Disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (18 November 2014)

Just saw it at the cinema. Let's start at the bottom line: I'm disappointed. #12 on IMDb with 217k votes and 9.0/10 rating and comparing it to movies such as 2001 is more than overrated - it's almost a joke.
This movie reminded me of Contact (also with Matthew McConaughey), Moon, Sunshine and Gravity, but all of these are in magnitude better than this movie. There is also an influence of 2001 and a wink or two to it (TARS' joke about releasing a person out of the airlock and its features which make it look like the Monolith). But on the whole, this movie isn't deep at all. Like many other Nolan movies (Inception in particular), it has a very simple idea that is extended and stretched in the movie, making it looks complex and/or epic, but it's actually pretty simple. In this movie, in particular, the writing is quite simplistic and isn't very thought-provoking. Like I said before, I think Nolan is a very capable director, but he's extremely overrated (like David Fincher).
What disturbed me the most was the lack of emotion that I felt throughout most of the movie. I think I can blame Hans Zimmer for most of it. Zimmer is a fantastic composer and all his scores for Nolan movies are excellent, but in this movie he totally failed IMO. Again, it may be a combination of writing and direction, but mainly the score was lacking. There are quite a few emotional scenes that are almost stolen from Moon - but while Clint Mansell's brilliant score to Moon lift the emotion to extreme heights and can make me cry almost instantly (no matter how many times I watch Moon), Zimmer's score to this movie did almost nothing to me.
Matthew McConaughey gives a solid performance, especially during the emotional scenes. Ellen Burstyn is good in her tiny guest role. Jessica Chastain, which I absolutely hated in Zero Dark Thirty, isn't that great in this movie either, except for one short emotional scene which is brilliantly performed by her (I'm referring to her recorded message).
While there are a few good visuals in this movie, even this aspect was quite a letdown. Gravity was MUCH more impressive in that respect.
Even TARS the robot seems like it's taken from a B-movie. While I came to like some of its abilities (the running scene is my favorite), it doesn't come close to any of the qualities presented by GERTY the robot from Moon.
All in all, this is an entertaining film, but really nothing more than that.
5.5/10 So-so