Interstellar


"We're not meant to save the world, we're meant to leave it."   - Cooper


release year: 2014
genre: sci-fi/drama
viewing setting: home Bluray 4/3/15

synopsis: To save the human race, a daring exploratory mission to a distant galaxy is made.

impressions: No doubt about it, this one will make you think and ask questions, and analyze and wonder just what the hell was going on at times. It's difficult for me to explain and talk about without spoiling anything. I do find it implausible that some of the potential habitable planets just happened to be orbiting a black hole (!)...I sure wouldn't want to live there. Also, there are the usual when-humanity-faces-extinction problems with key people being unable to handle the stress and snapping. The robots here were unusual, like 3-dimensional Rubiks cubes that could adapt their shape to suit the need at hand. Pros: wondrous space exploration themes and special effects, some interesting science. Cons: a few nagging plot points (the water planet didn't make sense, and the younger Dr. Brand failed to realize that retrieving the flight recorder is utterly unimportant if she can't make it back to the ship before the tidal wave obliterates both her and the recorder.)

acting: Matthew McConaughey does a good job as an ex-astronaut who's now just a regular guy, giving the viewer someone they can relate to. Anne Hathaway is his fellow explorer, and Michael Caine is her scientist father. Jessica Chastain and Mackenzie Foy are the adult and child versions of McConaughey's daughter (both of them, and him too, are key to the overall plot.)

final word: Good sci-fi, though I was a bit underwhelmed by the human side of things, and how critical that was to the overall plot.

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