My Review of Interstellar (Largely Spoiler-Free)

Gonna do this one as text this week.

Interstellar:



This week Christopher Nolan released his sweeping sci-fi epic, Intestellar. I saw it in 70mm IMAX, which was definitely the right way to watch something this visual—that is to say see it HUGE if you can. Be amazed by how good it looks, and then be more amazed when you realize all of it was done without green-screen (as far as the sets go). That's right, Christopher Nolan actually built all that stuff old-school style. (Even the zero-gravity effects from what I understand).

So, apart for being visually stunning, does Interstellar hold up?

Well, I can't say I entirely liked it. I disagreed with a few design choices, for example, the robot designs are a bit bizarre but at least have the virtue of being somewhat unique. Also, in my opinion, the robots steal the show, but I won't get into it because many of you may not have seen the film yet. Let's just say the robots are awesome.

The science in it is mostly spot-on as far as I can tell. Christopher Nolan worked with PHD Astrophysicist Kip Thorne, which helped a ton (all of the equations on boards you see in the film are the real deal). I'm a bit of a science-book thumper when it comes to movies that are set, or appear to be set, in "our world." Overall Interstellar did pretty well, and had some shining achievements like the first real/accurate representation of a black hole with an accretion disc, and maybe of a wormhole as well—but it fell down on this point at the end. I can't talk about it and remain spoiler-free, but let's just say a few known physical phenomena get ignored towards the end and I was a bit disappointed since the rest of the movie was so spot-on.

I give it credit in its premise department as well. As scary as it is to think about, the disaster that kicks off the whole thing is a real possibility (I should know, it happens in my field of expertise). It puts a smile on my face when a movie gets things like that right, even if they are horrible to think about.

In closing I'll say this: The end did sort of wreck the overall experience for me. I just couldn't buy it and I left feeling a bit frustrated that the movie did what it did. Also, it didn't have the Alcubierre Drive, which was sad, but hey it means someone else could be the first to portray it! It's still worth the watch though because there are many moments that shine, particularly the action sequences which had me clenching my fists with tension—and that means that Interstellar did what entertainment is supposed to do: make the audience feel something.


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