Roland Emmerich directs SAVING PRIVATE RYAN vs. INTERSTELLAR

Rating: 5/10 (21 October 2015)

(Contains minor spoilers, nothing that would ruin the movie)
The movie is a joke. It is currently rated 8.3/10 on IMDb, taking #134 at the top 250 - and it's not even funny.
If you expect a sophisticated movie, you're in the wrong place. This movie seems to be written by kids or intended for them. The script is ridiculous, spoon-fed to the audience and repeats everything twice in case they still didn't get it. Every character in this movie is stupid and one-dimensional. It features silly jokes and moronic behavior which you haven't seen astronauts do since PROMETHEUS.
This movie wants you to believe that an astronaut left alone on Mars finds out by himself time after time ways to keep alive. It wants you to believe that astronauts were sent to a mission to Mars without taking into consideration that something could go wrong, they didn't think of ways to grow food or survive on Mars and didn't train the astronauts or gave them basic instructions book for a case of emergency. They simply left it to the astronauts to figure it out by themselves in a case of emergency. And voilà - when something like that happens, one astronaut invents endless ways to survive - something that all of NASA's scientists didn't think of before. This guy should have made billions in making his own startups.
In MOON - one of the best movies in recent years - they put a computer so that the main character is kept isolated from society but has someone/something to talk to, thus sharing his thoughts and feelings for the viewer.
In THE MARTIAN, on the other hand, the character simply talks to himself. Yes, most of the time he talks to the camera, but not always. When he does, he talks as if he were explaining stuff to a 6-year old. I expect an astronaut to leave behind a vlog intended for his peers, who should know a thing or two when coordinating a multi-billion mission into Mars. I don't expect him to talk like he's explaining this to his kid.
Characters don't only think like kids, act and explain like kids, but they also make their own decisions - again and again - like this multi- billion mission was their own private game. From taking over a space vehicle, through sending hidden messages against the commander's decision, to sharing country secrets. This is beyond ridiculous. This is straight B-movie material.
Just like in INTERSTELLAR, Jessica Chastain again has to save Matt Damon who was left alone on a far away planet. There's nothing much I can add to that.
I simply refuse to believe this movie was directed by the same guy who directed ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER. This is 100% a Roland Emmerich job. From the poorly directed acting and script, to the ridiculous crowd scenes at the end. This is pure Emmerich. If tomorrow the studio would publish that they pranked us and used Ridley Scott's name, but actually Emmerich is the one who directed this film, I wouldn't be surprised at all.
I said it several times before and I'll say it again: Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara simply can't act. They are awful actresses and should only appear in B-movies. Chastain's acting makes it impossible for you to believe, even for one minute, that she's the team's captain. She acts like a girl on a field trip. And Kate Mara is Kate Mara, no need to add anything to that.
As for the visuals, which got such praising reviews - well, they are OK. Nothing astounding, definitely not after we've seen GRAVITY. There are some nice zero-gravity shots, but frequently it seemed to me like wire work and the movement wasn't nearly as clean and natural as what we've seen in Gravity. Same goes for the movement in space (both in the ship and outside) - frequently it seemed to ignore the laws of physics.
Matt Damon is pretty good in his role, but the silly script and direction ruin that too.
All in all, this is a big disappointment. The film is watchable, but only if you shut your brain completely off and try to watch it like a kids movie. If you try to find any logic or sophistication, like I did, you'll have a hard time enjoying this movie.