Wow

Rating: 7/10 (9 November 2014)

The best way to describe Interstellar is "Wow." Aesthetically though. This might be one of Hollywood's milestones of transcending their technical abilities. Those parts of traveling through time and space are totally magnificent, a journey that would blow people away on how a movie could depict such scenario of space odyssey, since of course, 2001. How I explain this may sound too hyperbolic, but really it is a pretty breathtaking ride that the audience may forget its heavy flaws. But sometimes that cannot be possible, the film begs its audience to join with its own philosophy as well, and once it goes deeper to that subject, things somehow become complicated. As a visual feast, Interstellar is perfect, but the movie inevitably wants to preach which robs much of the Sci-Fi potential.
The movie pushes human elements to the story, evidently and verbally. The mission should always have to involve Cooper's sadness of letting go of his family. It could have worked if it was all that simple, but it stretches like it's as important as the survival of the human race. The real problem there is it rather feels like a plot device. Mostly a distraction, hindering the better story happening to its actual journey. To the main side of the movie, there are many interesting bits at the concept, like how the Earth falls apart isn't some destructive disaster. Instead it's just some massive climate change and dying plants. The space travel's situation however is encountering unexpected phenomena when they pass through some wormhole or visit a planet. As a narrow minded science fiction, this could have been gripping, but the movie wants some soul within its characters, but the script overdoes the monologues, which ends up sounding pretentious at attempting to be poetic. Especially the one that Brand explains whatever about love, it sounds more of a speech worth groaning at.
Much of it just doesn't work at all, the drama only earns vitality when it's simply about trying to live up a promise of coming back to Earth and save humanity, but once it gets to the third act, things gone to vast absurdity for the sake of connecting their mission to the relationship of Cooper and his daughter. Some might say it's affecting, but it's more of a compromise. Thanks to its actors, it at least makes the melodrama tolerable. Aside of that concern, the space adventure is still quite the experience. Christopher Nolan has a conservative technique when it comes to visuals, but no matter how real or CG-ed the images are, they are all still pretty stunning. There is a total amazement at shots of comparing the scale of their vessel to the largeness of the galaxy, or warping into wormholes, or sights of any cold alien planet. From special effects to cinematography, the movie triumphs.
Interstellar could have been more keen at showcasing its scientific concept than attempting to make inspiring pick-up lines. No matter how gorgeous the visuals are, you still couldn't completely blind yourself from its space-soap-opera that leads to a silly climax and a creepy epilogue, but the idea and technical achievements are very big merits, it provides plenty of intrigue, more mind-blowing than its dramatic dialogues. It's not that I have any problems with drama, the choices the film picks just doesn't help transcending the material. If you are only in for the journey, then prepare to be awed, because that space adventure is the best thing the film could offer: nothing more, nothing less.