Film #021: Interstellar
First time viewing?Yes
Thoughts:This is what the fuss was all about?
Honestly, I was expecting this to be a flawed movie with a lot of plot holes and contrivances, but that was also very insightful and profound and had a lot of great ideas. I figured that was the reason for the mixed opinions on the film: that it was this melting pot of the very good and the very bad. Instead, the whole film was just very meh.
I thought maybe it would be like
Prometheus in that those who could ignore the stupid characters and the ridiculous plot would really love the ideas behind it, but I didn't think this film really had much in the way of interesting ideas. It wasn't all that profound. I just don't get why anyone considers this the best film ever. It was fine. Parts of it were enjoyable. But there was nothing special, new or unique about it. Nothing.
The film had a good cast and good acting for the most part. McConaughey, Hathaway, Caine ... these are some of the best actors working today, so they're going to improve any film. And some of the visuals were very impressive. There were also a couple of cool sci-fi concepts that I find interesting, like time moving at different speeds, etc. This stuff has been done before, but I still find it interesting and some of this was done quite well.
I also found Caine's character interesting. The film didn't fully explore it, but this guy was such a dick.
In the scenario he had planned, he was really the big winner. He'd probably be able to live out the rest of his life on Earth before everything went to shit, and then he gets to have actual descendants too. Hell, the entirety of the new planet would have him to thank for being alive and he'd probably be worshipped. He really didn't have anything to lose here, unlike everybody else on Earth. I found some of that stuff interesting to think about.
On to the bad though: people were praising the score of this film but it drove me up the wall at points. The sound was often way too loud compared to the dialogue so I had to strain to hear what was being said. The dialogue was absolutely awful. They're lucky they had some of the best actors in the world saying this stuff, because they were working their asses off to make this anything less than cringe-worthy.
I found the bootstrap principle stuff more irritating than anything. It was very predictable that McConaughey was the one pushing the books off the shelf. And then later he was floating around espousing his theories about how somehow they weren't being helped by aliens but by themselves. That's the sort of time travel stuff that's just wanky and doesn't hold up to any sort of logical scrutiny.
Also, if they wanted to go with a theme of humanity helping itself, then why were a bunch of the characters self-sabotaging? That guy who was putting his family in danger by refusing to leave the farm wasn't exactly helping himself. I did feel a bit bad for the guy though. Must be hard growing up in a house where your Dad clearly likes your sister way more than you.
Overall, this was an okay watch but I don't see why people made such a big deal out of it. I wouldn't go watching it again.
Personal Rating: 5/10Does it belong on this list?No. Fuck no. This film is not special.