The Case of the Long Space Quest
All rise as a trial on space is about to begin. This is the case about the much talked Interstellar. This is a case open to the public so there are no spoilers. Feel free to continue.
This is the latest film of the most praised director of our generation, Christopher Nolan. Everything he touches turns to gold. Batman, Inception (acting both as director, producer and writer), Superman (as producer and writer). Now he looks up to the stars and wonders what he can do with them.
The story of Interstellar is quite simple yet clever. Life on earth is ending and this time it is not aliens, a human killing disease or zombies but a blight that affects our crops. Meaning the food is running low. We see our protagonist, a former NASA pilot who now lives on a farm with his two children and his father-in-law. He finds out about a secret mission from NASA to travel the space to find another habitable planet. So he lives to save humanity. That’s pretty much it. Why is this clever? Because of details about the space trip that I will not mention here for obvious reasons.
The film has many amazing visuals and the work they did science-wise is spot on. Of course there is an ounce of fiction here and there but in a movie with space travel could you expect anything less? The casting is well thought as we enjoy the performances of Matthew McConaughey (who as we said has begun a campaign to show us that he is in fact a good actor), Anne Hathaway (who is quite good as is her usual), Jessica Chastain and Michael Cain who must have a personal contract with Nolan by now. We also see Matt Damon for a while which is always nice.
The film has its flaws nevertheless. First of all its duration. It has a running time of 2 hours and 49 minutes. Many scenes are there without any reason and I personally think it should be 20 minutes shorter. It also leaves some unexplained issues and it has some gaps in the story that are quite obvious from the first watching. Are they deal-breaking? Not for me but for some they might be.
Verdict : Not Guilty It is a highly overrated movie but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t do a good job. Whether you like it or not it is a movie that will make you look up the science behind it (which for the most part is real) and it will ignite many conversations. I recommend it to every type of viewer.
movieseriescourt 
Guilty. A good concept is one thing. But the movie is falling apart towards the end to a degree that it cheapens everything which came beforehand. The characters are bland (with the exception of the guy who is played by BP), and the insistence of the movie to explain the science in it in detail causes the audience to think even harder about it, which makes it even more obvious whenever the fib a little bit. To me it belongs on one pile with Avatar. Visually stunning, but I need more from a movie than that.
It is also the very first time I didn’t like Anne Hathaway in a role.
LikeLike
In what way it cheapens everything which came beforehand? It is true that we learn only a few aspects of each character but the actors (the majority at least) performed in such a way as to make more complete. The fact that they tried to stay true to science and put as little fiction as possible is something that some like while others don’t like. As for Anne Hathaway I really like her this time. She is not my favorite actress but here she played a character that no-one was supposed to like. And she managed just that. I really hated her in this movie, the character that is. Meaning she did a quite good job in my book.
Personally I was more annoyed by the lack of information on things as the sandstorms. OK, there is the blight but why there are sandstorms that big all the time? Simply pointless.
P.S. I think it is better than the Avatar although I prefered the visuals of Avatar.
LikeLike
That’s the thing: I don’t think that she was supposed to be unlikable. Instead she was the female emotional stock-character.
The problem was not that they stayed true to science, but that they constantly explained how true to science they were…and then they no longer were. If they hadn’t spend so much time on explaining their science in details but just showed it (did we really need to know more than “this planet has a different time because it is close to whatever”?) , it wouldn’t have been so grating later on.
And it cheapens everything partly because the time paradox is ridiculous and partly because the movie is a big cop out. After all the discussions if about the importance of sacrifice for the survival for the species there is a solution after all, one he miraculously suddenly understands (I honestly didn’t get that part…neither why Murph suddenly realizes that it was him nor how he suddenly knew…I also don’t get why he was able to sent the message which send him on his journey in the first place but not allowed to send a message to a younger Murph).
To me Interstellar was a Mixture of the worst of Cameron (emphasis on visuals over story), Shamalyan (contrived plot twist) and Nolan (pretentious dialogue). It’s better than Avatar though in a sense that while the plot fails it at least is not lazy but does try. But the emphasis in on trying.
LikeLike
Interesting thought (the mixture) and I will not say that it is wrong but there are some other elements. It’s not a perfect movie, it’s not even a great movie. But it can be a source for many discussions (either for the movie or just for science) and it is worth watching. For one time. I saw it twice to write about it and I don’t think I’ll be seeing it again. At least not for some time.
As for Anne Hathaway, if you think about it, until they reach the second planet where she does something good, she is constantly arguing with the “hero” of the story. I don’t think she is “the female emotional stock-character”. Just remember when she tells Cooper that if the second planet isn’t good enough then they will go to the third planet, leaving them with not enough fuel to return to Earth. The smirk she had on her face was filled with irony with a touch of malice.
Personally I give the movie a 13,5 out of 20.
LikeLike