Review Detail

I have only seen this movie three times and I know that it proved quite divisive on it’s initial release as some loathe it well others love it, I would say that I am somewhere in the middle where I find that the movie has it’s high points but was held back by some of it’s low points or be it minuscule low points. I would definitely say that this edit has jettisoned the vast majority of it’s low points to the nearest black hole such as the occasional bad dialogue and the jokes that didn’t quite stick the landing.

Additionally by eliminating the majority of the farm scenes from the rest of the cut not only has pacing been improved significantly allowing for a more focused plotline that maintains the grandiose and existential feeling of being in the deepest depths of outer space but Tom has effectively become a more likeable and reasonable character rather than an outright scrappy who created artificial conflict to pad out the film’s theatrical runtime.

Though I still wander what became of him in the end though apparently from what I’ve read the novelisation explains his fate and gives more justification as to why the dad would be so quick to leave Cooper Station to seek out and potentially stay with Amelia Brand, speaking of family and connectivity the part where Cooper is looking over all those old video call messages is still really gut wrenching to watch as is the general sense of separation in the moments where he could be with his daughter only for them to be so far apart. I can definitely say that the acting between the two really sells the emotional intensity of those scenes.

Visually and narratively I liked the crossfade to the burning corn scene as it not only elevates the tension and maintains the sombre mood of the previous scene but shows a brief glimpse of the bond and grown maturity between brother and sister though other than visual and narrative editing arrangements there was some great dialogue manipulation and placement throughout with the only misplaced example for me being Dr Brand’s Did you notice anything strange line due to his mouth not moving during said scene giving of the impression that he was using telepathy.

On the subject of sound the opening not only displays good use of text that matches the style of the theatrical cut but the colour tone and rising music serves to perfectly build the melancholy and larger than life atmosphere that the edit carries fourth from the theatrical cut and naturally enhances it due to the cutting of some of the films weaker aspects, the added music for the most part resonates perfectly giving the films cinematic journey great meaning and pathos with a little sense of nostalgia sprinkled in though there are a few little things I did notice which could have been edited better or cut out.

The song that plays before there preparation for hibernation veers a bit to close to the left ear rather than the sound being balanced out so that it plays throughout both sides of the headphone simultaneously with a similar issue occurring during what I dub the winters day song where the sound veers to the left than shoots to the right and abruptly cuts of rather than playing in both sides and fading out naturally, when the security guard yells out to Murphy to not be afraid and than it cuts to her immediately being afraid it comes across as unintentionally comedic due to her scream.

There’s also still Amelia Brands love stuff theory and while a good majority of that has been trimmed I feel that most of or all if possible could have been cut out all together and finally the gear shifting scene in the car is a little on the jumpy side in it’s cutting however looking at the cutlist for this edit and of course the source material I do understand why this cut was made, these little nitpicks I have aren’t enough to take me out of the edit entirely though there a little distracting but that’s not to say that I think this is a bad edit in fact I think it’s a great edit and certainly a huge improvement over the theatrical version and my go to version for Interstellar from this point onwards.

Additionally before I conclude this review have you thought about doing an alternate black and white version of this edit that matches the cover art? the reason I bring this question and possibility fourth is that black and white used in conjunction with atmospheric music not only fits like a glove but it would offer an interesting and alternative lens to view this film through for potential new and returning viewers of this great edit.