Overrated

Rating: 4/10 (18 November 2014)

I can't knock the look of the film and the excellence of the special effects, but the script was just too long and flabby. It was like 2001: A Space Odyssey as directed by M. Night Shymalan. This is a problem you sometimes get where the director and the writer are the same person. Nolan is just too in love with his own script and can't possibly bring himself to make the tough editing choices that need to be made. I could have cut almost a full hour from this film and made it much better. And somebody should have. And yet, among the long stretches of the film that drag and are boring, there are a few parts that feel ignored and rushed.
The "ghost" subplot was just too predictable and hacky, something that Shymalan would have put into one of his movies, while patting himself on the back for his extreme cleverness.
McConnaughey doesn't take too many chances here. While he brought welcome humanity to a cold movie, this is familiar territory for him. Anne Hathway was fine. Jessica Chastain and Michael Caine were excellent.
I should also bring up the difficulties with the sound mix, causing important dialog to be difficult to understand. Hans Zimmer's omnipresent, throbbing, overdone score was like a party guest that would not leave long after he had become unwelcome.
Overall, not terrible but really overrated.