3.5 Stars (out of four) - 2016 Reconsideraion (in IMAX)
Well, it's here. Chris Noland's next movie is out in the wild. I'm sure many of you, like me, will go see this movie based on his record of really good, mind-bending movies he's made in the past like Memento and Inception, whose trailers made you say "what the hell is that about?" And this movie sort of delivers on that promise as well again, albeit with a little less flair this time.
I'll try not to give too much away with this description. The Earth is dying for some reason. The movie is not too specific on this, but probably a war. However, what we do know is that a blight is killing each crop in the world one by one, and it is a matter of decades before humanity will starve. Matthew McConaughey plays Coop, a former NASA engineer who is now a farmer like most people on the world. He has two children: Tom, who follows him to be a farmer and Murph, a genius daughter who takes after her dad's predilection for science. Murph has been receiving messages from what she calls a ghost that directs her and her father to go to a certain spot. That spot is the last and very secret NASA outpost in the world. There, Coop is persuaded to go onto a space mission to find a new world to live. It turns out a wormhole has opened near Saturn to another galaxy with several possibly habitable worlds. NASA sent several manned missions years before and they are getting some promising preliminary data. This new mission is to check them out. What follows is the search for those worlds and a LOT of philosophy.
There will be a lot of people who will not like this film. It harkens back to a day when movies were made for grown ups and you had to think. It is very deliberately paced (read slow) and takes its time weaving a really complex story filled with a lot of interesting ideas, despite the fact the plot is pretty straightforward-find a new home. Nolan's movies have all been like this, and he needs to be careful for a couple of reasons. One is that he not become like poor M. Night Shymalan, whose movies like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable gave us great ironic twists at the end, but forever painted him into a corner. Now people expect to be floored every time like they were the first time and are inevitably let down. We will not allow him to make a "normal" film. Second, while they are good, I think Nolan is beginning to fall in love with his own cleverness, and his movies will eventually become way too arty, like The Sopranos dream shows. They will become arty for their own sake, not to tell an interesting story in a unique way tso he can show us how smart he is. We will get Fellinni and not Tarantino, and that would be a shame and a waste.
Part of the problem with Interstellar for me was it plays too much with concepts I don't know much about, specifically quantum physics and relativity. Relativity, in particular, takes a central role in this movie. Specifically, characters age significantly compared with the leads due to time relativity. And while I can go with it for the plot premise, I don't know if this works or not. My brain kept rebelling at these particular concepts because, frankly, I don't know enough about relativity and it's practical application. The movie actually does some pretty good exposition to explain a lot of the phenomena, but relativity becomes the central plot driver that doesn't work for me for some reason. There is also a great McGuffin about who opened up the wormhole in the first place. Are there fifth dimensional beings helping us? The movie doesn't elaborate, but teases us to think they are. Or maybe not. In this instance, I kept getting reminded of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which explores similar theistic themes. What is out there? God? Aliens above our comprehension? How engaged are they with us, if at all?
I really liked that I had to think beyond the movie and its initial construction; that there is more to it, or at least the attempt to make something more of it. We need to be challenged in an entertaining way occassionally, and that gets us back to what I said before. I think this movie will not perform as well as the studios think it will, because we have been dumbed down by Michael Bay-ish brainless actioneers like Transformers for so long. People think fondly back to the 70's when great, complex movies were made as a matter of course. Movies like Easy Rider, Taxi Driver, Dog Day Afternoon, The Sting, Five Easy Pieces, Mean Streets, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, and A Clockwork Orange all come to mind. Movies that engaged you intellectually as well as entertainingly. But I think we are past that now. People want to be stimulated, not engaged, and it's not their fault. A steady 2-3 decades of dumbness have followed that brief, shining moment. And while the occasional great movie comes out, unless it's an indie, greatness is the exception, not the norm. Movies, after all, are a business to make money, in the end. If you think I'm too hard on people today, try this little test. Dumb and Dumber To comes out in a week or so. And as much as I loved the first one also, let's see which one performs better at the box office.
***************2016 UPDATE. Interstellar in IMAX*************
NEW Rating upon further consideration: 3.5 Stars (out of four)
So, I watched Interstellar again and had a much more satisfying experience. This movie is a sumptuous feast as opposed to entertainment fast food. I really wish there were more films that challenge us like this. It's nice to see that a truly intelligent and original movie can be made and made well. This second watch helped clarify some of the mind-bending plot for me and it made a lot more sense. So that was helpful, particularly with me actually experiencing the movie, because in IMAX, boy is it an experience.
First, this movie was one of the best crafted movies I have seen in a long time. Nolan is quickly beginning to be able to take his place by the side of the greats like Ford, Capra, Hitchcock, Lean, Scorsese and Spielberg. Movies like Memento and Inception proved he can tell amazingly unique, and entertaining stories from different points of view than you are used to. Even those three horrible Batman movies show a great flair, especially working with such great actors. But while each of his previous movies have something unusually unique about it (Memento's reverse-linear story and Inception's mind-blowing, impossible effects), Interstellar is the whole package. Pacing, while deliberate, is spot on. Dialogue that makes difficult concepts easy enough without insulting your intelligence or becoming too exposition-y. But what really took hold of me was the amazing interplay of story, images and music. The soundtrack is like another actor in the film by being so evocative of mood. I have rarely seen such a deft combination. There are scenes that moved me to tears.
But the IMAX makes it worth the price of admission. While Hollywood is becoming culturally bankrupt of ideas due to movies' expenses, they have instead relied on gimmicks to make bad films into mediocre spectacles with 3-D or IMAX presentations. Normally, in the hands of a lesser craftsman or story, the extra bells and whistles just meant you paid more money for the same turd. But in the hands of a craftsman like Nolan, it only amplifies the film's power. I remember reading several reviews of 2001: A Space Odyssey when I was younger and it was only available on home video. Every review said one thing in common besides that it was a watershed movie. Every reviewer to a one remarked how much grandeur the movie lost on the small television screen. The movie was still good, but felt like a hollow imitation from the one on a large screen. I never understood what they meant until I saw it at the Washington DC Uptown Theater. For the first time maybe, I saw what grandeur on a great scale could be, and they were absolutely correct. The huge Earth and space station vistas are awe-inspiring on an epic scale and gave so much more context to the film thematically. It became a totally different experience for me, and that was a real revelation. It was like watching it for the first time. It didn't hurt that one of the greatest masters of the image, Stanley Kubrick, was the vision behind it. Movies like this are what separate the giants from the merely competent. Nolan's IMAX Interstellar has that same grandeur, that power of the image, and really opened my eyes. If you ever get a chance to see it on this grand scale, do so. It will be worth every penny.
No comments:
Post a Comment