Review of Interstellar (2014) by Brian B — 03 Apr 2017

Spoiler Warning: This Review Will Contain Spoilers.

Many people nowadays say that Nolan is one of the greatest directors ever and all of his movies are masterpieces. However, there is a smaller group of people who say that while Nolan is a talented director, he's not the film making genius that fans make him out to be. Interstellar is a prime example of this.

After Earth faces extinction due to a dust bowl, 4 astronauts and an intelligent robot are sent into space in hopes of finding a planet suitable for life.

Firstly, I'm going to talk about the positives. Many people say that the third act makes no sense but actually the science in it holds a lot of credibility. I'm not going to go into detail about it because then this review would be as long as the movie is. But I can assure you that it's not incorrect. Realism isn't necessary is sci-fi movies but when movies do feature them, it makes them more entertaining so I appreciate what Nolan has done.

I really like the cgi. It is well-done and it immerses the viewer into certain scenes. Matthew McConaughey gave a great performance. It's not the greatest one ever like some people say but it's still pretty great. All of the other actors and actresses give good performances too but McConaughey did the best. Also, the ending was great too.

Now I'm going to get to the negative points. Firstly, the movie has clear issues with the pacing. This is most noticeable in the beginning as many grew bored as we impatiently waited for the shuttle to leave Earth. This sequence felt slower compared to the rest of the film.

Also, the movie has poor character development. That's not to say that there aren't characters you can connect with. In fact, Cooper's relationship with Murph is well- done but the same can't be said about his other offspring, Tom. He is seen as a secondary character and gets little attention from Cooper which seems unrealistic.

People say that Zimmer's score is fantastic. I find it catchy but it's not as good as it's made out to be. Most of the songs consist of just one tune being repeated over and over again. Much of Zimmer's work lacks variety and Interstellar is a prime example of this. Also, it plays unnecessarily loud. It drowns out all of the other background noise. It took me out of the experience. In an interview, Nolan made the argument that it shakes the seats which is supposed to immerse you but the score still played louder than it need to be. It would've still shook the seats if it played quieter.

Also, there's the endless exposition. Nolan had issues with this before but Interstellar is perhaps his worst offender yet. It bogs the audience down under many hypothetical theories so often that the movie runs the risk of feeling more like an educational video on scientific concepts than it does a work of entertainment.

Also, the planet with the waves wasn't that important to the plot. It felt more like a side plot. It didn't have as much to do with the plot as the second one did. I wish that more time was spent on it.

So this is my conclusion. Interstellar is not a bad movie. It does have positive points and its ambition and thought shines through. However, don't be fooled by the 10/10 ratings. This is not one of the greatest movies ever made. This is just okay.