I
don’t know at what point I stopped caring about the main characters in
“Interstellar” but it must have been upon losing all interest as to
whether they ’make it’ or don’t. Or it may have been at the one point a
crew member is lost and the reaction was, “So what?”

The film is
long, at 169 minutes, with a lot of forgettable science verbiage that is
forgotten by most of the audience before the credits start running.
Will even the science nerds in the audience remember the dialogue
regarding the black hole or the worm hole? Isn’t it enough to say that 
one hour in space will equal 7 hours on earth without getting into
quantum theories? I’d rather hear how Anne Hathaway’s hair stays so
sculptured after having a space helmet on for a flight, walking in water
and on ice plus the gravity experienced, which is talked about but
doesn’t seem to affect hairdos!

Director Christopher Nolan and
co-writer of the script with his brother Jonathan, seem to know what
they want to say when dealing with family relationships but when the
abruptly take off space they seem to get lost. “Gravity” set the bar
high for filming in space and spaceships and “Interstellar” comes
nowhere near those scenes and feelings. The Nolans, along with the
Director of Photography Hoyte van Hoytema, get the feel, sights and
sounds of earth drying up and the possibility of the end of earth is
made believable as are the various family relations, but once the movie
blasts off to space everything comes to a halt except for a robot that
seems more livelier than the humans.

The cast do what they can
with what they got but Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, former test pilot
who is brought back to lead this mission to find a place that the humans
on earth can move to before they die, is fine in the father and
daughter scenes but does not bring much to the hero aspect of the film.
Oh, and a side note, he does need to put on some of the  weight he lost
for “Dallas Buyers Club”. Anne Hathaway has a thankless part while
Michael Caine as her father gets to repeat Dylan Thomas”s poem “Do not
go gentle into that good night” a few times. Murph, Cooper’s daughter,
is played by 3 actresses and as the 10 year old Mackenzie Foy is a stand
out while Jessica Chastain as Murph in her 30s has nothing to do but
being angry.

David Gyasi and Wes Bently as the crew working with
McConaughey and Hathaway, along with computerized robot voiced by Bill
Irwin, are more than adequate. They are 3 other actors, not to be named,
in the film so as not to provide spoilers. Also Casey Affleck, as
Murph’s brother, in an underwritten role does what he can with it.

Ah
yes I must give credit to Hans Zimmer for the too often loud music,
signifying nothing, for keeping me awake in the last hour of
“Interstellar”.