Good, but Interstellar never soars.

Rating: 7/10 (22 November 2014)

There's a lot of things to talk about regarding Interstellar. The state of today's blockbusters, Christopher Nolan's position on the pedestal, the McConaissance, the audiovisual experience, or contemporary attitudes towards space travel. Unfortunately Interstellar offers me no spark to talk about them. While I liked the film, I regret to have such a mild reaction to a Nolan. There was a time when his films were the event of the year. Even his last film was an event for the year, but that quickly evaporated upon The Dark Knight Rises' bafflingly clumsy last hour. I still cherish The Dark Knight and Inception, but it looks like he's out of juice. Not that Interstellar is bad, it just never soars like those films do. Perhaps it's due to rampant expectations. To be fair - it works for a lot of people, and I see why, but I found the melodrama of Inception a far more captivatingly emotional experience than what has been claimed to be Nolan finally having a heart.
The problem with Interstellar is that it's too sparse. It has great moments, but they're few and far between. Not that the film doesn't initially barrage you with passable exposition, mysteries and introductions, but there isn't a sense of edge of seat jeopardy until the first expedition on a planet. This must be 45 minutes in. Ostensibly, Nolan is concerned with the emotion, that pain of a father torn from his child, but they're not immersive. Powerful in theory, numbed in execution. Again - not bad - just not as good as they could be. I just couldn't invest in this enough to really get under the character's skin. It's got a logic holes that work superficially but not under scrutiny, many of which have already been dissected by the film's most scathing critics. It is a step up from Rises, though I do feel the cinematography isn't as good as it's been claimed to be with it feeling far too blown out and old school. Interstellar suffers under the circumstances, but is at least a decent effort at world building and concept exploration.
7/10