Personally, I believe Christopher Nolan is the Spielberg of the modern era. He's one of the few directors that not only makes great films, but is also highly regarded in Hollywood. He's one of the few that fans recognize by face and name and will get lines out the door waiting to see the first midnight showing of any movie he releases. He was able to completely reinvent the superhero genre that no one has been able to (or even tried to) recreate. I know that Inception gets somewhat of a bad rap these days, for God knows why, but you know that when you first saw it you were blown away. He showed us that he was able to think on a large IMAX-y scale and still provide movies that would challenge viewers and entertain them at the same time. They're considered popcorn flicks, but the beauty of Christopher Nolan is that when you're watching the film, you forget entirely that you even have popcorn. There's really only one problem now: he knows this.
Interstellar as of right now has a 78% fresh rating on rottentomatoes.com. The film is 78% beautiful, fun, fantastic, glorious, magical, wonderful, and great. It's also 22% shit. What Nolan has done is upped the ante to the highest degree by giving us a space movie that ultimately has a reach beyond its grasp. The plot is intriguing enough to get even the lackluster sci-fi fan into a seat. Essentially the Earth is dying. There is a "dust bowl" on a global scale. The dust storms are causing all of the food and crops to die and by the team we begin the film the only vegetable on Earth that still grows is corn. There is no real military anymore and definitely no NASA. We meet Coop (McConaughey) a farmer and widower living with his two kids and father-in-law (John Lithgow). Through a couple of esoteric plot elements Coop and his daughter, Murph, stumble upon NORAD and the hidden space station that's been preparing for a launch for the past ten years. Everything is led by Professor Brand (Michael Caine) and his ideas that there is a wormhole near Saturn that will take a space ship into a different galaxy and hopefully find a new habitable planet to save mankind. Coop is recruited to pilot the ship along with Brand's daughter (Anne Hathaway). From there, they travel into space and this is where the fun really begins.
Everything post-Earth in the film is a magnificent sight to see. Nolan has created entirely new galaxies and worlds, but he does so in the most theoretically realistic way possible, unlike say a Star Wars or Star Trek new world. It also becomes a lot more entertaining and exciting for the audience to watch. There is conflict and danger and edge-of-your-seat action involving characters that you genuinely care about. However, everything leading up to it felt... I don't know... arrogant? It's clear that Nolan and his writer brother did extensive research on scientific space and quantum theory in order to make the most realistic depiction of space possible, but it's given to the audience like he's almost showing off. One of the best things about Nolan's films is that he doesn't baby his audience. He treats them like intelligent beings, but sometimes it's a little bit too pretentious. The first forty five minutes of the movie, or so, seems like Nolan stroking himself to his own intellectual abilities and knowledge that a lot is not explained to the audience unfamiliar with any of it. It's almost as if Nolan is saying, "oh, you're not familiar with this? That's okay... you'll still get most of it."
Then, there's the third act. I'm not going to spoil a thing, but it's very 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque. There needs to be a massive suspension of disbelief and probably two or three more viewings in order to appreciate and understand what goes on in the last twenty minutes of the film. But, even with multiple viewings there are still two huge questions, or problems solved, that are unanswered. They just kind of happen. Like Nolan is saying "oh, you don't get it? That's okay. I get it, so it's all good." These are the 22% that I'm talking about where Nolan is stroking the penis of his intellectuality no the behalf of us filmgoers.
Other than that though, I was totally immersed in the film. There are some terribly corny lines of dialogue peppered throughout the film, but it kinda felt like it was meant to be. When a brilliant actor like McConaughey delivers an obviously out-of-place cornball line, it never seems as bad as someone with less skill. I've always kind of had a problem with Anne Hathaway. I just think she is cast in roles where she's asked to perform just out of her range and it irks me a little more than it probably should, or that it probably does to any of you. Jessica Chastain, Michael Cain, Casey Affleck are all wonderful in it. There's even a surprise cameo that I'm SHOCKED hasn't been leaked by now. I'm thankful that it hadn't because it was a delightful surprise.
Now, the final problem I'm having here is the grade. If a term paper is 78% effective, then it earns a C+. However, the 78% of Interstellar that I liked, was actually genius. I mean, the dude deserves an Oscar for directing hands down. It was some of the best 78% of filmmaking I've seen. It deserves far better than a high C, which means just average. This shit was beyond average. However, the 22% that I wasn't fond of kinda took me out of the movie a bit. I was aware that I was watching a film, I was aware that I wasn't enjoying it... So, I don't know. In this rare case, I'd have to say that the good far outweighed the bad. I want to see it again. Even a few more times because I know I'll be able to catch a few things that I missed, but there are still going to be elements of Nolan's masturbatory space theory that will go unexplained to me and audiences everywhere that will always bug me.
Go see it. For over three-fourths of the movie you will lose yourself in the majesty of beautiful filmmaking. Also, don't see it in any other format than IMAX. I promise you.
B
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