Review Interstellar film review by G. H. (Gman)
Written By G. H. (Gman) on 2014-12-27 01:30:25
Calling Interstellar a disappointment wouldn't be entirely inaccurate, but within its shortsightedness is a film worth examining on multiple levels. It's interesting that Christopher Nolan at his most flawed can still produce entertaining and thought provoking work. It's rare to find modern sci-fi that doesn't rely on the spectacle of action and high speed pursuits. Indeed Interstellar may satisfy the hunger some Star Trek fans have for exploration over explosion.
But also like Star Trek, Interstellar tends to get lost in its theoretical physics classes, or techno-babble, which stops the movie in its tracks. Fortunately, moments like Cooper sobbing at the years of missed messages from his children balance exposition with expression. At the same time they feel undermined by Nolan's stubborn attention to how the film's science works--a polarizing expositional component which could have been scaled back for more character work.
I also find it hard to believe that these NASA heavy minds could be solving impossible equations, but miss that their best pilot is both alive and living relatively close to their operation. Building state-of-the-art vessels during the apocalypse is difficult, but doing a little resident research? I certainly hope the real NASA is more thorough.
Regardless of my misgivings for the over-stated science and largely robotic supporting characters, Nolan's vision of interstellar travel is a vastly entertaining sci-fi story with gorgeous visuals. His climactic concept for multi-dimensional exploration is another polarizing narrative piece, yet ultimately engaging. I can't decide if it works within the film's pretentious confines of science-fact, but for science-fiction it's visually and conceptually fresh. I think I enjoyed it so much because it wasn't so heavily explained. It just was.
Interstellar may slip with some rather mechanical characters, but it's not a film completely without heart. Its exposition simply needed some trimming and much of that trimming could have been sliced out of the supporting characters. When Interstellar's cast act like humans they radiate the importance of humanity. When they talk theories and survival they sound like an audio textbook preaching at me.
