Movie Review: INTERSTELLAR (2014)
Posted by Naqhii
From IMDB
Storyline
In the near future Earth has been devastated by drought and famine,
causing a scarcity in food and extreme changes in climate. When humanity
is facing extinction, a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum is
discovered, giving mankind the opportunity to widen their lifespan. A
group of explorers must travel beyond our solar system in search of a
planet that can sustain life. The crew of the Endurance are required to
think bigger and go further than any human in history as they embark on
an interstellar voyage, into the unknown. However, through the wormhole,
one hour is the equivalent of seven years back on Earth, so the mission
won't work if the people on Earth are dead by the time they pull it
off. And Coop, the pilot of the Endurance, must decide between seeing
his children again and the future of the human race.
Ratings:
9.4/10 from 7,045 users
Metascore: 75/100
Reviews:
9 user
|
11 critic
|
20
from
Metacritic.com
From Rotten Tomatoes
Movie Info
With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes
the most important mission in human history; traveling beyond this
galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars.
TOMATOMETER 75%
| Average Rating: 7.4/10 | Reviews Counted: 65
Fresh: 49
| Rotten: 16
Critics
Consensus: Interstellar
represents more of the thrilling, thought-provoking, and visually resplendent
filmmaking moviegoers have come to expect from writer-director Christopher
Nolan, even if its intellectual reach somewhat exceeds its grasp.
AUDIENCE SCORE 99%
want to see | Average Rating: 4.4/5 | User Ratings: 67,338
In the future dust is everywhere which means folks with OCD will go nuts. ©Warner Brothers Pictures
The Movie (SPOILERS AHEAD!! DUH...)
By now most of you who have heard about the movie have seen the trailers
and for those of you who are fans of Christopher Nolan you've probably
read and or seen everything you can find on the internet about the
movie. Good for you but you probably know that Nolan doesn't like to
reveal much about his movie so you're still going to go to the cinemas
wondering what Nolan has in store for you. And if you're still looking
up stuff about this movie you'll also have read all the other critics
reviews of Interstellar and you're getting the feeling that this is
going to be a really, really good movie.
Well I'm not like all those critics, I'm basically your Average Joe that
likes to watch movies and I don't really know how to write, review or
critic like them. If you've been reading my reviews you'll notice that.
Maybe.
A huge dust storm shows up and sirens go off but some people still don't care. ©Warner Brothers Pictures
Anyway, like I mentioned above if you're a fan and you've seen and read
everything you're probably under the impression that it's a space action
adventure/drama but one with a Christopher Nolan trademark
storyline/twist, and you're right. But there's so much more.
The movie is about Coop played by Matthew McConnaughey who was once a
test pilot for NASA but now is a farmer in some distant future. The
earth of this future is bleak. Agricultural crops are dying because of
something called the 'Blight' and the earth is turning into a dust bowl.
Dust storms sweep the country so often everything inside and out is
covered in dust. People no longer trust in science to save the planet,
school children are taught that the Apollo moon missions were just
hoaxes perpetrated to destroy the Russian economy.
This is the coolest looking cockpit I've seen in a while. It moves! ©Warner Brothers Pictures
Coop does his best to manage his farm and his family. But there's
something odd happening in his house and it involves his daughter. She's
telling him that her room is haunted. During one particularly bad dust
storm and a window in her room left open coincidentally the 'ghost'
leaves it's mark in the form of bands of sand on the floor. Coop throws
the ghost explanation out the door and blames the event on a strange
gravitational phenomena. The bands created by the 'gravitational
anomaly' somehow turns out to be a binary code which translates to
coordinates. So based on nothing but this very, very odd coincidence
father and daughter get in their truck and head towards the
coordinates.
At the coordinates they find a relatively dust free fence with warning
signs and one with NORAD printed on it. Coop gets out with some bolt
cutters and just as he gets to the gate (where he can read the sign with
NORAD on it) a light blinds him and the gates open. Before he gets a
chance to do anything he gets tasered.
