Review of Interstellar (2014) by Greatmartin — 08 Nov 2014

I don’t know at what point I stopped caring about the main characters in “Interstellar” but it must have been upon losing all interest as to whether they ’make it’ or don’t. Or it may have been at the one point a crew member is lost and the reaction was, “So what?”.

The film is long, at 169 minutes, with a lot of forgettable science verbiage that is forgotten by most of the audience before the credits start running. Will even the science nerds in the audience remember the dialogue regarding the black hole or the worm hole? Isn’t it enough to say that one hour in space will equal 7 hours on earth without getting into quantum theories? I’d rather hear how Anne Hathaway’s hair stays so sculptured after having a space helmet on for a flight, walking in water and on ice plus the gravity experienced, which is talked about but doesn’t seem to affect hairdos!

Director Christopher Nolan and co-writer of the script with his brother Jonathan, seem to know what they want to say when dealing with family relationships but when the abruptly take off space they seem to get lost. “Gravity” set the bar high for filming in space and spaceships and “Interstellar” comes nowhere near those scenes and feelings. The Nolans, along with the Director of Photography Hoyte van Hoytema, get the feel, sights and sounds of earth drying up and the possibility of the end of earth is made believable as are the various family relations, but once the movie blasts off to space everything comes to a halt except for a robot that seems more livelier than the humans.

The cast do what they can with what they got but Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, former test pilot who is brought back to lead this mission to find a place that the humans on earth can move to before they die, is fine in the father and daughter scenes but does not bring much to the hero aspect of the film. Oh, and a side note, he does need to put on some of the weight he lost for “Dallas Buyers Club”. Anne Hathaway has a thankless part while Michael Caine as her father gets to repeat Dylan Thomas”s poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” a few times. Murph, Cooper’s daughter, is played by 3 actresses and as the 10 year old Mackenzie Foy is a stand out while Jessica Chastain as Murph in her 30s has nothing to do but being angry.

David Gyasi and Wes Bently as the crew working with McConaughey and Hathaway, along with computerized robot voiced by Bill Irwin, are more than adequate. They are 3 other actors, not to be named, in the film so as not to provide spoilers. Also Casey Affleck, as Murph’s brother, in an underwritten role does what he can with it.

Ah yes I must give credit to Hans Zimmer for the too often loud music, signifying nothing, for keeping me awake in the last hour of “Interstellar”.