I also saw this on Friday.
I tried hard not to have too high expectations for the film but I failed miserably. With Nolan's incredible portfolio and my love for scifi at the movies, my expectations were too high and that can only lead to disappointment...
....only it didnt.
WOW
Just wow.
I felt all the emotions that Funthing just described. I will humbly say this was the greatest piece of transcendental hardcore science fiction cinema I have experienced in a long time, perhaps ever in my personal cinema going life if I exclude cinema re-releases of Blade Runner and 2001 (never saw them on their original release) and I try never to miss a Sci Fi movie good or bad and this one towers above them all.
At least that's how I felt as I came out of the cinema. But its how I feel then is what matters most. When I see it again next week, its possible I may not feel the same way or I may love it more. It depends on how much more of the story I can grasp because to be honest, I didnt actually get a quarter of whats going on which I will explain why later. Yet, yet the film still blew me away...And Sparrow, I can understand Funthing's 10/10 rating despite the plot confusion because I tell you what, if a film can induce awe, exhilaration, emotional impact without even making sense of its plot...then one could see it as a great film that didnt even need to make sense! But of course you can look at it at a more critical way and equally justifiable. Me, I take funthing's approach, I rate the film in what it does so well and mainly, the power in this film was in the magnificent and masterful narrative.
It does not mean it will be my most rewatchable. I would probably see a great deal more of lesser sci fi movies more times than this, films such as Star Trek movies, Aliens, Back to the Future etc because they just have that fun or adrenaline feeding rewatchable factor. Interstellar, on the other hand is a film I will watch once or twice more because its true cosmic power is in its first viewing
In all honesty, in the first quarter of the movie, I got angry. The film was taking absurd directions with logic and sensibility in its plausibility (in the context of what I thought this movie will be about). I kept thinking what the hell is this film doing, this is not what I was expecting but I went with the flow and resigned myself to just enjoy the journey and let it roll with whatever it has to deliver. There is some truly exotic theoretical science going on throughout the film as well as some absurd "anomolies".
And then came the last act which truly blew my mind as everything I criticised about its narrative during my viewing was suddenly justified. This is the Nolan Brothers writing at their absolute pinnacle.
As usual I say nothing about the story, I will even assume you never even watch the trailers. That's what I do. I avoid all trailers for movies. But I have now seen the trailers for this film and I can happily say there is much more to the film than what the trailers show. But really, I would like to champion the habit of not watching trailers. Taking this as an example, many elements that the trailer showed came as a wonderful giddying surprise to me. Even mediocre films can be enjoyed so much more.
There is a clear emulation of Kubrick's 2001:A Space Odyssey in terms of ambience right down to some very obvious nods in the soundtrack, visuals and props...not so subtle, in fact I dare say very arrogant. There is just so many parallels I can draw between the two films. However, this film has a far more broader audience appeal. Ignoring its auteuristic position in the all time greats, 2001 A Space Odyssey is a very acquired taste and while Nolan has an equally "cold" style of film making, he does inject more humour and audience pleasing character play in this film, moreso than Kubrick's very precise mechanical approach (masterful though Kubrick's style is).
The soundtrack was superb although once again as with every bloody Nolan film, they dont get the sound mix right and it sometimes drowns the dialogue and this is the flipping reason why I think I missed a chunk of plot. Its bloody amazing I still enjoyed the film as much as I did, I guess that reinforces the mark of a great script. Quite often the base tones are really heavy, inducing so much vibrations that I thought I mistakenly sat in one of my screen's D-Box chair. If this film actually does utilise D-box, then I can imagine it will be a helluva ride. But I loved the base and the soundtrack, its fantastic, adds to the cinematic experience...if only it didnt bloody rob me off hearing a lot of the dialogue. Especially McConaughey's who once again drawls at such a low frequency and strong southern accent, I depended on facial expressions and other characters' reactions to try get a gist of what the bloody hell he was mumbling. I must add however, that when watching Nolan movies on Blu ray, I do not have anywhere as much difficulty. The problem is simply accentuated with most cinemas' acoustics.
