Movie Breakdown: Interstellar

People are doing traditional-style reviews all over the web, so we decided to try something different.  In each “breakdown” we’ll take a look at what a film’s marketing led us to believe, how the movie actually played, and then what we learned from it all.  Read on!

The Impression:

Christopher Nolan goes full-on sci-fi and launches Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and others into space in an attempt to save the world.

The Reality:

Let’s face it, Christopher Nolan is eternally expected to WOW viewers.  If he were to churn out something small or lacking in ambition, then the world would immediately frown and pout until he did something that at least attempted to blow their minds.  For a movie like Interstellar, which details a group of humans who head into a wormhole with the hopes of finding a way to save the human race, you would think that a “swing for the fences” approach would work best, and for the most part it does.  The film is wildly ambitious and often stunning.  I saw a 70MM print at the IMAX, and I routinely found myself having to pick my jaw up off the floor.  Few do big like Nolan does, and Interstellar contains some of the most impressive sci-fi imagery to ever grace the silver screen.  Unfortunately though, I think the drive to stun also hampers the film.  There are quite a few laughable plot points that happen just so Nolan can move on to the next dazzling visual, and much of the “science” seems sort of glossed over so that movie is just under three hours instead of having to be a mini series.  Also, like a lot of Nolan films, the third act wobbles as it tries to tie everything up nice and neat.

Regardless of its story and the various details that seem to be missing from it, Interstellar is a can’t-miss event, and you have to see it at the theater to get the full effect that Nolan is going for.  Yeah, at some point you’ll start to feel the film’s hefty run time and there are moments where you’ll roll your eyes at its silliness, but you’ll still walk out of the theater knowing you saw something important.

The Lesson:

In Nolan I continue to trust.