The Critical Frog: Interstellar

Back when I lived about 45 minutes from Disney's Epcot, they had a ride where you could experience what it was like to be an astronaut going into space. It was fittingly called "Mission: Space", and was divided into two levels of difficulty. There was orange, which became increasingly annoying by spinning around and around as you tried to do your various space activities, It was actually pretty cool, if you could get past the overwhelming urge to puke your guts out (happy Thanksgiving, by the way- did you enjoy your turkey?). Then there was green, which completely ditched the spinning aspect and basically left you sitting in a box for ten minutes. It was ideal if you were a wimp.

All I could think of during Interstellar was how much it reminded me of orange levels' spinning.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for space movies, and Interstellar isn't an exception. I like the film- the story is nice, the plot is straightforward (with a few exceptions) and the CGI is phenomenal. I just think that Ridley Scott went a little overboard so to speak on all the tilted camera angles and spinning. Come to think of it, when do we ever get to see a film review completely ignoring the movie's plot points and focus simply on the camera?

Seriously, what's up with the movement of this film? It's all over the place. The camera styles range from quick and jumpy cuts to uncomfortably long shots without much rhyme or reason. In the works of Kubrick and Miyazaki, long shots are used to create a sense of discomfort or meaningfulness. Here, a few of them seem to go on forever to no avail.

When the shots work, they bring great imagery and a sense of hopelessness to the atmosphere of space (in particular the water planet's massive tidal waves). But when they don't, all they seem to bring is a headache. Literally.

I came out of Interstellar with three things: A migrane from the bad shots, a feeling of importance in the grand scheme of life (the film's point) and the remains of a Cherry Coke Iccee (you mix Coke iccee and cherry iccee. It's really good). Is it a good film? Yeah. Is the camera good? No.

OVERALL RATING: 7/10
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Remember how I said that Mission Space had two modes? So does Interstellar. It has the powerful Orange mode, with strong emotional scenes and great landscapes despite the camera's issues, and then it has the insanely boring Green. It's a it of a toss-up, but overall not bad.