After a hit box office success of a space sci-fi film last year, Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers released another futuristic movie about the world beyond the earth, "Interstellar." And before the movie had its debut in the big screen last Nov. 4; some movie buffs have already watched the movie and their opinions are now all over the web.
"Interstellar," considered one of the most anticipated films of the year, got its fair share of good and bad reviews. Most of the feedbacks noted Nolan's risky effort to do away with movie reboots and his bold statement of the movie's story. On the other hand, the movie faces a great challenge as it is compared to the Oscar-winning film "Gravity."
The two sci-fi movies have completely different plots but with the same premise that is about space and beyond, movie-goers will more likely relate the two. "Interstellar's" comparison with "Gravity" is not entirely a negative thing; it is more of a challenge for Nolan and the rest of the team. It is because the film, released just last year, earned a total of seven Oscar trophies. The majority of the awards are in tech-aspect of the film as well as the huge Best Director award for Alfonso Cuaron. Add up the $700 million ticket sales, "Gravity" is indeed a hard act to follow.
On the other hand, "Interstellar" is entirely different in terms of its intimate touch in its story. Christopher and Jonah Nolan penned the movie's screenplay and tried to combine the 'infinite and intimate' in their film. The story features Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, who is a former astronaut and a father who is set to be travel through space to save the entire humanity.
The 169-minute movie, that "talks about quantum data, wormholes and time-space-gravity," can be considered as an eye-opener for the worsening condition of earth. Nolan brother somehow heard Ted Turner's complain about lack of serious movies that inform and warn people about climate change and global warming.
"How many stories can you think of where we're preparing for the future? And if it's not coming out of the entertainment business and the information business, where else is it going to come from?" Turner said in a 2012 interview. In "Interstellar" the Nolan brothers clearly sound the alarm as they feature a widower's struggle in choosing to save the world in expense of leaving his children on earth.
Nolan, along with McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, and Michael Caine, delivered an emotional aspect of the film but in terms of effects and cinematography, "Interstellar" falls short. "While the film builds intrigue and tension in terms of establishing the stakes of the outer-space exploration as well as the perilous science behind it, the picture rushes into space only to slow to a relative crawl once it gets there."
After the Cooper's shuttle was launched to the space, the movie lost its momentum and the effects of the outer space are just not at par with Cuaron's Gravity. Thus, critics said the film was not able to gain the lead for the upcoming Oscar's. Despite the emotional depth of the screenplay, Nolan's cinematography failed movie geek's expectations.
