This blog owes its very existence to this film. This doesn't, of course, mean that I particularly enjoyed it. I went to see it partly because I felt like I almost had to. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I saw it. It wasn't altogether bad, but it was far from the masterpiece that I had hoped it would be.It would be ridiculous of me to slam this for being a load of total rubbish, but I felt that the film falls short in many different areas. To me the film feels more like a series of good ideas strung together with a clunky and often unforgiving narrative. The amount of times where, if you divert your attention for a few seconds you seem to lose all perspective of what was going on, was hard for me to take. That is, I grant you, my problem, but the film rarely had me on the edge of my seat.
Perhaps the main problem for me was Matthew McConaughey's character Cooper. Cooper was little more to me than one of those typical Hollywood clichés - blessed with a kind of glorious near omnipotence and the habit of making wry asides in order to be as cool as possible. At no point is Cooper ever 'in the wrong' no matter what decision he makes. In an early scene with his child's teachers, we know from his reaction that Cooper is always in the right and so whenever he is faced with a problem later there is no need to fret because he will easily solve it. And if anyone is fretting, it certainly isn't Cooper. His whole performance is delivered in a steady monotone, even when delighted or furious. The southern American accent also feels tremendously unsuited to the sci fi genre, not helped by the fact that about 1 in every 10 of McConaughey's words is essentially indecipherable, whether superseded by Hans Zimmer's score or else just lost into the ether. McConaughey is not dreadful, but his most moving moments are typically when he isn't saying anything, usually when he is reacting to his childrens' messages. Most of the rest of the cast are little better; nobody is terrible but most of them are clinical.
I'm not going to get into the science behind the film, (there are countless others who can get into those arguments without my limited grasp of astrophysics making its voice heard), and especially not if you call the near explicable plot resolution 'science'. On the subject of the 'human aspect', I did often feel throughout the film that this would have been a more interesting story if it was focused on Cooper's kids coming to terms with a father who was the same age as them. I think I would go and see that anyway.
So, in conclusion, this is not a bad movie, but I could only truly recommend it to you if you're already into sci fi. I doubt this film will persuade any waverers who aren't already Christopher Nolan fans. Plus, be aware that you need to have your iron bladder installed as Interstellar is nearly 3 hours long.
7/10
There you go, my first review. If I think of anything glaring that I've left out I will add it later. Feel free to comment on this post and I will hopefully be back soon with a review of The Imitation Game. Until then...
