Storytelling Lacks in a Film Too Long

Rating: 6/10 (8 November 2014)

Setting aside the science behind the film (and yes, you really do need to have an advanced degree to understand it), the thing that most takes away from this film is lack of a coherent story. Too many loose ends and questions arise that can't simply be overtaken by the "wow factor" of the visuals. Example: Matthew McConaughey plays a former NASA engineer/pilot who is/was, according to Michael Caine's character (his former boss), the best NASA had ever produced. And yet McConaughey's character didn't know nor had been tapped for a secret project to launch people into a nearby black hole/corridor to another galaxy--a program that had been going on for years while earth was slowly turning into a dust ball. Wouldn't you think NASA would have located their best & brightest to launch him into the black hole?
McConaughey's character, a widower, doesn't have to do much agonizing to leave his two young children behind on a multi-year mission to get to the black hole, through it, and come back with news from "the other side" on where humankind can pick up and move to. Eventually his daughter goes to work for NASA (she's just there one day, all grown up, no back story) and the daughter and her brother both become estranged. Again, no back story to speak of, we just have to accept it (the film is already too bloody long so there was no time to develop the characters).
Ultimately it is a movie about a father and a daughter and everything else is backdrop to propel that story. The problem is, most of that sweet story is lost in loud special effects and rabbit trails.
I'm glad I watched it--once. That's all I'll watch it.