Interstellar
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[Rating: 4/5]
Christopher Nolan, the master of spectacle, is up to his old tricks. Even outside of his ‘Dark Knight’ franchise, Nolan has created some of the most original and universally well received Hollywood blockbusters from such hits as The Prestige and Inception. He has come to be known as the go-to director for smart, successful films that can actually manage to reach a wide audience. Now Nolan has set his gaze to the stars in the hope that he can continue this trend with Interstellar, a film he has started likening to Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Has he hit another one out of the park and created an instant-classic, or is he starting to get a little too big for his britches?
Interstellar starts its journey on Earth in the not-so-distant future. The planet has been through a lot, wars have happened, militaries have been disbanded and it seems like the planet is slowly dying. Crop after crop has been dying off with all that is left being corn. More than anything else, the world needs farmers. Widowed ex-NASA Pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) has taken up the call and given up his dreams to help grow crops for the slowly starving world while trying to raise two children with only his father-in-law Donald’s (John Lithgow) help. When mysterious things start happening in his daughter’s room, Cooper follows vague clues that lead him to a secret military base which houses the remnants of NASA. Run by Professor Brand (Michael Caine), they are developing a last-ditch effort to try and locate a habitable planet for the human race before it’s too late. Leaving his family behind for the greater good, Cooper decides to pilot the potentially one-way mission and join Brand’s daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway) and a group of Astronauts in a race against time to not only save the human race, but to get back to his family before it’s too late.
Christopher Nolan has always been a visual story-teller and Interstellar is no exception. Every single frame of this film is beautiful, crisp and clean. Things really ramp up, though, when the film breaks free of its earthly shackles and ventures into space. There are a few scenes in particular which are quite breath-taking, both involving unknown scientific anomalies like wormholes and black holes, which clearly let Nolan get imaginative in depicting how beautiful these phenomena could really be. These truly stand out because of how dreary the rest of the film can look, despite being beautiful there is a lot of grey used here both in the spacecraft and in the new planets the Astronauts explore. Nothing feels all that imaginative or truly visually exciting besides those few space-exploration scenes. It is almost a shame that he is adamantly opposed to using 3D technology because this is definitely an instance that could have truly shined if it was given that extra depth and scope.
Beyond the visuals there is a serviceable story here. There isn’t much new or exciting happening, no truly new themes are being explored or even old themes being tackled from a new perspective. Everything just feels a little run of the mill. That isn’t to say there aren’t some truly effective scenes here and the story never bores, which is a feat at almost 3 hours in length, and the performances from the entire cast truly elevate the material to a new level. They, however, can’t prevent a certain disconnect between what’s happening on screen and the audience. While some scenes do immerse you in them, the rest of the time there seems to be a lack of energy or enthusiasm that truly draws you in to the cinematic experience. It doesn’t help either when Hans Zimmer’s score keeps blasting away at you, overwhelming important chunks of dialogue. Tone it down, Hans! We actually want to follow the story!
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is an impressive movie, that’s for sure. The cast all give amazing performances and they may even bring you to tears with some of the more immersive scenes. Technically, everything except the overwhelming score is wonderful but you still may find yourself wanting here. It just lacks that raw, visceral, chest-thumping level of captivation that truly great films seem to magically muster inside of you. It’s certainly a very good film, but perhaps not as great as it was aiming to be.
