More Mind Than Matter

Rating: 4/10 (7 November 2014)

At one point during INTERSTELLAR, Matthew McConaughey's Cooper is being told that a fifth-dimensional being is trying to logically communicate something to three-dimensional humans, and a mindblown Cooper says aloud that he still doesn't get it: So this time around, writer/director Christopher Nolan outsmarts and outfoxes both his audience and main character... Although there is a fair share of down-home simplicity...
A tale about a rural farmer, longing for a purpose in life and who ends up in the far reaches of space, might seem a tad familiar... And just as we get to know Cooper and his children – living on an Earth devastated by ferocious dust storms – he alone winds up soaring to the mysterious heavens.
For a three-hour film, it's a surprise that any aspect could be "too rushed." Yet the amount of time our potential hero goes from the ground to the sky is as quick as a few instructive paragraphs spouted by the chief NASA scientist (Michael Caine).
While super-intelligence is essential in any genuine sci-fi flick, and wormholes and black holes are always an intriguing premise, there's so much explaining and anticipating what needs to be done that surprisingly, very little actually happens.
These intrepid voyagers, including Anne Hathaway's straight-laced Amelia and a sarcastic robot, experience some extremely close calls and a tremendous amount of docking and spinning, but no real adventure. And whether in space or back on a future Earth two stories fusing into a M. Night Shyamalan style twist there's no one to completely root for except McConaughey, who can make any character likable.
Christopher Nolan's power can't be denied: His DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY created an immense fan base nearly equaling the nostalgic likes of Spielberg, Lucas, Kubrick or any iconic director you choose But his ambitiously epic INTERSTELLAR both overreaches and overwhelms Not just the audience and characters, but the genre itself: With so many complicated instructions we hardly see the damn thing work!