Having heard all the pre-film chat about its visuals, I treated myself to watching this film at the BFI IMAX in Waterloo. This was my first IMAX experience, and I have to say that I was taken aback at the cost. I went with my South-African friend – an interesting approach, since he and I have almost directly opposite tastes in films.
I was not prepared for the sensory experience of IMAX. It was overwhelming, and I struggled to process what I had seen at the end of the film, and separate film content from presentation format. As its name suggests, 'Interstellar' is flushed through with visual sequences, as humanity moves through its universe and beyond. Due to the spectacular nature of the IMAX presentation, some of these sequences did not work for me. They looked like what they were - a clean, computer-generated painting. This had the effect of distancing me from the events occurring in front of me, and I could not buy into the plot-line unfolding before me. I have to balance this statement by saying that the visual sequences of geographical terrain were breathtaking. They were not like the clean, outer-space imagery. I marvelled at them.
The acting from several of the players was very good. Mathew McConaughey continues his comeback of recent years with a solid, believable performance. Mackenzie Foy, McConaughey’s young on-screen daughter, is amazing – a real find. And they got a great elder-version match of her character with Jessica Chastain. Matt Damon took on an atypical role that nicely surprised.
But for all this, I left the cinema with a sense of disappointment – I felt somewhat flat. My cinema-going friend told me that plot is not always that important (after asking me for my understanding of various plot points he had missed). However, I have to disagree.
Christopher Nolan’s previous excellent smash hit 'Inception' always felt a rather cold film at heart – I was never drawn to Leonardo DiCaprio’s protagonist; he was just not likeable enough for me to warm to him as I think I was supposed to. In 'Interstellar', the Nolan boys’ screenplay seemed to want to trowel on all of the sentimentality that was missing from 'Inception'. Yes, there were attempts to examine if motivations caused by love should be factored into analytical decision-making processes, but this just seemed part of the overall sentimentality. The last sequence was especially an emotional Hollywood ending too far. A bolder, stronger film would have had a higher mortality rate and less family reconciliation.
I also found the accumulation of scientific leaps thoroughly unfeasible. I don’t buy the ‘it is exploring vast questions and themes’ line either. Science-fiction, yes; but supposition built on supposition just so that Nolan’s targeted ending could come about, no.
The IMAX was a visual treat, but a gift to myself that I should have saved for a more deserving film (the finale of The Hunger Games series perhaps?). This film left me feeling that, after the astounding 'Memento', Batman series, and 'Inception', Chris Nolan has to get his mojo back. (For the sake of balance, my cinema-going friend said that "That was the best £18 I have ever spent"!)