The idea of space travel is frightening and daunting. I personally would never be able to do the things that the characters in this film do. Imagine the claustrophobia within a space ship knowing that the expanse of Space is right outside the porthole. Regardless of whether you believe in God or any form of an afterlife, one of my sincerest hopes is to somehow witness the wonders of the Universe firsthand. "Interstellar" offers a glimpse into that possibility but is grounded in the limitations of Man's science and technology. Even though this film trumpets the need to explore the galaxy, it tethers itself by choosing to hammer home the message that the force of Love is greater than that of Gravity.
I am a parent that has watched one of my children grow into adulthood while the other is still a teen. It was very heartwarming but also sad to hear Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) talk to his daughter Murphy about how, the moment you have kids, you become nothing but a memory to them. A ghost. It turns out that this plays an important role in saving the world, but it emotionally pulls on you. It created tears that felt a bit manipulated. Most moviegoers put a lot of value in how a film affects them emotionally and "Interstellar" provides this in abundance. It wasn't to the abhorrent levels of, say, the final moments of "Toy Story 3", but it really killed what I ultimately hoped would be a greater exploration of the unknown. Cooper, the great explorer, is as much of a sentimental fool as I am. This is the biggest miss of "Interstellar". If I had wanted something this overwhelmingly emotional, I could have watched "Beaches" or something. Did people really see "Interstellar" to get a weepy drama?
My opening thoughts read as though I disliked this film. Fact is, I mostly enjoyed it. I was amazed by its use of sound more than the visuals, which I thought were purposely dulled. The color palette for space was nearly black and white but I tend to believe that space isn't "Star Wars" shiny, anyway. The planet-scapes were massive but a little disappointing. The wave world seemed to only exist within the context of the film to reinforce the plot's insistence on impacting the characters with the passing of time. The success of this is illustrated by the effect of time on Romilly back on the docking station. While Cooper and crew are only on the surface of the wave world for a few hours, they return to Endurance to find he has aged over 23 years! This moment hit me more than all others. Imagine being totally isolated for so many years. Romilly even chose to forgo cryo-sleep for the most part.
The TARS robot is potentially this generation's R2D2 and C3PO wrapped into one. At first it seemed like a clumsy square box, but it certainly was no such thing. It was the greatest creation the film offered. The teamwork of TARS and Cooper docking their ship had me leaning in my seat trying to help them lock on to the Endurance. Then, the two of them team up to battle the ominous black hole. And considering that moment, the sequence made astounding use of sound. I've read and tried to comprehend theories of what happens when you enter a black hole, but I've never considered it to be noisy. I thought there was no sound in space, but the on-screen action made me not care about such things. Since so much of time and space is theoretical, you can roll with Nolan's interpretations here.
The second act and its inclusion of Dr. Mann doesn't seem needed except to provide a couple of action sequences.
The final 20 minutes were pretty muddled and hurried. There are too many twists to comprehend and let sink in before the next one pops. A little less time crying and a little more time plotting would have been appreciated.
The dimensions of space and time as we understand them must be expanded here to allow additional theorizing, which was difficult for me even having the most rudimentary understanding of "how things work" (turns out, Math is hard).
So the bottom line is that "Interstellar" mostly worked for me. Since Christopher Nolan is held as one of the current great directors, I feel forced to compare his works against each other. This film was not nearly as successful to me as my favorite Nolan-work, "The Dark Knight", or even its prequel and sequel. It doesn't rank with "The Prestige", either. And honestly, I'd have to watch "Momento" another ten times to know what I think of that mind-bender. This does easily bypass the make-crap-up-as-you-go delivery of "Inception", though.
It is good to see someone being allowed to make big-budget films like this. While I have been complimentary and critical, I certainly lack the ability to do anything approaching this accomplishment. One of the most encouraging things about Nolan is that he's making movies that require people to pay attention in a culture that's losing the ability to concentrate and focus. Odds are that mankind's future is more "Idiocracy" than "Interstellar", but there may still be some hope for the latter.
