Interstellar (2014) review

Christopher Nolan is a director who just makes excellent movies. He’s one of those directors who, in my opinion, has yet to make a bad film. Of course, many people will primarily recognize him as the man who revived the ‘Batman’ film franchise with the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy which ran from 2005 to 2012. Those three films not only returned the series to its much darker roots but also differentiated themselves from other superhero movies by opting for a much more grounded tone. Not only is it the best superhero film trilogy ever made, but it’s also one of the best film trilogies period. But those aren’t the only great films that Nolan has made. He’s also helmed projects like ‘Memento’, ‘The Prestige’, and ‘Inception’, which were all very well-written films that didn’t talk down to the audience like some films admittedly do. That trend continues with Nolan’s newest film, and his first following the conclusion of the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, ‘Interstellar’. This is easily Nolan’s most ambitious film to date in regards to the film’s overall scope and scale. Heck, it’s even its longest film to date at 169 minutes, which beats his previous film, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, by just four minutes. However, under his usual great direction, ‘Interstellar’ turns out to be a truly one-of-a-kind motion picture experience, especially in IMAX which is pretty much the best way to see this movie.

The film takes place in the near future, where the Earth’s resources are slowly but surely starting to diminish, mostly due to blight and dust storms. During this time of crisis, NASA seeks a way to try and save humanity and seemingly find a solution when they discover a wormhole near Saturn. They set up a mission to send a ship into space to go through the wormhole, following a series of similarly manned spacecraft which were all sent up some time ago, and survey new planets in order to find a suitable new home. To lead the mission, NASA recruits one of their former test pilots, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a widowed engineer who currently lives as a farmer with his father-in-law Donald (John Lithgow) and his two kids; his son Tom (Timothée Chalamet, later played by Casey Affleck) and his daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy, later played by Jessica Chastain). Though he is rather reluctant to go at first due to the fact that he would be leaving his kids behind for an uncertain amount of time, Cooper agrees to lead the mission and heads up into space along with his fellow crew members, including Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), the daughter of one of NASA’s key professors (Michael Caine), Doyle (Wes Bentley), Romilly (David Gyasi), and robots TARS and CASE (voiced by Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart, respectively) in the hopes of finding a new habitable planet in order to save the human race.

‘Interstellar’ drew me in from the very beginning and I was hooked from beginning to end. From a technical perspective, the film is pretty much near-perfect. The visuals are outstanding, especially in the sequences that take place during space and when the characters go into the black hole, as is the cinematography in the first film since Nolan’s directorial debut to not be shot by Wally Pfister. As a director, Nolan has been known for using as much practical effects as possible and it seems like this is also the case, for the most part, in this film as well. The soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is also fantastic and those who are worried about the score sounding too similar to Zimmer’s work on Nolan’s other films will be pleased to know that this isn’t the case here. Now I did say ‘near-perfect’ earlier, and that is because the sound design for the film can be rather problematic at times. Sometimes the audio is so loud, due to either the film’s sound effects or sometimes even the score, that it’s hard to hear the dialogue. But ultimately, the best way to see this film is in IMAX. The visuals are even more eye-catching on the big screen and despite some issues with the sound design, sometimes you can even feel the theater shake during certain sequences like when the spaceships are launching. I also saw it in the 70 mm format which served as a nice bit of nostalgia for me seeing how this is probably the first film that I’ve seen in quite some time (geez, I sound old…) that wasn’t projected digitally. You could actually hear the projector running during moments of in-space silence.

One thing about Nolan’s films that his critics frequently bring up is that when it comes to his writing, he’s more focused on story than he is with characters. While I do certainly see where they’re coming from, I’d argue that his films aren’t entirely devoid of character and substance. It’s just that most of the emotional depth of his films mostly come from the arcs of the main characters while most of the side characters don’t get as much to work with in that regard, and this is sort of the case here with Cooper. However, the emotional resonance of his storyline, primarily his relationship with Murph and the conflict that he faces in regards to having to decide to leave his family in order to save the world, is actually really spot-on and I’ll admit that even I got a little emotional at times because of it. McConaughey of course has been on a big career comeback recently and this film is no exception as he gives one of the best performances of his career in this movie. And while it is true that McConaughey’s role does kind of overshadow every other character in the film, Nolan once again proves to be one of the best ‘actor’ directors in the business thanks to great performances from all involved including Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin (even though he’s just voicing a robot), and Michael Caine. There’s even a neat little cameo by someone you will no doubt recognize in the latter half of the film. Now despite Nolan’s knack for secrecy, you’ve probably already know who it is given the extremely spoiler-ific nature of the internet. Even I’ll admit I knew about it going in. Still, for anybody who doesn’t know about it already, I won’t spoil it here.

‘Interstellar’… is truly an outstanding film. While Nolan’s critics hate to hear the comparisons made between him and Stanley Kubrick, ‘Interstellar’ is very much inspired by Kubrick (namely his own sci-fi epic ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’) and it’s safe to say that this is Nolan’s ‘2001’. Its visuals are outstanding matched by the film’s overall scale and scope. It’s also certainly Nolan’s most ambitious film to date and while some may argue that the film bites off more than it can chew, I do feel that the film does manage to succeed in that regard more than it may fail. Not only that, but the movie does have enough emotional resonance through the arc of the character of Cooper thanks to both the writing and McConaughey’s excellent leading performance. Now I do realize that this is, at the moment, becoming one of the more polarizing films of the year and while I haven’t seen that many negative reviews, most of the positive reviews I’ve heard are describing the film as ‘good but not great’. I for one think it’s one of the best films of the year so far, but regardless of whether or not you end up liking the film, one thing’s for certain; it’s still very much a must-see in theaters, especially in IMAX and if you do have the opportunity to do so, preferably in 70 mm. It’s a film that truly delivers on spectacle and does manage to be more than just that.

Rating: 5/5!