the day he played with everyone's head with Memento I knew immediately that this was a man dedicated to making films.

Not movies. There is a difference.

Nolan's talent is only limited by his imagination and judging by his non Batman films, his imagination is limitless. That's not always a good thing and that is the case with this film.

Interstellar is by far Nolan's WORST film.

However, that doesn't mean it's bad.

Plot

A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in an attempt to find a potentially habitable planet that will sustain humanity.

Let me explain what I meant when I said Interstellar is Nolan's worst film. Nolan has such an expansive mind for stories that he can sometimes overload the audience with material that does more harm than good. With this film he knocks you over the head with a TON of science. Not necessarily a bad thing. Unless the science is way beyond the reach of anyone not named Neil deGrasse Tyson.

The basic plot is as straightforward as you can get.

It's when we venture out into space where Interstellar both succeeds and fails.

The "worlds" that the team explores are beautiful in a creepy way. They present the best chance of humanity's survival but don't appear on the "surface" as a livable habitat. The exploration scenes provide the film with the necessary action beats it needs to keep people on board after all the emotions that run through the main cast. At it's core, Interstellar is a save the world film but along the way Nolan does something very risky. He blends two very opposite and opposing forces.

Science vs Faith.

I don't mean faith in the religious sense. Nolan brings the "L" word into the equation. Love plays a immeasurable factor in the weight of this story. It's that inclusion that brings the heart of Interstellar to the forefront. The people on this mission are not just trying to save the world, they are trying to save their loved ones. It's a force more powerful than any weapon a person can wield. It can also cloud a person's judgement forcing bad decisions that affect others. Those dynamics come into play when it concerns our main man Coop and his daughter Murph. Their relationship is strong and when Coop leaves for the mission Murph shuns him. It's a moment that comes into play much later in the film when Coop looks at video messages from his family while out in space.

It's explained that after passing through the wormhole that time is no longer the same for them as it is for the people they left behind. So when Coop looks at an archive of messages he breaks down in total heartache watching the reality that he missed his children growing up. The scene is pictured above is one of the high points of the film. Even though it's depicting a very somber moment it was vital to remind us that these people have made the ultimate sacrifice and seeing the pain behind Coop's eyes was predictable but poignant.

When the film eventually reaches it's third act. At almost three hours it takes a while for that to happen. Interstellar plays another trick on everyone by forcing you to take a side revolving a very compelling argument. This argument creates an interesting dynamic between the characters making and an emotional divide that makes it very hard to choose. Nolan drags this out for all it's worth and cross cuts this with what's going on on a different part of the planet with the remaining astronauts.

It was a well crafted scene that was unfortunately lost under Hans Zimmer's overpowering score.

If I had to complain about a Nolan film, there would be 2 gripes. The first being his sound mixing. It's HORRIBLE. For someone who's as detailed as him it strikes me odd that his last string of films constantly have to fight with itself. Going back to his Dark Knight trilogy to Inception to here, these films have had blatant issues with sound and music. Nolan's dialogue gets garbled under blaring tones that make it impossible to discern. To make matters worse this happens at critical points of the film where story points are mapped out to guide us along. Once is a mistake, twice is noticeable, three or four times is just an unacceptable oversight that 1st year film students know not to do.

The second gripe is actually more important. Nolan had this problem with The Dark Knight Rises and Inception. He over stuffs his films with way too many subplots or overcomplicated scenarios. I can't believe I'm about to write this but he has a tendency to go Damon Lindelof on us. I know It's sacrilege to put Nolan and that wannabe hack in the same group but in this case it's unavoidable. Nolan goes Lindelof here and though he's able to save it at the end by tugging at our tickers it doesn't excuse the incredibly overdone climax that does more questioning that explaining. This is where I realized that this was Nolan's worst film. He couldn't kill his darlings. It's a tough proposition for filmmakers. They fall in love with their material and fight to keep stuff in that makes no sense or drags the story down. Nolan is guilty of that.

Both Nolan's are guilty of that.

His younger brother Jonathan co wrote the script and is the "crazier" of the pair. He loves to go "out" there and explore the deep reaches of the imagination and that exploration yields some "interesting" results. Not that they're bad, they're just uncontrolled. This is where big brother comes in and tries to reign things in. The combination works for the most part. This time it didn't because there was way too much out there to hold down.

Interstellar is not a bad movie. It's very good in some spots and in some spots it's great but there are places where it's not so great or good and that's unfortunately what I gravitated to.

No pun intended.

On the 5 star scale. Interstellar gets 2.5 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"