Interstellar Review
This universe we live in is big.
There’s no denying that there are things beyond all of us, whether physical or
mental, that we do not understand. Interstellar attempts to delve into both of
these realms, and in some cases, it goes too far for its own good. The lack of
my own outer space knowledge aside, this film still seems like a stretch for a
director who generally likes to have his films play out as realistic and
believable, or at least believable in the context of the film’s own continuity.
Yet all of this goes out the window with Christopher Nolan’s latest endeavor.
Yes, he planted acres of real corn for this film and I’ve even heard that there
is not a single use of a green screen either. This is impressive and immersive
to be sure. But these facts plus a 30-foot tall screen with speakers that shake
the theatre still don’t help me feel immersed in a film where the plot itself
is so farfetched.
The
film opens with earth in a struggling state. It doesn’t take too long for
things to get corny, and I’m not just talking about the corn on the farm.
Resources are scarce and the planet is slowly becoming unsuitable for
sustaining life. Gruff-voiced Cooper lives with his father-in-law and
is taking care of his son and daughter on a small isolated farmhouse. It is
revealed almost immediately that Cooper used to be a pilot but now lives his
life as a farmer, attempting to help not only the planet, but
especially his two young ones, survive. His daughter Murph is gifted with an uncanny
intellect and is clearly the favorite of the two children. In fact, the son
truly has no purpose of even being in this movie, failing to serve the plot in
any meaningful way whatsoever. Yet Murph isn’t just a smart kid who keeps to
her books, she has an adventurous side to her as well, which spurs Cooper on to
eventually finding a long-lost connection from his piloting days. Here he is
presented with the opportunity to go on a journey through outer space, in
search of potentially habitable worlds outside of our milky-way galaxy; a
chance to save the world, but much more importantly for him, his own children (but really just Murph).
This
first act turned out to be the most intriguing to me. Once Cooper departs from
earth, the film takes its time getting to more interesting moments and even
takes too much time with them once we are there. The take off/departure sequence
was one of my favorites in the film; unique in the way it uses the audio of the
famous T-minus countdown as we see Cooper leaving his home and his family
behind. Then we get to the theatre-shaking power of IMAX. This may have
been the shakiest film I’ve seen in an IMAX, and although it didn't wow me, the IMAX experience at least helped me leave the film without being completely frustrated. It would not have been nearly as good on a common screen. The use of the screen for immersion
does shine through in a few big set piece moments, but the true power of IMAX
for this film was in the use of sound. If you choose to see it in IMAX, get
ready for a lot of rattling subwoofer action, during takeoff and even more so
when the crew comes to a particularly harrowing and turbulent spot on their
journey in space. Yet for all of the time the film spends in space, it does
give plenty of time to the happenings on earth, or more accurately, what
Cooper’s daughter Murph is doing while her father is away. Between these two
distinct settings, there is a lot going on in the film, as is the case with any
Nolan project, so be prepared, this is no casual outing at the movies.
Interstellar
explores the theme of sacrificing what matters most to you in order to serve a
cause greater than yourself. Yet the execution of the film and everything
surrounding that theme simply pull down the emotional impact the film and that
thought-provoking theme could’ve had. This is a long journey, clocking in at 2
hours and 49 minutes; yet there is no need for it to be so. Now, I don’t mind a
slow burner film. You will hardly find me saying “There wasn’t enough action in
this film,” about any movie. But I absolutely do admire pacing, where each
moment, whether it be a gigantic battle scene, or a conversation between two
people, is given its proper time to shine, no more and no less. In Interstellar
we are given a handful of scenes that stray far past the barrier that says ‘no
more’. A slightly laughable struggle between two people resulting in an
agonizingly annoying speech, a neat concept dragging out so long that I
couldn’t wait for it to be over, and a lackluster reveal which overstays its
welcome by several minutes are the three biggest examples of scenes that not
only lacked the brilliance and intensity we’ve come to expect from a Nolan
film, but are shining beacons revealing that this film could’ve been much
shorter, and therefore much better. It’s not the length of a film that bothers
me, but rather the lack of content that can support such a lengthy excursion.
Some films I admire and thoroughly enjoy are longer than 150 minutes. But I was
left waiting for several sequences of this film to be over long before they
were finished.
This
is a Christopher Nolan movie, so you know what that means… get ready to see familiar
faces from Gotham City! Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine reprise their roles as
Catwoman and Alfred; a roguish partner who is sometimes at odds with the
protagonist, and an old man who gives that same protagonist the extra nudge he
needs to do something both crazy and extraordinary. While I was completely
shocked when I realized that Cilian Murphy AKA Scarecrow didn’t sneak his way
into this one, Nolan instead opted for the actor who gave us one of the
absolute worst film portrayals of one of the best super villains in history. (I
know that could be a couple of different people, so I’ll leave that as a
surprise for those who want to see the movie for themselves.) And he may not be
the only face you’ll be surprised to see. There’s one other actor here whose
appearance was so random and unexpected it made me chuckle, though the film
doesn’t intend for many moments to be funny. The one character that does serve
up some intentional laughs is TARS, an artificial intelligence who offers some
clever musings and a surprising level of humanity for a machine, let alone one
with no face.
Interstellar
may be too ambitious for its own good, but just because it fails to stick the
landing doesn’t mean it is a terrible film. As with any film that carries a lot
of hype into its opening weekend, the potential for disappointment is also
raised. And while I’d much rather see a flawed, but ambitious film, as opposed
to another cash-grabbing and poorly executed sequel or reboot, the downfall
here comes because we expect more from a director of this caliber. I know
Christopher Nolan didn’t see Gravity… but so many others and myself did; and
though these are two completely different films, Gravity still took much of the
fuel out of Interstellar’s fire by releasing just a year before it, doing so
many things on an unprecedented level and surpassing Interstellar in just about
every cinematic way possible. Had this not been the case, Interstellar would
have had a greater wow factor. Instead we go along a dragging, confusing
journey with characters that don’t resonate enough for us to care about, a
monotonous score that forces the same theme in our ears throughout the whole
movie, and a few exciting moments to keep us engaged along the way. Had the
crew traveled back a longer time ago, and cast their galaxy trajectory just a
bit further, further away, this may have been an awakening experience… oh well,
maybe next year.