Another thing about the soundtrack is that its part the usual Nolan/Zimmer collaboration and er, part 2001 Space Odyssey cd ripping! But hey I am in the cinema to enjoy an experience so do what the hell you like, Nolan, just entertertain me, I let the Strauss thing go man, at least you used it in the right places and I actually really dug it but dont overdo it now...wait, why am I suddenly talking to Nolan? Sorry, just be prepared for some of those large "nods" to 2001, I hope you can enjoy those moments and not criticise its extensiveness (justifiable though it maybe to do so).
Visually, the cinematography is breathtaking....but you know what, the actual visual effects were surprisingly reigned in. This is not as visually bombastic as its potential holds. Much like Inception, Nolan doesnt seem to take advantage of the potential his high concept movies can be in the visual stakes. Its probably an artistic deliberation to avoid too much grandeur and keeping plausible "reality" in check as much as possible and I appreciate that its just I found that a shame in the excellent Inception and I find it a shame here too. That's not to say there isnt any grand visual moments, of course there were, I just think there could have been more oomph to it but that misgiving I have about the visuals is more than compensated by the majestic narrative drive which make those visuals effective enough to have my heart pounding.
Matthew McConaughey is fantastic in the lead and the rest of the excellent cast do their bit but no one is particularly outstanding. They all simply serve the narrative because that is the real star of the show which truly makes this great cinema.
One thing to be clear about, this is hardcore thought provoking sci fi with minimal action...I repeat minimal action. A good deal more than Kubick's 2001 yes but it aint your typical Star Trek movie.
One more element I will like to cover. The Science and plausibility in fictional context.
As a recent amateur astronomer hobbyist in the last couple of years, (hence one of my reasons for the unfortunate decrease of time to spend on here
), I have been immersed in an environment of very serious astronomers who largely scorns bad science in science fiction especially when such films are trying to be plausible. But like you guys, I am a movie lover first and foremost where unrealistic science never bothered me as long as there is a great narrative to justify liberties taken. But having bizarrely surrounded myself amongst these smart people by which I stand out like a sore thumb being the divvie that I am (though they still accepted me as a volunteer committee member at Royal Observatory Greenwhich), I have unwittingly being influenced in being more conscience and unwantedly affected by the plausibility of science in films and so unfortunately I find myself scrutinising the hardcore science in this film...at least the parts which I can bloody hear. While there is some lovely proper theoretical physics talk going on, there is an equal amount of mumbo jumbo mixed in...while I tut tut, deep down I still love it and my true nature still comes out, its the movies, man!
Which brings me to a conclusion that this film is part transcendent scifi and part B-Movie for all that extremely exotic theoretical science. Its also quite emotional...what? Nolan doing emotional?! No, really its true!
So I have given a lot of negative thoughts about it yet my reaction was WOW just wow best sci fi blah blah. I am still bouncing with joy from it. I had a truly magnificent ride and will see it again next week. So just to come back to you Sparrow, Funthing's 10/10 rating I totally get because the experience is so overwhelming that its flaws are simply petty, yes, even not getting some of the plot! But you are generally more rational than many of us so I expect you would be more rational in your thoughts and rating :)
It is a flawed movie yet its spectacle, emotional impact and epic canvas far far outweighs its arrogance in its science plot and "tributes" to Kubrick's 2001.
9/10
One last thing (I promise!) Seeing this film kind of coincides with an achievement I made in "time travel" a month ago. May I take this opportunity to show you my first astrophotographical image of an object far far away as it was a long long time ago. It got a flikr Explore status which shocked me because its my first non solar system object and in truth there are far greater captures of this magnificent interstellar object.
If you live or go to a very dark sky location (ie away from light pollution), look up for the milky way, then look to the right of it, about a handspand away, look hard, you will see a fuzzy patch. That is what you see below, as those light photons from that patch I captured into my camera lens. Those photons travelled 2.5 million years from this object and ended up in my camera lens. What you see is how it was 2.5 million years ago...and that's just our neighbour! When I took this last month, I was in Brecon beacons, some of the darkest skies and as I was imaging it, I could also see it "live" with my naked eye, a truly soul reaching sensation. But it can also be seen through binoculars in London. So those of you live in London and wish to see experience this humbling sensation (Its how I always feel), then I belong to two societies who both hold monthly stargaze sessions in Regents Park and Blackheath free to the public. pm me, I'll give you details. Myself and others are always glad to entertain the cosmic joys with our telescopes. A couple of you had already joined me in the past. My gallery if you interested:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16806463@N04/
