Interstellar Review
Nolan is probably the best filmmaker around at the moment. In terms of story structure, sound design, lighting etc all his films have been top draw. His films are usually intricate, planned out and have some of the tightest narratives out there (apart from maybe the Dark Knight Rises), but if you're looking for a tight narrative and cool one liners then this isn't the film for you. Interstellar is expansive, it's broad and its bloody awesome... I think, give me some time to think about this.
Yep, OK, its awesome. That doesn't mean I'm saying its a brilliant film mind, it's just incredible and awe inspiring like Gravity on drugs, hallucinogens to be precise. This is about space travel and crazy 2001 style madness as opposed to space falling. Whilst Gravity had a very clear path (Sandra Bullock falls with style), Interstellar provides scope that I don't think I've seen in a film before.
Essentially the plot starts us off in ol' USA but not ol', future USA. Everyone has eaten all the damn food and now there's an agricultural society, with older inhabitants reminiscing about when people made stuff. The thing that this opening gets right is the relative mundanity of it all, world ending with a whimper as opposed to a bang type deal, humans slogging it out. That's where our McConaughey comes in, an ex-pilot/current farmer with some kids who the government tell to go off to space to save stuff and things. To be honest it's not really important, the plot is there and its relatively dense but this film isn't about the plot. It's spectacle, pure and simple with a bit of actual science thrown in there for good measure.
The plot seems to be there essentially for Nolan to realise his dream of creating an epic, focusing on sound, mesmerising graphics and OK/admirable acting. I watched the film in IMAX and good lord the sound of this film gave me an ear boner of sorts. The subtle music to the emptiness of space juxtaposed with the occasional loud noises really makes you feel involved with the film. The CGI apparently was created on a new program that actually allowed physicists to discover new things about black holes whilst taking up 800TB of space.... so yeah it looks pretty freaking sweet. There's also plenty of famous faces here all doing pretty OK jobs. We know that the McCons can act but he always seems to keep slightly too cool a head here with all the craziness happening around, Anne Hathaway was pretty good (but i'm pretty sure they pulled a love interest thing out of their arse for no reason...the screenwriters not the actors) and everyone says their lines OK. The only true standout was really the little kid at the start of the film, who played a character who was a mixture of fearless and afraid with aplomb. She even outshines the person who plays her later on but that might be drifting into spoiler territory, but well done little kid who I haven't researched the name of.
So, this is a masterpiece. It's just a seriously flawed masterpiece. As previously mentioned the acting kind of just happens, the plot points towards the end get a little bit baffling, the timings get all a bit confusing and there's a character called Dr Mann which sounds very funny when said out loud, like a very mundane supervillain. 7.5 out of 10. The film very almost lives up to the spectacle but just falls short, despite that I loved it, you should see it in IMAX mind you.
Yep, OK, its awesome. That doesn't mean I'm saying its a brilliant film mind, it's just incredible and awe inspiring like Gravity on drugs, hallucinogens to be precise. This is about space travel and crazy 2001 style madness as opposed to space falling. Whilst Gravity had a very clear path (Sandra Bullock falls with style), Interstellar provides scope that I don't think I've seen in a film before.
Essentially the plot starts us off in ol' USA but not ol', future USA. Everyone has eaten all the damn food and now there's an agricultural society, with older inhabitants reminiscing about when people made stuff. The thing that this opening gets right is the relative mundanity of it all, world ending with a whimper as opposed to a bang type deal, humans slogging it out. That's where our McConaughey comes in, an ex-pilot/current farmer with some kids who the government tell to go off to space to save stuff and things. To be honest it's not really important, the plot is there and its relatively dense but this film isn't about the plot. It's spectacle, pure and simple with a bit of actual science thrown in there for good measure.
The plot seems to be there essentially for Nolan to realise his dream of creating an epic, focusing on sound, mesmerising graphics and OK/admirable acting. I watched the film in IMAX and good lord the sound of this film gave me an ear boner of sorts. The subtle music to the emptiness of space juxtaposed with the occasional loud noises really makes you feel involved with the film. The CGI apparently was created on a new program that actually allowed physicists to discover new things about black holes whilst taking up 800TB of space.... so yeah it looks pretty freaking sweet. There's also plenty of famous faces here all doing pretty OK jobs. We know that the McCons can act but he always seems to keep slightly too cool a head here with all the craziness happening around, Anne Hathaway was pretty good (but i'm pretty sure they pulled a love interest thing out of their arse for no reason...the screenwriters not the actors) and everyone says their lines OK. The only true standout was really the little kid at the start of the film, who played a character who was a mixture of fearless and afraid with aplomb. She even outshines the person who plays her later on but that might be drifting into spoiler territory, but well done little kid who I haven't researched the name of.
So, this is a masterpiece. It's just a seriously flawed masterpiece. As previously mentioned the acting kind of just happens, the plot points towards the end get a little bit baffling, the timings get all a bit confusing and there's a character called Dr Mann which sounds very funny when said out loud, like a very mundane supervillain. 7.5 out of 10. The film very almost lives up to the spectacle but just falls short, despite that I loved it, you should see it in IMAX mind you.