This is the first time that a wormhole is depicted differently, you should go watch this movie because of that. ©Warner Brothers Pictures
When he wakes he's in a storage area and being questioned by Anne
Hathaway's character Amelia Brand. It's here that Coop finds out that
NASA is still around and planning a way to save humanity. The plan is to
send a crew out into space and head towards Saturn where somehow a
wormhole has popped up. They believe that someone or something put it
there just in time to save humanity. NASA has known about the worm-hole
for almost 50 years ever since earths problems were starting. Since then
they've sent probes out to check it out and after their data showed
that there were earth-like planets on the other side of that worm-hole
they've sent manned-solo missions to check out those earth-like planets
to see which one really could sustain human life. So now they're
planning on sending another crew out there to check up on those earlier
missions to identify which planet is the best and prepare it for future
missions. But they won't just be bringing equipment and provisions with
them they'll also be bringing human eggs and sperm as Plan B which is
the plan in the event that Plan A which is the mass exodus of humans to
the planet they're heading for doesn't happen.
So off they go towards Saturn and the wormhole and adventures unknown.
I'll stop here and let find out what happens next for yourself. And
trust me a lot happens.
See that little ball there? That's one of the earth-like planets they
plan to visit. See that next to it? That's a 'gentle' black hole. ©Warner Brothers Pictures
What this spacehead thought about it...
Personally, I liked it. I really did. Of course I also liked the movie
Contact (1997) which Interstellar producer Lynda Obst also worked on and
there are bits of Contact in this movie. I also know from reading a
number of critic's reviews that they too in general liked it. But
critics are a different animal when compared to the general public and I
can't help but think that Interstellar is not a movie for everyone.
If you read my ramblings up there you'd think that Interstellar is a
movie about a crew who heads out into the unknown on a noble mission to
save humanity and well that's true. You'd probably guess that they'll go
through all sorts of hell to achieve their mission, also true. You'd
expect there to be amazing visuals of space travel and alien planets and
there are. But this movie really isn't about that. In that sense it's a
lot like the movie Contact for me. Contact was generally liked by
critics but everyone else had mixed thoughts about it. I think that's
what will happen with Interstellar.
That pile of sticks there is a robot. Coolest and most unusual looking robot I've seen in a while. ©Warner Brothers Pictures
You can't go into this movie expecting an action adventure romp through
space. You can't go into this movie without some knowledge or at least
an awareness of interstellar space travels and all the theories that go
with it. Quantum physics, Einsteins Theory of Relativity, The
Einstein-Rosen Bridge, Astrophysics, Theoretical Physics, little bits
from all these theories and ideas are used throughout the movie. Whether
mentioned in expositions or dialogue or used visually, they are there
and if you're don't know them then you're going to think this movie is
just silly and ridiculous. But here's the thing if you can ignore all of
that and look beyond all that what you'll get is a movie about the
human condition, about our very human need to exist and continue by any
means. The sci-fi bits are good and amazing to look at but let it
distract you and you'll miss the point of the whole movie.
Lets talk about the cast. Matthew McConnaughey is brilliant in this
movie. I really liked his performance here. There's no other way to say
it. In fact go read up what other critics say about him in this movie
because I'm not good enough put it down. And he basically carried the
movie for me, everyone else was good too but they were nowhere near as
good.
This is another planet they visit and it's a cold one, cold enough to freeze clouds. ©Warner Brothers Pictures
The visuals are amazing. I would have loved to have caught it on IMAX
but I didn't and I wasn't disappointed. Every scene in space looks
amazing and the earth-like planets look amazing.
But like I said the visuals and the science aren't the main point of
this movie, you have to look past that and you have to have the patience
to look for it. I sat there in that cinema full of people who came into
that movie expecting more of what they saw in the trailer and quite a
few of them I would say had different expectations. I looked around a
few times and spotted several people asleep or nodding off, those that
didn't looked bored or confused. This movie will test your patience and
expectations, it will also test your intellect. If you don't have any of
those or aren't interested in the science involved then you will be
disappointed. If you are you will be rewarded with an interesting and
thoughtful movie that will make your head think about all sorts of
things.
Meanwhile back on earth things are going up in flames. ©Warner Brothers Pictures
Well that's my rambling review and opinion of this movie. Like I said I
liked it but I don't think this is a movie everyone will enjoy or
understand not even for hardcore Nolan fans. I give this movie a good
3.9 out of 5. Seriously Google Interstellar and read what the critics
say because I share their opinions, mostly.
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