First Official Review on a Nolan Movie

Rating: 6/10 (25 March 2015)

I love Christopher Nolan. He has a distinct style, he conveys consistent/similar themes in his films, and he usually directs actors well and makes good cast choices. This film, however, falls somewhat flat for me.
I'll get the spoiler out of the way because it is one of the main problems for me. This being the second time viewing the film, I looked for information on the black hole, harnessing gravity, and saw how it was explained well in the movie. What is not explained very well is why the black hole specifically sent Cooper to Murph's bookcase. He claims that "we sent ourselves here," but with that logic then futuristic humans needed to place the black hole/tesseract there and select for him to view the bookcase specifically. He didn't place that black hole, so how could he have sent himself there if there don't exist future humans to place it for him. Paradoxes are great in certain sci-fi films such as 12 Monkeys and Looper, but this paradox falls short of greatness.
Back on Earth while Cooper is on his mission, things are pretty dead and boring. One of the most intriguing scenes is Dr. Brand's death bed reveal that he has been lying to/betraying the people at NASA, but we can't even hear all of what he is saying due to how he was directed to say it. We get he is dying, but with a barely audible voice in the mix with some eerie noise/music to set the mood. And to think that Roeper actually thought this film would win both sound-related Oscars.
There are poor casting choices in this film as well. A lot of characters portray sadness in this movie, but the only actors to pull this off effectively are McConaughey and Matt Damon - plus the younger version of Murph; that scene was very emotional. Jessica Chastain, who one critic praised before the release of the film, did a sub-par job as older Murph, which is disappointing when we look at Zero Dark Thirty and her Oscar caliber performance. I didn't believe her when she cried - and even if I did she still seemed like a little girl, and not grown up as she should be. On top of this, the character comes to the conclusion that Cooper is her ghost due to revisiting her morse code notes and looking at the watch she was given by her father, which means she relatively bases this conclusion on no evidence. And really, Nolan? Topher Grace? Yeah, because it was so dramatic when you see him grab that object with the means to fight Tom off. The Earth segment of the film was just trying way too hard to be dramatic when all the real drama was happening on Cooper's voyage.
I have to admit, the film intrigued me emotionally with Cooper's relationship with Murph and his struggle to prioritize the human race over family, but this film also clearly shows why Nolan is considered a very overrated director.