It is a pretty literal ending, in fact it almost feels like a cliffhanger for a sequel (not saying there should be one).
I wonder of instead actually showing Brand, Old Murph simply mentions Brand to Cooper, and then the last shot of the film is Cooper launching off into space.
I've only seen the film a couple times, but it's the scene where Damon is approaching the Endurance to dock with it improperly, and there is a scene where the camera is mounted to what appears to be the Endurance looking back at Damon's ship coming in to dock with it, and Damon's ship is kind of moving up and down and side to side as it gets closer to perform the dock - and it's during this scene where it appears the stars in the background are kind of pasted on the same plane as Damon's ship - and I counted that as the only technical flaw I saw in the film - but, I'm hoping I'm just flat out wrong, and that it could be due to the perspective of how the shot's being taken...
Anyone else who will see the film again - please pay attention to this scene and let me know if I'm correct, from the standpoint of it just being a small, small technical flaw. No big deal!!! The film itself is beyond incredible and transcends all other sci-fi films I've seen, at least.
Hmm... yes, that would be a problem if the camera was mounted to Endurance yet the stars moved in sync with the Ranger. I'll keep an eye out for it next time I see the film.
Cilogy wrote:It is a pretty literal ending, in fact it almost feels like a cliffhanger for a sequel (not saying there should be one).
I wonder of instead actually showing Brand, Old Murph simply mentions Brand to Cooper, and then the last shot of the film is Cooper launching off into space.
Agree with the "literal ending" thing. Which I found really surprising considering its a Nolan movie. He never spoonfeeds his audience.
Another major flaw which didn't sit right with me -
Cooper being a retired NASA pilot and currently a farmer, without having any flight experience for several years, how can he possibly go into Space exploration without any training at first place? The first act was totally rushed. I think it deserved a bit more character development chances.
Respectfully disagree, and instead agree with those who have called this film a lyrical fable. In fact, I love this film because I can also call it a sci-fi fairy tale of a film - in part due to what you have asked for more of in the film, i.e. more realistic scenes of characters being trained, etc. not being in the film. If the film did what you have asked for, then the dramatic transition scene where Coop says goodbye to Murph and drives off and literally launches into space - would not have worked in the way it does with the film as shot by Nolan. Nolan has shot this film as an artistic and imaginative sci-fi fable with lots of big ideas and concepts. I would stick to movies like Apollo 13 where they have extensive scenes of the astronauts suiting up and preparing for the mission, if that sort of realism is what you're needing. It would not have been possible for Nolan to make this film all things for all people. As we have it, Nolan has made a film to my liking and taste - I can't think of any other film, maybe 2001, or Contact, which comes close to Interstellar. But, this is just my humble opinion - nothing more, nothing less.
Cilogy wrote:It is a pretty literal ending, in fact it almost feels like a cliffhanger for a sequel (not saying there should be one).
I wonder of instead actually showing Brand, Old Murph simply mentions Brand to Cooper, and then the last shot of the film is Cooper launching off into space.
I agree with you on your first statment.
About you second statement, that could also work.
Yes, this is a film I feel absolutely needs that literal ending to work. It's not meant to be abstract, or ambiguous like Inception. Those last 10 minutes are the emotional payoff, and anything more abstract would be contradictory to the rest of the film. I do think it would have been interesting to swap the shots of Brand and Cooper though, with the last shot being Cooper launching into space, something reminiscent of the ending to The Dark Knight as Batman rides the Batpod up the ramp. Don't even change the voiceover, just swap the shots. I guess I'd have to see it done to know whether it would work.
Actually, now that I've seen it again, I think the ending as it is works pretty damn well.
It does two very important things:
1. When Cooper enters the blackhole we're left wondering whether Brand's mission actually succeeds. The final few shots confirm it, and Burstyn's voice over really solidifies it.
2. You realize that after Murph's death, Brand is really the only human connection Cooper has to his old life. The confirmation that Brand has colonized Edmund's planet shows that Cooper can continue as the "pioneer" he always wanted to be.
In that way, I really don't think a more ambiguous ending would have worked in this film.
Yeah an ambiguous ending would've created a tonal shift, barely anything in the film is ambiguous. One could maybe say it's not symbolical enough, although I explained one way symbolism works into it. But I certainly don't think the film would've worked the way it does without that those 10 minutes, at least not without having to revise the first two acts and pull stuff out or into them.
prince0gotham wrote:Yeah an ambiguous ending would've created a tonal shift, barely anything in the film is ambiguous. One could maybe say it's not symbolical enough, although I explained one way symbolism works into it. But I certainly don't think the film would've worked the way it does without that those 10 minutes, at least not without having to revise the first two acts and pull stuff out or into them.
To be totally clear, I should clarify something. I talked about this with my friends, but I don't remember if I included it in a post. When I say I don't want the last ten minutes, that doesn't mean I want the rest of the film to function as-is. There's plenty of ways the film could have concluded without all that stuff, and I wouldn't necessarily be against a montage. I think the ending needed a balance between being definitive and being ambiguous, and part of that comes with suggesting rather than nakedly showing. This is something The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises did perfectly in their final shots.
