So Interstellar is a thing. A movie thing. It’s made by the Nolan brothers (Joseph and Olaf) and it features Matthew McConnaeigheiy who is lovingly called „Shin-Face“ by his fans. It is now in the theatres and on piratebay. I went to watch in one of those (not piratebays).
There might be spoilers as I will tell you what clichés will be fulfilled. So here is the summary of what is written below, if you want to see it unbiased stop reading after this paragraph. The movie is overall entertaining but so looooooooooong. After regular movie time it takes a break and continues after that for another hour or so. You should not think about events and plot as it falls apart like an Ikea chair in an overweight self help group. Scenery, artwork and effects are top notch, I recommend seeing it in an IMAX theatre just like I did. You should consider doing everything the way I do it, I can only recommend it. Fantastic images, only average story line. Stop reading now if you don’t want hints on the story.
The earth is doomed, people starve and plant scientists didn’t get enough funding to save the shit. The next logical step is to shoot people through a wormhole to find new planets to live on, and so they shoot pioneers through a wormhole next to Saturn (you take the second exit left on Saturn, then turn North and there it is. Just follow the signs from there) and then they shoot Cooper (M. McConneheyy) through the wormhole to go where the pioneers said it’s cool. But surprise, the planets suck, although one is cool as in below zero degrees always. Then Cooper falls into a black hole and punches books to send a message to his daughter. Although some people die along the way (in a big wave, in an explosion, in another explosion and from old age) soon everyone is happy and the end.
Clichés that are met:
- Destiny chooses underdog ultraskilled pilot to lead impossible mission.
- Pilot leaves family behind and promises to return. Seems like not returning. Returns.
- Woman scientist on board is guided by love to possibly dead scientist and not by science.
- Main background information is explained to protagonist when needing it, not in preparation (While standing in front of a wormhole black science guy explains to Shin-Face what a wormhole is. Note that they are NASA funded special scientists with the mission to fly through a wormhole).
- There is no plan whatsoever, everything is discussed when it happens. Compare this to those actual science dudes who flew a probe for ten years to land it on a comet. They probably did not discuss what happens next when approaching the comet without having planned ahead. Cooper and pals did not plan ahead.
- Loner space pioneer is actually crazy and a bad guy.
- Loner space pioneer tries to kill space pilot Cooper when leaving the camp with no witnesses.
- „Destiny“ was actually Cooper himself, guiding his past self by the help of his daughter to become him in space guiding himself in the past by the help of his daughter to become him in space guiding himself in the past by the help of his daughter to become him in space.
- No hair growth in space, no matter what time frame (days to years).
- Good guy sacrifices his life to save the girl, is rescued.
- Single experiment data with no replicates is enough to advance humanity a few hundred years in no time.
On the other hand none of the robots turn evil, so that is a plus.
Many people said before that this film is so scientifically accurate. It is not. Just because space scenes have no sound doesn’t mean the film is following laws of physics. They need a large scale rocket to escape Earth which is then in turn dropped like in the real world, but on a planet with „130 % Earth gravity“ the tiny lander engines suffice to thrust of the surface.
As said above, the art-style is pretty good, the overall production quality is extremely high. The actors play well, it’s not their faults that some lines are cheesy. Images are amazing, space scenes are great and overall feel of the movie is captivating. As long as you don’t question what’s said you will be entertained.
I did enjoy the first half before the break way more than the second half. An apocalyptic world that slowly degrades due to lack of food, a society that is based on nourishing the many and not spending money on armies and space programs (hence secret NASA), people who live with re-occurring sandstorms and shortage of supplies, all that would make a great movie on post-apocalyptic society. Then add the science fiction aspect of exploring foreign worlds, trying to save humanity as a species. Great starting material. Unfortunately it takes a turn to the worse from there. The mission is not questioned once even though on several occasions humanity was proven to be driven by selfishness and idiocy. Why save a species of assholes? The (american) society must be saved, no matter what. The film could have done with some criticism of mankind and the general question if a species that destroys its home planet deserves a second one. This kind of question is not addressed in Interstellar. Too bad.
It is a good movie that doesn’t hold to the standards that some early reviews (and the trailer) suggested. The photography is lovely, it benefits from a huge screen. But apart from good production the movie doesn’t have so much to offer while clearly showing missed potential. I give it 7.6 out of 10 weird planet hours (64 years on earth).