I so wanted to love this flawed space epic

Rating: 5/10 (7 November 2014)

I love science fiction. I love Chris Nolan films. I love creativity, genius, art, film making. I just didn't love this film.
Firstly, the plot was obvious, the 'ghost' was incredibly transparent right from the moment it's mentioned for example.
Michael Caine is, as always, perfectly cast but somehow feels completely overused now in a Nolan film and it showed here. I understand the need for gravitas and an A-lister but for Interstellar it has become a tired cliché. Matt Damon ? My God, it's full of (film)stars but the bonkers astronaut was done better with Sunshine. Matthew and Anne put in fine performances but the connection is lacking. And frankly, I really expected so much more than the contrived 'love and humanity' theme. When Anne waffles her way through her reasoning for a particular decision point in the film I had to do a mental 'double-take'.
This film tries so hard to be a 2001: A Space Odyssey for the millennial generation and fails. Even the heavy organ soundtrack is too reminiscent of Kubrick. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be homage or a meant as a direct comparison. All it needed was a bunch of monkeys.
The visuals: they're good, but they're not spectacular like everyone gushes. I think Gravity held more beauty and impact than this. The wormhole sequence, despite clinging to science and projecting an image of a 3 dimensional gateway as closely as possible was just flat.
The best scenes ? You'll wish you saw more of TARS and CASE, the robots that look like 2001 monoliths miniaturised. They have the best lines.
I've always paid to watch a Nolan film more than once at the cinema, in some cases 3 or 4 times because of the story, acting and visual impact. I have no inclination to do so for this film, and that has shocked me most of all.