Interstellar; Wonderful or Awful?

The earth is slowly dying. There are frequently great dust storms. Farming is considered the most important job since there are frequent crop failures. Almost all the world's technology is scavaged from better times. Students are taught the Space Program was a Cold War hoax. Murph Cooper (Mackenzie Foy) is an intelligent 10 year old. Her father Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is an astronaut turned reluctant farmer. One night they are out driving and come upon a secret NASA base. Cooper is given a chance to fly a space mission into a wormhole near Saturn. The mission is to find a habitable planet for people of Earth to colonize or a planet capable of sustaining DNA samples of the human race and extend human existance beyond the life of the dying Earth. The mission would involve time dialation. The plot also involves the relationship between Joseph and his daughter Murph. Time dialation and suspended animation means Murph ages while her father does not.

My niece saw an IMAX version of the movie Interstellar and described it as the best movie she has ever seen. My nephew described Interstellar as awful. I watched an IMAX version of Interstellar on November 29, 2014 and have concluded they are both right. My niece has a love and talent for Math and Science. The movie's protagonists have a love of Science and an equation is central to the movie's plot and resolution. The images of space and the surfaces of planets are spectacular. The science, science speculation, and science fiction are melded together very well. Interstellar has good acting and the characters’ actions and relationships are complicated. There is a family relationship and a love relationship. The action and special effects doesn’t overpower the characters. Interstellar is for today what 2001: A Space Odyssey was for the 1968 audience. If you have seen and enjoyed 2001: A Space Odyssey you will probably agree Interstellar is among the best Science Fiction movies ever made. Unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar explains what is going on and does not leave the audience guessing about the ending. There is also far move character development.

My nephew has a great interest in movies and studied acting. If you have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey and found it boring with an incoherent plot then Interstellar will probably be a waste of 2 hours and 49 minutes. It uses the cliché of having some has been as the only person qualified for the job. While the main protagonist does not rely on luck he gets by on luck. The movie takes a long time before they go into space. Irrelevant facts about space travel are thrown in the dialogue. Laws of physics and capabilities of the equipment, and plot twists seem contrived. The film has scenes of elderly people reminiscing about the way things were, as was done in the movie Reds.* This reminiscing only added time to a long movie. The 3 Interstellar planets the astronauts visit are ugly places. It is an IMAX movie. Explosions are supposed to be loud and if a character shouts something in a sandstorm it’s reasonable for it to be difficult to understand the character. When a dying character is saying something, unless they are saying it during a concert, the music should not drown out the character.

For a movie that has pretentions of realism certain items fly in the face of reality. There is a black hole that appears near Saturn. Teaching the lunar landings were fake rather than simply stating it was a waste of resources that should have been used elsewhere.

^* Reds - A 1981 movie about the Russian Revolution.