Review by whitsbrainVIP 5BlockedParent2022-01-15T17:12:49Z
The idea of space travel is frightening and daunting. I personally would never be able to do the things that the characters in this film do. Imagine the claustrophobia within a space ship knowing that the expanse of Space is right outside the porthole. Regardless of whether you believe in God or any form of an afterlife, one of my sincerest hopes is to somehow witness the wonders of the Universe firsthand. "Interstellar" offers a glimpse into that possibility but is grounded in the limitations of Man's science and technology. Even though this film trumpets the need to explore the galaxy, it tethers itself by choosing to hammer home the message that the force of Love is greater than that of Gravity.
I am a parent that has watched one of my children grow into adulthood while the other is still a teen. It was very heartwarming but also sad to hear Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) talk to his daughter Murphy about how, the moment you have kids, you become nothing but a memory to them. A ghost. It turns out that this plays an important role in saving the world, but it emotionally pulls on you. It created tears that felt a bit manipulated. Most moviegoers put a lot of value in how a film affects them emotionally and "Interstellar" provides this in abundance. It wasn't to the abhorrent levels of, say, the final moments of "Toy Story 3", but it really killed what I ultimately hoped would be a greater exploration of the unknown. Cooper, the great explorer, is as much of a sentimental fool as I am. This is the biggest miss of "Interstellar". If I had wanted something this overwhelmingly emotional, I could have watched "Beaches" or something. Did people really see "Interstellar" to get a weepy drama?
My opening thoughts read as though I disliked this film. Fact is, I mostly enjoyed it. I was amazed by its use of sound more than the visuals, which I thought were purposely dulled. The color palette for space was nearly black and white but I tend to believe that space isn't "Star Wars" shiny, anyway. The planet-scapes were massive but a little disappointing. The wave world seemed to only exist within the context of the film to reinforce the plot's insistence on impacting the characters with the passing of time. The success of this is illustrated by the effect of time on Romilly back on the docking station. While Cooper and crew are only on the surface of the wave world for a few hours, they return to Endurance to find he has aged over 23 years! This moment hit me more than all others. Imagine being totally isolated for so many years. Romilly even chose to forgo cryo-sleep for the most part.
The TARS robot is potentially this generation's R2D2 and C3PO wrapped into one. At first it seemed like a clumsy square box, but it certainly was no such thing. It was the greatest creation the film offered. The teamwork of TARS and Cooper docking their ship had me leaning in my seat trying to help them lock on to the Endurance. Then, the two of them team up to battle the ominous black hole. And considering that moment, the sequence made astounding use of sound. I've read and tried to comprehend theories of what happens when you enter a black hole, but I've never considered it to be noisy. I thought there was no sound in space, but the on-screen action made me not care about such things. Since so much of time and space is theoretical, you can roll with Nolan's interpretations here.
The second act and its inclusion of Dr. Mann doesn't seem needed except to provide a couple of action sequences.
The final 20 minutes were pretty muddled and hurried. There are too many twists to comprehend and let sink in before the next one pops. A little less time crying and a little more time plotting would have been appreciated.
The dimensions of space and time as we understand them must be expanded here to allow additional theorizing, which was difficult for me even having the most rudimentary understanding of "how things work" (turns out, Math is hard).
So the bottom line is that "Interstellar" mostly worked for me. Since Christopher Nolan is held as one of the current great directors, I feel forced to compare his works against each other. This film was not nearly as successful to me as my favorite Nolan-work, "The Dark Knight", or even its prequel and sequel. It doesn't rank with "The Prestige", either. And honestly, I'd have to watch "Momento" another ten times to know what I think of that mind-bender. This does easily bypass the make-crap-up-as-you-go delivery of "Inception", though.
It is good to see someone being allowed to make big-budget films like this. While I have been complimentary and critical, I certainly lack the ability to do anything approaching this accomplishment. One of the most encouraging things about Nolan is that he's making movies that require people to pay attention in a culture that's losing the ability to concentrate and focus. Odds are that mankind's future is more "Idiocracy" than "Interstellar", but there may still be some hope for the latter.