INTERSTELLAR, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, AND THE USE OF THE METAPHYSICAL IN SCIENCE FICTION FILMS (DON'T DO IT)

I did not like INTERSTELLAR at all.  I am a sci fi purist I guess and I hate it when films combine that with metaphysics and new age nonsense. I don't even like 2001 for that reason and this is far worse. Also it's dreadfully long, very dull, and full of uninteresting characters.  It wouldn't have hurt to have Anne Hathaway eaten by some kind of alien lifeform.  Only good thing I can say is it's always nice to see Michael Caine in anything.

Getting back to the introduction of metaphysics into sci-fi, it’s quite a tricky thing to pull off.  Generally, to work it has to be grounded in the world of the real, of science.  SOLARIS (the original) and BLADE RUNNER are two examples where the notion of something more than the immediate story works but what is there, a self-aware planet and self-aware robots, is explainable by the film’s take on science.

I have never cared for 2001 despite its overwhelming visuals, sound, narrative switches.  The whole thing at the end with Keir Dullea becoming an old man is just ridiculous to me. It’s pointless inscrutability ruins even the good parts like HAL’s breakdown. In the end, it’s just another black monolith of meaninglessness for the monkeys to throw their poop at.