Interstellar

The last movie I waited for to watch in this calendar year was here and as usual was filled with a lot of expectation and excitement. I purposefully booked the tickets for the second week so that I can wave off the wannabe know-it-all "Nolan-ites". That also coincided with the ticket exhaustion at the venues I actually wanted to see. To also be free of spoilers and the reviews before I get a first-hand experience of this film, I added the word "Interstellar" in my browser block filter, And also purposefully avoided appearances and activities in the Film Geeks group we share in the social media. You folks can do the same to let a review manipulate your thoughts about a movie.

Interstellar, I would call this as Jonathan Nolan's baby. Even-though the idea behind this was not his, but he grasped the idea and gave such a dedicated touch to the script, that he utilized 4 years of his life learning about relativity. We do not see that much dedication going on these days. Do we?

The movie has a great premise, great linkages, good performances in acting, visually beautiful sequences and seat crunching sound effects. The film, however, stumbles somewhere in the middle, gets negative with the flow and kicks in up again to give the ending he usually wouldn't give. He always lets the enduring with the perspective of the viewers and this time, he managed to guide the viewers towards the possibility of what is happening. When I watched the first teaser and the first trailer (links below), I expected this to be an emotional roller coaster ride than Inception. In contrast, I felt it less as compared to Inception.

Matthew McConaughey (Cooper): Where this guy has risen from? He is The Lazarus. From acting mindless Rom-Com movies to being the goofy-loyal agent for Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder, Then came Mud, and everyone started noticing this guy. And who can forget Rusty Cohle? Well, this guy has always been an under-rated actor and the way he takes up his role over here is worth to watch for. He expresses emotion and despair with a soulful performance that makes you feel bad for him. There are some scenes in this movie, which made me think that "I do not want to be in a situation like that". This is all because of this guy's acting and presence.

Mackenzie Foy ( Young Murph): This is a talented girl who had a couple of beautiful scenes and she pulled off with ease. Looking forward to seeing her act well in 10+ years and hope she does not become one of those Child Actors whose one shot to fame brings them back to darkness.

Anne Hathway (Amelia Brand): She had a very little scope to perform and showcase the acting she possess. But in the few scenes, she lets her eyes and expressions speak instead of the words and that defines a good actor. 

Micahel Caine (Professor): Where there is Nolan, there needs to be Michael Caine. The second most distinctive voice after Morgan Freeman. He still carries the charm through all these years and this is his 6th Movie with Nolan. Call it a lucky charm or call it Caine's charm. It is always a pleasure to watch you act and talk Sir !!!

Casey Affleck and Jessica Chastain: Two good and award winning actors and both have less screen space than I would want them to have. There is already a casting coup going between Batman and the Dawn of Justice Producers ;)

TARS and CASE: They stole the supporting actor credits for the movie. Two Artificially Intelligent Robots, with a human touch and honesty of about 90% (Chuckles). It was great to watch these two in the movie and this just builds the scope what Science can achieve in real life.

Now, that we are done with the casts. Let me elaborate the movie and technicals for you as much as possible without spoilers. :)

Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The first half of the movie keeps you engaging. The screenplay and the story and premise setting is all well paced and well directed. The visuals are all a spectacle and there are shades of 2001: A Space Odyssey you will find in the movie. The usage of miniatures instead of CGI for certain sequences gives you a deep-dive on the technicality involved in the movie. The music of the movie carries a lot of Church-Organ effects and this is something that Hans Zimmer has not encountered in his previous projects. From my personal perspective, this is Hans Zimmer's hiccup as compared to his music he has developed for a lot of Nolan's earlier movies.

The second half of the movie starts off well only to bring a 3-minute conversation between Amelia and Cooper about love which was not supposed to be happening at that juncture. They have just lost decades in an unsuccessful expedition and they were discussing something that does not involve a nerve to the story at that junction. That gives the screenplay a dip in form. Something I did not expect under the Nolan brother's expertise. The other part where I do not find it fulfilling was Dr. Mann's shades of villainy. That was not necessary to be part of the story. I guess that was mostly involved to get 15-20 minutes of extra film sequence and especially another thrilling launch and take off sequence. 

Nolan takes another stumble here where I guess he was pushed or cornered to give a good and happy ending for the movie. I always loved the way he ends his act without pulling the strings of his puppet. 

The movie is a trip to places where we had read about in our Science and Physics texts in school. So it is quite an achievement for the Nolan brothers to put something so distant and give it a face and linking it with a story. In that pretext, this movie is more than just "worth a watch". 

I can say that this movie is better than Gravity, as Gravity had a one-dimensional story. This one has more than just that. I would end this by saying that this was a good movie, but after dissecting and watching Nolan's earlier works, this could have been better.

Go, Watch it. And you will find yourself so insignificant in front of the universe.

Murphy's law doesn't mean that something bad will happen. It means that whatever can happen, will happen.