Movie: Interstellar
Synopsis: No.
This movie has high ratings across the board from critics and moviegoers alike, on multiple movie review sites. However, I had a very hard time tracking down an actual reason for these ratings before going to see it. It all seemed a bit wishy-washy apart from the ranting over the accuracy of the space effects.
Which are good, don't get me wrong, but they'd be better employed in a space documentary. The wormhole in particular was rendered rather nicely, and the movie starts out looking like hard SF, or at least -ish. Although I don't think that much thought was given to the backstory - if farms are 99% automated and run via giant robot tractors and harvesters, why do billions of people suddenly have to become farmers?
Unfortunately, the hard science approach rapidly gets tossed out the window: the bollixed physics surrounding the time distortion on the first planet they visit are just bloody stupid. As are the ridiculous waves, and anything to do with the black hole horizon. Which can all be technically handwaved when we find out that it was possibly all built by future space-humans reaching back through time, but even so, dedicated scientist characters should have picked up that something was very wrong.
Thus bringing us to the point at which the main character falls through the event horizon and encounters an artificial method of communicating back through time - at which point the entire narrative collapses and any hint of dramatic tension vanishes completely, because there's time travel controlled by a future super-civilisation of humans who built this whole thing to make sure the main character succeeds. Not that the musical score realises this, because it's still trying to bellow your ears off every three seconds with HUGE DRAMATIC CHORDS.
Even the amusingly sarcastic robots - who are at least realistic enough not to have a character arc or emotions or talk amongst themselves vocally - are clunky in design compared to what a true bush robot could have been - although that's again handwaved as them being older designs from back when there was more government budget. I would have liked to see a more modern version, though, if only in the bright, clean, futuristic aftermath. At least they didn't follow robot character clichés and try to take over the mission, or take over the ship, or take over the world, or suddenly turn evil for no reason whatsoever.
Small mercies. But they're not enough to compensate for the token female scientist on the mission (the one who also doubles as the Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter) suddenly deciding that Love must be a higher-dimensional force of physics because she misses her boyfriend. Even the other characters are visibly trying to find a response which isn't "Did you just turn into a Hollywood cliché female stereotype?"
All in all, this movie is more facepalm than feature. Nice visuals here and there, yes, and they do actually remember that space is silent, but the characterisation swerves all over the road, the plot goes nowhere interesting, and it telegraphs its punches well in advance. Miss.
This movie has high ratings across the board from critics and moviegoers alike, on multiple movie review sites. However, I had a very hard time tracking down an actual reason for these ratings before going to see it. It all seemed a bit wishy-washy apart from the ranting over the accuracy of the space effects.
Which are good, don't get me wrong, but they'd be better employed in a space documentary. The wormhole in particular was rendered rather nicely, and the movie starts out looking like hard SF, or at least -ish. Although I don't think that much thought was given to the backstory - if farms are 99% automated and run via giant robot tractors and harvesters, why do billions of people suddenly have to become farmers?
Unfortunately, the hard science approach rapidly gets tossed out the window: the bollixed physics surrounding the time distortion on the first planet they visit are just bloody stupid. As are the ridiculous waves, and anything to do with the black hole horizon. Which can all be technically handwaved when we find out that it was possibly all built by future space-humans reaching back through time, but even so, dedicated scientist characters should have picked up that something was very wrong.
Thus bringing us to the point at which the main character falls through the event horizon and encounters an artificial method of communicating back through time - at which point the entire narrative collapses and any hint of dramatic tension vanishes completely, because there's time travel controlled by a future super-civilisation of humans who built this whole thing to make sure the main character succeeds. Not that the musical score realises this, because it's still trying to bellow your ears off every three seconds with HUGE DRAMATIC CHORDS.
Even the amusingly sarcastic robots - who are at least realistic enough not to have a character arc or emotions or talk amongst themselves vocally - are clunky in design compared to what a true bush robot could have been - although that's again handwaved as them being older designs from back when there was more government budget. I would have liked to see a more modern version, though, if only in the bright, clean, futuristic aftermath. At least they didn't follow robot character clichés and try to take over the mission, or take over the ship, or take over the world, or suddenly turn evil for no reason whatsoever.
Small mercies. But they're not enough to compensate for the token female scientist on the mission (the one who also doubles as the Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter) suddenly deciding that Love must be a higher-dimensional force of physics because she misses her boyfriend. Even the other characters are visibly trying to find a response which isn't "Did you just turn into a Hollywood cliché female stereotype?"
All in all, this movie is more facepalm than feature. Nice visuals here and there, yes, and they do actually remember that space is silent, but the characterisation swerves all over the road, the plot goes nowhere interesting, and it telegraphs its punches well in advance. Miss.