INTERSTELLAR - Grading & Discussion

[Hatshepsut]

...I'd say that "hard science fiction" is a better description for the mission in this movie because of its adherence to what we know of real world concepts. The works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and even Star Trek seem to be closer to "soft science fiction"...

I like the distinction you've made here. Star Trek, much as I love it, posits lots of highly unlikely stuff like transporters and warp drive. By the time we can command molecules, time, energy, and space to the extent Starfleet demands, we won't even need to travel: We'll simply assemble new Earths right in our own solar system, perhaps drawing off the required mass from the sun and transmuting it to heavy elements via the nuclear fusion already known to exist.

But science fiction is aspirational: I consider Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) the ultimate "hard" movie. Still it indulged that fantastic quasi-metaphysical sequence near its end by way of defining a meaning for our existence.

 

[DWF]

It's a visually swesome movie, but there's alot of gaps in the backstory and the explaination of things. All three planets should be orbiting the black hole, otherwise they wouldn't have had enough fuel or time to travel to otehr solar systems. The blight is odd, the only thing that can be grown is corn yet Cooper is drinking beer. With all the lack of techology NASA was able to build twho ships capable of traveling across the solar system. And really after all Cooper goes though he's pretty much ignored once he returns home. Plus there's no explaination for the farm equipment going wild. Like I said gaps, I don't want to call them plot holes, but the movie despite it's length feels incomplete.

The farm equipment goes awry because they are drawn to the gravitational disturbances present in the house.

The planets are all orbiting the black hole. The first one was close engh for there to be a time distortion effect. The others were not.

Obviously The "lack of technology" is relative. NASA still employs the best scientists and engineers in the world, and they have likely been working on this sor at least a generation.

The farm equipment was fixable but there was no reaon for the anomilies to be so specific to be able to control the machines. If all of the planets orbited the black hole they'd all have the time distortion effect. Plus what was the ship setting on, on the water planet and how were they walking on the ocean? And NASA was supposed heave been disbaned, they worked in secret. The lack of technology and the changes in history were government enforced.

 

[Trekker4747]

Planets closer to the singularity would experience stronger effects from the "time slippage" due to the proximity. The other planets were further away from the singularity to have much lesser effects. The closer you are to a mass time move slower, it's how the universe works. It's why the GPS satellites adjust their clocks constantly. They experience less gravity time moves slightly faster.

The farm machinery went to the house because that's what they were programmed to do in the case of problems. The GPS was screwing due to gravity problems (also why the drone was acting up) so when the GPS messed up the machines went to the house for repairs/recalibration.

 

[Ovation]

I expected a relatively unemotional experience but got the opposite (perhaps coloured by the fact my daughter and I are about the same age as young Murph and Cooper, respectively, and we saw it together on a father/daughter movie outing). I get it's not to everyone's taste, but I'm with David Brin.

 

[DWF]

Planets closer to the singularity would experience stronger effects from the "time slippage" due to the proximity. The other planets were further away from the singularity to have much lesser effects. The closer you are to a mass time move slower, it's how the universe works. It's why the GPS satellites adjust their clocks constantly. They experience less gravity time moves slightly faster.

The farm machinery went to the house because that's what they were programmed to do in the case of problems. The GPS was screwing due to gravity problems (also why the drone was acting up) so when the GPS messed up the machines went to the house for repairs/recalibration.

The gravity anomalies didn't extend beyond Murphy's room because it was Cooper who was causing them. The thing about the planets is that the film doesn't state that they're all in the same solar system.

 

[Relayer1]

I am a little curious, for those of you who found this film less than satisfactory...what exactly DO you like and expect? What was the last sci-fi film you did enjoy?

Sometimes I think fanboys take pride in their high standards a little too far. It must be tough to enjoy anything.

Emotional involvement. This movie was stone cold. It had none.

Excitement. It dragged because of the lack of involvement. It was dull.

Plot. I hated the resolution sending the message back, communicating through the books. Pants.

