Interstellar (2014)
IMDb meta-data is an excruciating runtime of 2 hours and 45 minutes, rated an incredible 8.7 by 1,934,705 of the credulous.
Genre: Sy Fy.
DNA: Yankee.
Verdict: Alas.
Tagline: It’s the end of the world, again, and only one man can save us, no not James Bond (sigh, I wish) but….
It is the same old connect the dots plot. Our heroic pilot ferries the scientists to their deaths one-by-one with his trick reverse parks. Hundreds, thousands have been trained but he is the only one who can do that. Though twelve did go first. Sure that makes sense. Tarkovsky is not the only director who treats audiences with contempt.
Watching this was the first time I have even felt bored by the representation of space, though plenty of high priced weightlessness. There was much talk of gravity that reminded of the superb film of that name with another good ole boy in it.
‘They’? Didn’t find out and didn’t care. Liked the domino robot computer
Exhaustingly researched by watching other movies it seems. The claim is also made that it is based on S C I E N C E. Sure. Whatever. Based on science, the science of speculation. All the hallmarks of this director’s work. A serial disaster movie as the action moves from one to another.
Bladder-busting length, mountainous clichés, solitary heroism of a unique genius, and a gargantuan production in which no expense was spared. What was spared was intelligence, insight, and imagination. The acting is fine. I was surprised by MM’s credibility, but honours go to John Lithgow who delivers a fine supporting performance. Michael Caine was sleepwalking, at best, but then he didn’t write the lines, one of which posits is, by implication, that the solution to an intractable mathematical problem is simply more time, like learning conjugations. Goldbach conjecture and Riemann hypothesis are next! Anne Hathaway’s part was underwritten, leaving her little to do.
Thought they chose MM for his previous experience with aliens in Contact (1997).
These people have never seen a dust bowl and evidently did no research on the subject since the representation of a dust storm here is nothing like as ominous or ferocious and seemingly endless as the real thing. DUST BOWL PICTURES. Instead we have a long pointless scene of MM staring at the dust on the floor. Get a broom! Sweep it up man! There are a lot of those, long and pointless scenes.
There is a far better description of a dust storm in Sidney Courtier, Softly Dust the Corpse (1960), a marvellous krimi.
Gigantic wave over 12 inches of water is not possible. Check the science on that. Not even on a strange new world, about which no curiosity is ever shown. Check with your local science advisor.
We know the daughter is smart because when she left the house window open to the known threat of the elements, we see that her room have floor-to-ceiling fully loaded book shelves. Who needs a computer or Kindle when you have these tomes gathering dust. Yet she is supposed to be a tweenage wizard. While on tech, there are a lot of computer screens on display but whenever anything important comes up, it’s on a whiteboard, blackboard, or piece of paper..
My finger was never far from the fast forward button.
Maybe those who rated it highly haven’t yet seen these clichés as often as I have, but they will, I am sure.
Albeit, less preachy than I expected given the plot kickoff.