Lives Up To the Hype

Rating: 10/10 (12 May 2015)

I wanted to watch it a few times before finally formulating a coherent review of Interstellar. On its head, of course, it was one of the most visually stunning and brilliantly executed collection of special effects I've been fortunate enough to see in a movie. It's an exceedingly long movie and still packed to the brim with high concept science fiction and character study to the point that it feels like they might have shoved too much into it...so I wanted to really take a bit more time to mull it over before putting my opinion out here. The science behind even the more extreme elements of the movie is actually quite sound, at worst the filmmakers could be considered guilty of extrapolating a bit too far afield from the substrate of existing scientific knowledge and technological advancement...but that doesn't make for implausible narrative devices like those that exist in a lot of high concept science fiction. Also unlike a lot of high concept science fiction, this story is one that devotes a great deal of time to the characters and character development in response to intensely unusual and stressful situations. It certainly can't be said that the individuals populating the movie were in any way two dimensional, which was a refreshing thing to say the least. If you happened to enjoy movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey​, Gravity, and Sunshine, you are almost certainly going to enjoy this movie. There are clear elements that are either inspired by those works or at the very least serving as kindred spirit to aspects of those movies. Spoilers follow: The only part of the movie that I felt was a bit contrived and silly was the little pocket universe within the black hole that allowed for the protagonist to send messages back in time which served as the impetus behind the bulk of the narrative in between. Sadly, that same recursive element was predictable enough that I could see it coming from the moment the "ghost" was provided as a narrative device, the only thing I didn't have worked out was precisely how it was going to be achieved, until the black hole was referenced and it all became quite clear.