Cast. McConaughey, Hathathaway, Caine, Lithgow. Didn't like.


I have to face facts, I simply may not like Nolan films. I've only seen one (The Dark Knight) that I really liked. The rest I've hated (i.e. The Prestige) or found very overrated (i.e. Inception). He tries hard to be clever, but doesn't really pull it off.

I tend to like escapist stuff with no pretentions, action adventure, fun. I've not seen much in the way of hard(ish) sci-fi that really works on screen, although I live in hope.

I didn't like Gravity either...

No emotional involvement? Not sure I agree with that at all. The entire plot was really about Cooper's love of his family and the special relationship with his daughter. The intensity of the middle acts is all based on the desire to go ahead with "Plan A" and save not just the human race, but the people currently on the planet. Mann's personal meltdown...Anne Hathaway's love...Michael Cain's lie....the whole film was built around human emotions.

But, like you said, I think its more about not liking the style of th filmmaker and therefore finding the portrayal of these things to be ineffective. To say it was cold and unemotional simply isn't accurate. Maybe the portrayal of those elements was not effective or appreciated from your viewpoint, but to pretend they didn't exist simply isn't true.

Oh, I agree. I 'got' that there was supposed to be an emotional engagement. That it failed so spectacularly for me but worked for others is a puzzle. I tend to be rather sentimental...

 

[Trekker4747]

Planets closer to the singularity would experience stronger effects from the "time slippage" due to the proximity. The other planets were further away from the singularity to have much lesser effects. The closer you are to a mass time move slower, it's how the universe works. It's why the GPS satellites adjust their clocks constantly. They experience less gravity time moves slightly faster.

The farm machinery went to the house because that's what they were programmed to do in the case of problems. The GPS was screwing due to gravity problems (also why the drone was acting up) so when the GPS messed up the machines went to the house for repairs/recalibration.

The gravity anomalies didn't extend beyond Murphy's room because it was Cooper who was causing them. The thing about the planets is that the film doesn't state that they're all in the same solar system.

The wormhole gave the access to several stellar systems. But the Garganuta one showed the most promise and it was a binary system, a neutron star was Gargantua's companion. All of the planets visited in the movie were around either Gargantua or its companion star. They didn't travel between star-systems in the movie, doing so would have required them to go back through the wormhole to another system (since they wouldn't be able to travel to any other systems an other way.) Given their limited fuel resources -a recurring plot point- all of the visited planets had to be in the same system.

The gravity anomalies didn't extend beyond Murphy's room because it was Cooper who was causing them.

There were gravity anomalies also being created by the wormhole which caused Cooper's crash in the opening sequence/"flashback." So, then, either it was these that screwed with the navigation of the farm equipment or remnants of what Cooper was doing in Murph's room. I argue the latter since Cooper surprised and confused by the malfunctioning farm equipment. If the GPS occasionally going out of whack was common due to the wormhole it'd be something Cooper would be dealing with all of the time. -Though he wouldn't know why. But it's implied this is the first time the farm equipment has acted up, plus the drone acting up which Cooper seemed confused about, unsure of why the drone malfunctioned.

I believe this may be remnants of one of the earlier drafts of the script where the pre-destination paradox stuff was a lot more complex and circular and the movie as a whole a lot more bizarre. I even want to say in the original script the drone was actually a space-module from the mission Cooper ends-up going on.

But it seemed implied to me the trouble Cooper was causing in Murphy's room from the Tesseract was also possibly impacting the drone and farm equipment. The changes in gravity he as making in the room could have spread outwards to effect other things. Gravity not being something that's localized.

 

[DWF]

Planets closer to the singularity would experience stronger effects from the "time slippage" due to the proximity. The other planets were further away from the singularity to have much lesser effects. The closer you are to a mass time move slower, it's how the universe works. It's why the GPS satellites adjust their clocks constantly. They experience less gravity time moves slightly faster.

