Six Less Stellar Moments in Interstellar

I've breathe it in. I've taken the time. I've stalled. I've been in cryo-sleep. I've been thinking about Christopher Nolan's visually flawless, story-wise flawed Interstellar. As a whole, the film's amazing. The lesser parts of the film is eclipsed by the far better part of the film. But during the film there's a moment here and there where you can't help but raise your eyebrows and cringe--or even giggle at the sheer stupidity. The lesser parts are actually the parts that the critics have no issue on. #lol

Oh btw, should I even need to write this warning?

S P O I L E R  A L E R T ! !

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6. Wes Bentley's death

A very poor death scene. A scientist decides to stare at the mountain-high wall of wave instead of running for his life. His death could be handled better, but this is what we get. At least the white guy dies first here.

How to improve it:
He gets swept by the waves while helping Brand or TARS get on the ship. An honorable death for a character who only spoke one memorable line.

5. Morse-coded watch

I don't know how a watch touched by a person from another dimension works but I'm pretty sure it's not that easy. Maybe it's just me nitpicking, but Jessica Chastain's Murph, did she just commit plagiarism? Someone took Rust Cohle's method to success.

How to improve it:
I have no idea. This part of the story is higher than my intelligence's clearance. But the stupidity in me expected Matthew McConaughey to break the bookshelf and be reunited with the old Murph. That's how stupid my expectations were.

4. Mann docking

This is the part where the film is most hilarious. Someone turned the humor level to 100% here. It's a hyper mundane action accompanied by stellar Zimmer music. It's almost like an Edgar Wright comedy scene.

How to improve it:
Cut those scenes where the lock doesn't want to lock. Make the whole affair shorter.

3. Bookshelf blackhole/wormhole

Hands down the longest cringe I did during the movie. It's so weird to have an all-out space scenes turned into the smallest place.

How to improve it:
I don't think it matters because the pay off is worth the weirdness. But still, the first time you see it, you can't help but mutter 'what the fuck' or stop paying attention to your empty popcorn bag.

2. Matt Damon

I don't mind Matt Damon. But his reveal is such an eye candy and it kinda distracts the whole story. Years from now we'll speak of this movie like this,
"Hey you've seen that great sci-fi film Interstellar?"
"Yeah, the one where Matt Damon popped out of nowhere in the middle of the film?"
Instead of,
"Hey you've seen that great sci-fi film Interstellar?"
"Yeah, that's the one with the amazing wormhole scenes right?"

How to improve it:
I'd imagine having someone moderately famous in it. Corey Stoll comes to mind. Or Nolan's regular Cillian Murphy but he's too ominous. Yeah, Corey Stoll's my only choice to replace Damon.

1. Damon turns into Pinbacker

Story-wise, this is the weakest moment for me. Or maybe it's my expectations that wanted too much. I've always imagined Interstellar as a full-on space exploration story, where the villain is the alien nature. Apparently not. To those who are unfamiliar, Pinbacker is the [spoiler alert] villain from Danny Boyle & Alex Garland's superb sci-fi Sunshine, played by the ultimate modern Brit bad guy Mark Strong. The space ruined his mind and he sets out to kill everybody else.

How to improve it:
There's a lot of scenarios where this could go. The fanboy rage is filling up the internet as I write and and as you read this very sentence.


Still, I love Interstellar. For me, the sentimental story is a plus point. Why couldn't we have a sentimental story in a full-blown sci-fi film? Heartless critics. I look forward to seeing the film for the second time. After that, for the third time. And so on.