A speck away from a true masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (11 November 2014)

A movie about space travel directed by Christopher Nolan is something I dreamed of for a long time. And, objectively, it's something that needed to be made. I even get the feeling that Nolan waited for the "right time" to do it, since this theme is such a soul mate of his film-making style. Also, it is important to mention Jonathan Nolan right at the start, because I also have a feeling that this man is often shadowed by his brother. This man is Christopher's right hand on most of the movies he made. The thing that proves that they share an eye for the detail and sense of thoroughness is the fact that Jonathan attended classes of Theory of Relativity at the University of California in order to prepare better for the script.
Let's start with the few bad things about this movie. In second and third act, because of some circumstances related to the story, character development is somewhat weaker, which results in couple of scenes which don't achieve the emotional level they should and feel somewhat pale and artificial. This is mostly the case with supporting characters, as the chemistry between McConaughey and Hathaway, due to their excellent acting and well scripted dialogue is truly natural and interesting to watch. Second kind of these "Hollywood moments" is somewhat understandable, but still, it can be a bit irritating. The scene where two astronauts are discussing the principles of wormhole travel is a bit illogical because that principle is probably the most interesting theory about space travel and is something you learn first when you get interested in space travel. So, those two astronauts would surely know that principal, but, one of them is unfamiliar with the subject and that makes little sense, but, it ended up in the movie because of the people who know little about astrophysics. And yes, those people aren't few, but you get the feeling of certain unbalance between those simple scenes and scenes where the science is mind bending. Third thing – casting of Matt Damon. I didn't like it, but I leave some space that this is my personal biased opinion. I just think that some less known actor would be a better choice. Besides these things, the only thing that can be mentioned is the sheer abundance of the story which can make some of the audience confused, but, considering the dynamics of the movie and the fact that it's one of Nolan's signatures, it is highly debatable that it is a bad thing.
On the other hand, the number of bright spots in this movie is close to the number of stars on a cloudless night sky, symbolically. First of all - the science, which is truly impressive in this movie. Nolan brothers worked with Kip Thorne, renowned astrophysicist who served as the executive producer as well. Some of the theories are a bit "stretched" to achieve better dramatization, but most of the things we see are consistent with many widely accepted theories which haven't been proved to be true yet mostly because we haven't had the chance to do so, considering they are theories about deep space.
*The abstractness of these theories makes for a beautiful seal of mystique which pulls your brain into deepness of space and into its mysteries, while, on the other hand, great and warm acting leaves a sense of closeness and reality which keeps you from getting lost in the void!*
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, therefore it is futile to try to describe the photography of this movie. It's hard to imagine that the Rings of Saturn, which we all have seen so many times, can be so breathtaking. It's a shame that we don't see more of them, even though they are just a side detail not related to the plot. FX are so good that somewhere at the beginning of the third hour of the movie you get completely used to them and they feel completely natural, which doesn't make them any less spectacular.
The acting of McConaughey is stellar. This man went from an average/good to absolutely complete actor in the last few years. We definitely haven't seen enough of Michael Cain in Nolan's movies, and Anne Hathaway is becoming a regular and regularly good also. Also, Jessica Chastain, Mackenzie Foy and Timothee Chalamet are exquisite in their roles.
The best for the last – the score of Hans Zimmer. The fact that this famous film composer did an absolutely perfect job of giving a sound to the movie's atmosphere is certainly unbelievable, but what is more stunning and jaw dropping is the fact that he did this in a completely new way. The way such odd music can be so natural is truly enchanting. It's completely different from a regular film score we hear in movies. Kudos for this go to Christopher Nolan, again. This time, his perfectionism and creativity have gone so far that he didn't say a thing about the movie plot to Zimmer, instead, he provided him with a piece of paper which contained "Zimmer's story", which was unrelated to the movie itself.
All in all, Interstellar stands proudly on its own next to everything Nolan has done so far, which is a truly astonishing achievement, even though we are almost getting used to the high standards this man sets. However, there is a slight, bleak feeling of sorrow because this movie didn't succeed in using a tiny bit of potential to be maybe even the best film ever made. It's so close to perfect that you feel sorry it didn't cross those couple of millimeters to reach perfection. But still, Interstellar will be remembered, watched and praised in years to come. The biggest magic and a bit frightening possibility of this movie is a small chance that one day this film could lose its "fiction" element and become only a scientific movie.
92/100