I am a huge Christopher Nolan fan. I’ve seen all of his movies and love them. I know what he’s extremely good at, probably better than anyone working today or even ever, and I know where his skills lack. Nolan’s characters can always seem a bit distant as to allow such huge themes and ideas to the forefront. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is just as much of an actor in this film as is Michael Caine. I know this can bother some people and the reactions to this film have been very love/hate. I just don’t see how anyone could hate this film if you have any sense of wonder or awe left in you. I actually feel rather sad if you aren’t left completely amazed after seeing this film. The science, of course, is extremely interesting and very theoretical and gets more theoretical and even fantastical towards the end when you reach parts that we can’t even begin to explain. You either buy into it or you don’t. Please buy in.
The visuals are absolutely stunning and you need to see this on the biggest screen you can find. I saw it on an Ultrascreen and my eyes practically melted from all the awesome. What makes it even more impressive is all the practical effects work that was done instead of copious use of CGI. The spaceship design was meticulous and detailed almost to the point of absurdity. You know there are rivets and dings on the model that will never been seen on screen, but they’re placed nonetheless to up the sense of realism. This is what Nolan does best, telling a surreal story with such minute details sprinkled in to make it believable and make the story world feel lived in. This makes the consequences to the characters and the world feel weightier. This is helped by the terrific work of new collaborator and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. Nolan’s usual cinematographer, Wally Pfister, has moved on to directing and Hoytema does not miss a beat as the replacement. He has lensed great films before like Let the Right One In, The Fighter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Her. It will be a knock down drag out fight for Best Cinematography with Birdman. While Nolan’s films have won Best Sound Mixing and Editing in the past, they always seem to have issues. Here the sound mix seemed out of whack with music and effects drowning out dialogue. This happened in The Dark Knight Rises as well, though he was able to fix some of that after complaints of not being able to understand Bane. This is a relatively small complaint however. The music of Hans Zimmer is sweeping and awe-inspiring. The use of organs in the music feels very inspired and it will give you chills at points.
Do your best to avoid spoilers with this film. There is a major character that is not part of any of the promotion material and this character is played by an actor arguably even more popular than McConaughey. The theater was genuinely surprised when I saw it and it helped to keep the mood of awe and wonder going. As for the other actors you actually know will be in the film McConaughey by far does the best job as he has the most to do, but then Jessica Chastain does the next best work. Unfortunately Anne Hathaway is not given the best part and is not at her personal best here. At first I found her character annoying and cloying, but she gets much, much better as the film goes along and ultimately I would say I found her character likable by the final scenes. Michael Caine is basically the same character he was in Inception and serves his purpose to drive the narrative. Wes Bentley and Casey Affleck are underused but do more with their material than could be expected and I found them as standouts in the crowd. The robot characters really shine here as well. TARS and CASE are the names of the monolith inspired robots in the film. They are grey blocks that whirl around the ship and planet surfaces to assist in ways you wouldn’t see imaginable based on their humble shape.
To sum up I will say the movie plays like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Days of Heaven, but ultimately it’s incredibly similar to Inception and feels like a thematic sequel to that film more than anything. If that’s the case I can’t wait to see how Nolan would round out this thematic trilogy. I absolutely loved this film, and while I recognize it likely won’t earn any awards outside of the technical categories (which it could sweep), it will still wind up in my top 10 for the year. To be compared to Kubrick and Malick is the ultimate compliment. It is rare to get a film that is so large and sweeping with huge and important themes with such a gigantic budget, but still have this film treat their audience intelligently. This is epic filmmaking at its best and no one else is doing it right now. Perhaps only Peter Jackson has the balls to even attempt this, but his interest lie elsewhere. This sort of movie is made for people like me. Space is awesome. And so is Nolan.
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