Interstellar (2014) - Movie Review
However, both of these methods don't seem very fitting after seeing it, so I'll start by saying this: Interstellar is, quite honestly, the best movie-going experience I have ever had. There are so many things about it that make it great, but it all comes down to this: it melds its impressive visuals perfectly with its emotional impact. This is so important for many films today, as they repeatedly entice us with their stellar visuals while sometimes falling a hair short on the emotional front (or vice versa).
Let's start with the story. Interstellar's plot largely operates around a 2001-type setup: multiple movements in the same grand symphony. However, the movements in Interstellar flow together far better than in 2001. For example, in 2001 we get a very lengthy and dialogue-free setup, solid but pretentious middle chapters, and a strange, disconnected climax. In Interstellar, we get a lengthy but intriguing (and dialogue-filled) setup, an enticing middle chapter that makes an emotional connection, a first climax that echoes the classic "survival of the fittest" arc, and a second climax that, while strange at first, weaves the entire film together and answers a lot of our unanswered questions that we didn't even know were meant to be answered.
If Interstellar sounds complicated, that's because it is. It has an amazing intellectual reach due to its complex subject material of wormholes, the space-time continuum, more than three dimensions in space, and the extinction of the human race. The essential premise is that the human race is running out of resources on earth to survive due to the lavish living of the 20th century. NASA, operating underground due to public opinion about government spending, has sent missions through a wormhole around Saturn to another galaxy that has several prospective planets for human survival. Cooper, a widowed farmer and former NASA engineer and pilot, stumbles upon this underground NASA, only to find that they want him to pilot a mission to this other galaxy to find a new home for the human race. The rest of the movie (about 110 minutes) deals with this mission and its outcomes. I won't reveal the ending of the movie; however, I will tell you that it is worth staying for all 169 minutes to see it.
This complex premise is contrasted by the simple message at the heart of the film: love transcends everything, even space and time. This may seem to be an incredibly overdone message in movies, but the way Interstellar handles it is incredibly tasteful and emotionally rewarding. Many times we see messages transmitted to the spacecraft the crew is traveling on which they cannot reply to. When time begins being altered as they approach a black hole (as in one hour there equals seven years on Earth), Cooper begins seeing his children grow dramatically older. By the end of the film, Cooper is younger than his daughter. These scenes with McConaughey, Jessica Chastain (playing his daughter Murph), and Casey Affleck (playing his son Tom) are among the most heart-wrenching I have ever seen when placed in context. The film's climax also deals with this theme quite significantly, but to prevent spoilers I will not go into any details. Just know that it is incredible and emotionally stirring.
Visually, Interstellar is majestic, thrilling, and enticing. We are reminded time and time again of Nolan's incredible artistic eye with shots of the crews spacecraft (not small by any means) juxtaposed with Saturn; the bleak, icy landscape of one of the planets they visit; and the shots placed on the exterior of the spacecraft during a complicated maneuver. We also see that he has taken many of the technologies present in 2001 and modernized them, such as the hibernation chambers and the rotating space station to produce gravity. However, the most visually stunning scenes are by far when they pass through the wormhole and in the climax when Cooper goes into the black hole to save another crew member. They take the "Star Gate" sequence at the end of 2001 and more fully develop it to become plausible, making for one heck of a ride. It is sequences like this that make Interstellar a must-view in a theater if possible, as the large visual scope is far more effective on a large screen than a small one.
Another aspect of Interstellar that makes it an intense sensory experience is the sound. The score, masterfully done by Hans Zimmer, uses a lot of pipe organ to convey the sense of awe and the large scale of the film. It also accurately reflects the tone of the film and what is happening on screen well, swelling in all the right places and being absent when it is effective. The sound mixing is stellar as well, being slightly reminiscent of Gravity with the respect that there is no sound in space.
With respect to acting, Interstellar is phenomenal. Matthew McConaughey delivers his best work yet as Cooper and deserves much consideration for awards this year. Jessica Chastain is also very deserving for a Best Supporting Actress nod, as her performance is very emotionally driven and connects well with the audience. Michael Caine is true to form as yet another mentor figure in a Nolan film (this is still not getting old), while Anne Hathaway, David Gyasi, and Wes Bently round out a group of solid performances from the astronaut crew. Matt Damon gives a surprisingly stellar performance as the primary antagonist, playing a HAL-like villain, minus the fact that he's human. The child actors for young Murph and Tom are fantastic as well, maintaining a child-like innocence that permeates their characters. The last mention I will make for acting is the voice acting of Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart as TARS and CASE, two robot assistants on the astronauts' journey. They make these two robots very personable and relatable, in a very similar method to JARVIS from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They are humorous and bring a light-heartedness to an otherwise weighty film.
Interstellar is yet another Christopher Nolan masterpiece that I will remember for quite some time. Just like The Dark Knight and Inception, Nolan manages to craft a film in Interstellar that exceeds all of our expectations and changes our perspective on what a blockbuster can be by providing a lot of food for thought on relevant themes, all the while maintaining our short attention spans with the impressive visuals or intense action that we expect. It is a truly rewarding spectacle that wows us visually and impacts us emotionally to a degree I still cannot comprehend. Well done, Mr. Nolan. I, once again, tip my hat to your art.
My recommendation: Buy it.
Grade: 97
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