[rantanplan]

Doctor Hugh Mann and the whole narrative around him was one of the most cringe-worthy moments I've seen in a movie of that caliber/budget.

The motives behind the characters (Anne Hathaway's character deciding to sacrifice humanity to see her boyfriend, Caine's character withholding physics advancements for years, Murph's whole behavior... and so numerous others) was, objectively, bad writing. Of the kind that you really wonder how it got out in the public and into such a high profile movie. I can't think of a single person in that movie that acts realistically. To the point that I kind of believe that the "plot" was just a pretext for Kip Thornes awesome work on the visualizations of the wormholes.

The plotholes... well way too many. That was the movie that ruined Nolan for me. Up to that point I was a very big fan.

[unethical_ban]

And here I am, recognizing some of the plot holes existing but Interstellar is one of my favorite movies of all time. I've watched it several times, watched the first 30 minutes 10 times, and cry most times I watch it all the way through.

Let go of trying to analyze the realistic-ness of the physics (even if it's in this list) and immerse yourself in the story, the moment, and I think the characters are actually very realistic.

[rantanplan]

I am not analyzing the realism of the physics, I'm not qualified for that. Physicists say it's realistic enough and I believe them.

But realism in the science aspects of a movie shouldn't be an excuse for a lack of a coherent story or bad character development.

I respect your take and what that movie means to you, but don't think that I didn't want to immerse myself in it or anything like that. I was highly anticipating this movie for years. It just didn't do it for me.

[majormajor]

I don't understand these complaints at all.

Hathaway's Brand didn't want to sacrifice humanity, she just had a conflict of interest around a decision in a VERY information-limited environment. Her non-love-related argument about the black hole capturing things that would be needed to create planets more capable of supporting life - that Cooper thought was probably just rationalization - made sense and would have led them to a better decision than going down to Mann's planet did. Where we got exactly the sort of sterile environment she was predicting, like the water planet before.

Brand-on-earth's "withheld physics advancements" was sorta the reverse - he withheld his failure because his math hadn't enabled the advances NASA hoped they would and so releasing them would've been telling everyone on earth they were doomed. He decided to put the fate of the species ahead of releasing useless results that he believed would ruin the only chance the species had. (Even without that, not publishing negative results is common anyway!)

Not sure about your complaint with Murph, since you aren't specific, but both kid Murph and adult seemed consistent to me.

I HATED the magic black hole deus ex machina on first viewing, and still don't love it, but found everything up to that amazing. I think a bleaker story of founding a colony on a new planet without the magic trip back to earth at the end could've been even better, though.

[lapetitejort]

> Caine's character withholding physics advancements for years

> I can't think of a single person in that movie that acts realistically

This is the most realistic action in the movie! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle

[rantanplan]

This is not related at all to what happened in the movie.

We're not talking about experimenting on people (thus causing accidents/deaths/etc) but about withholding new knowledge.

[jbjohns]

> Caine's character withholding physics advancements for years

But he didn’t do that. He and Mann had determined there was way forward and they were right. Without the new data from the black hole physics had gotten as far as it ever would.

EDIT: and Hathaway’s character didn’t intend to sacrifice humanity. One option was as good as any other. She even turned out to be right and most of the crew would have survived if they listened to her from the start.

[shuntress]

I don't really agree with all of your specific complaints but I do agree that Nolan's movies tend to have uninspired writing.

It's almost like an uncanny valley where the truly expert film-making delivers all the tone, gravitas, and emotion you could want from a script that feels bland and incomplete.