The farm machinery went to the house because that's what they were programmed to do in the case of problems. The GPS was screwing due to gravity problems (also why the drone was acting up) so when the GPS messed up the machines went to the house for repairs/recalibration.

The gravity anomalies didn't extend beyond Murphy's room because it was Cooper who was causing them. The thing about the planets is that the film doesn't state that they're all in the same solar system.

The wormhole gave the access to several stellar systems. But the Garganuta one showed the most promise and it was a binary system, a neutron star was Gargantua's companion. All of the planets visited in the movie were around either Gargantua or its companion star. They didn't travel between star-systems in the movie, doing so would have required them to go back through the wormhole to another system (since they wouldn't be able to travel to any other systems an other way.) Given their limited fuel resources -a recurring plot point- all of the visited planets had to be in the same system.

And I already all of the planets had to be in the same solar system, the movie however is rather vague on that point and many other points. But the previous ship only travelled to those three planets, those were the only choices for them.

 

[Vger23]

Emotional involvement. This movie was stone cold. It had none.

Excitement. It dragged because of the lack of involvement. It was dull.

Plot. I hated the resolution sending the message back, communicating through the books. Pants.

Cast. McConaughey, Hathathaway, Caine, Lithgow. Didn't like.


I have to face facts, I simply may not like Nolan films. I've only seen one (The Dark Knight) that I really liked. The rest I've hated (i.e. The Prestige) or found very overrated (i.e. Inception). He tries hard to be clever, but doesn't really pull it off.

I tend to like escapist stuff with no pretentions, action adventure, fun. I've not seen much in the way of hard(ish) sci-fi that really works on screen, although I live in hope.

I didn't like Gravity either...

No emotional involvement? Not sure I agree with that at all. The entire plot was really about Cooper's love of his family and the special relationship with his daughter. The intensity of the middle acts is all based on the desire to go ahead with "Plan A" and save not just the human race, but the people currently on the planet. Mann's personal meltdown...Anne Hathaway's love...Michael Cain's lie....the whole film was built around human emotions.

But, like you said, I think its more about not liking the style of th filmmaker and therefore finding the portrayal of these things to be ineffective. To say it was cold and unemotional simply isn't accurate. Maybe the portrayal of those elements was not effective or appreciated from your viewpoint, but to pretend they didn't exist simply isn't true.

Oh, I agree. I 'got' that there was supposed to be an emotional engagement. That it failed so spectacularly for me but worked for others is a puzzle. I tend to be rather sentimental...

Gotcha...!

 

[Forbin]

Gonna chime in with a quick review without reading the whole thread, 'cause I finally saw the film saturday.

Liked:
Stunning visuals
Beautiful score
Excellent performances
Good story.
Technical & scientific accuracy (mostly)

Didn't like:
Metaphysical stuff behind the bookcase
Damon's crazy gotta-kill-everybody character cliche

Confused by:
Everybody back on earth driving the same cars for 30 years!
How the guy they left on the ship had enough supplies to last 23 years, and the patience to wait 23 years without going crazy - I know he said he took a couple of hypersleeps, but he clearly aged at least 10 years.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Gonna chime in with a quick review without reading the whole thread, 'cause I finally saw the film saturday.

Liked:
Stunning visuals
Beautiful score
Excellent performances
Good story.
Technical & scientific accuracy (mostly)

Didn't like:
Metaphysical stuff behind the bookcase
Damon's crazy gotta-kill-everybody character cliche

Confused by:
Everybody back on earth driving the same cars for 30 years!
How the guy they left on the ship had enough supplies to last 23 years, and the patience to wait 23 years without going crazy - I know he said he took a couple of hypersleeps, but he clearly aged at least 10 years.

I mostly agree with this.

I am on the fence still about my position on the bookcase, but the other stuff I agree with.

 

[Hatshepsut]

The closer you are to a mass time move slower, it's how the universe works. It's why the GPS satellites adjust their clocks constantly. They experience less gravity time moves slightly faster.

This is true in General Relativity. However, at the point a difference in clock rates becomes really noticeable, the gravitational forces on the planet orbiting closer to the singularity are so extreme that this planet and anybody on it would be shredded by tidal effects.

 

[Scout101]

Enjoyed most of this, the ending kinda fell flat for me. Fine with the tesseract bit, sci-fi and all, but didn't like when Cooper got home. After all this, the family bit was really odd and cold. Yeah, Murphy is the big hero, but no one even seems to give a shit that Cooper showed up. He should still be an important part of the story, especially once she figured out that he had somehow provided the answers she needed to solve the equation and save everyone. Just complete disinterest in him, and she even tells him to get lost, basically.

Kind of a longshot to dump yourself into space again to go back to Brand, but sure, why not. Of course, the humans have had about 100 years to launch another mission. With more resources and time, why haven't they launched any more missions? Maybe they were about to, but seems like they could have sent more missions and solved this. They could go look at the other 9 worlds that they didn't get to before due to resources, as well as check on the one Brand wound up on. They could then populate any that were acceptable, if any. And, you know, rescue Brand (or join her). to let her go on alone, and then just send Cooper by himself, seems kinda dick...

 

[Trekker4747]

Everybody back on earth driving the same cars for 30 years!

It's likely the manufacturing industry had also taken a huge impact. They simply weren't building new cars and likely were spending more resources in simply keeping cars that currently exist running.

 

[Trekker4747]

Okay, one thing I didn't get is that on the first planet they new there was a great deal of gravitational time dilation. (An hour on the planet was years outside of the influence of the black hole.) So why was it a surprise for them that what they encountered on the planet was "recent?" Shouldn't they have been able to calculate out how much time the lander had "really" been on the planet as opposed to how much time has passed for everyone else?

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

One line that would have been awesome at the end of the movie. "Great thing about those space chicks, I get older, they stay the same age." Roll credits.

 

[Skywalker]

One line that would have been awesome at the end of the movie. "Great thing about those space chicks, I get older, they stay the same age." Roll credits.

Alright, alright, alright.

 

[Deckerd]

As a general rule, I never buy Blu-rays until they come down to under £5, but I made an exception for this movie, not just because of the quality of the film, but because of the 3 hours of special features.

The film is perhaps not a dramatic masterpiece, but it is a technical masterpiece and the docs on it are fascinating. Particularly the one about creating the music, which was largely done on a single massively complex church organ, played by an exceptionally talented man.

But it was sooooooo loooooong. The first half was an entire film not about space. Also 'hard sci fi' is much misused here. Just because the setting is more or less contemporaneous and without aliens and stuff doesn't make the development of the theme any less fantastical.

Also, if you have future us who can manipulate space and time in such a sophisticated way to get historical characters to influence the timeline; why go about it in such a completely arsey way?

Finally, no matter how blighted the planet becomes, it's always going to be the only home for the billions left behind when a few privileged chosen spin off in their tin cans.

 

[Trekker4747]

One line that would have been awesome at the end of the movie. "Great thing about those space chicks, I get older, they stay the same age." Roll credits.

"That's the thing about relativity man, they keep getting older, I stay the same age." would make more sense than pretty much saying the exact same thing.

Finally, no matter how blighted the planet becomes, it's always going to be the only home for the billions left behind when a few privileged chosen spin off in their tin cans.

It's implied that the planet's population has been severely impacted by the conditions that have existed for many decades. (The movie supposed takes place in the 2060s or so) The plan with "solving gravity" was to be able to launch stations big enough to evacuate all remaining people from the planet, not just a select group of people.

 

[1001001]

It's implied that the planet's population has been severely impacted by the conditions that have existed for many decades. (The movie supposed takes place in the 2060s or so) The plan with "solving gravity" was to be able to launch stations big enough to evacuate all remaining people from the planet, not just a select group of people.

I think that was more than implied. That was "Plan A".