Film Review: Interstellar

For fourteen years now Christopher Nolan has achieved a near unstoppable success in film, rising to become one of the best directors in the business. Having concluded The Dark Knight Trilogy in 2012, the renowned director has now turned his sights to the realm of science fiction and the result is what can easily be the considered one of the best if not the best film of the year.

Interstellar takes place in the future where the Earth has almost run out of food; dust storms ravage what was once a healthy world and society has devolved into an endless line of struggling farmers. Facing the possibility of extinction, a team of NASA scientists led by Professor Brand (Michael Caine) commissions a team to travel through a wormhole in a bid to find another planet for habitation. The crew is comprised of several scientists and leading man Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) who reluctantly agrees to leave his family behind to serve as the ship’s pilot for the mission. In a similar way to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar is split into several defined acts (minus the text that introduces them).

The film begins on Earth where we’re introduced to the characters and the setting they live which is conveyed brilliantly through the emotional bond between Cooper and his young daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy). From there, the film cuts between outer space and the characters back on Earth as they attempt to unravel theories which will assist in saving the human race. What makes it all work is the build-up that occurs in both the character’s emotions and the inevitable countdown to save humanity; as things grow more and more desperate and out of control, you’ll find yourself believing in the characters to succeed.

The film, like many of Nolan’s previous works mixes in several themes and ideas, most notably human nature and the concept of love being something which transcends time and space. With this in mind, the film builds an emotional resonance that not only matches Nolan’s previous work, but leaps beyond the norm for science-fiction. The plot’s one misstep is a poignant moment towards the end of the film, which may stick out as rather confusing for some. But does this damage the narrative in a major way? Not so much for me personally; when every other aspect of the film is so engaging, so immaculately produced, it’s easy to overlook these small flaws. While NASA sends a group of people to the beyond, the film’s central focus never deviates from Cooper, who is characterised with a simple yet strong purpose; an immensely emotive connection to his family. When he looks and weeps over several transmitted messages from his family, you can feel the weight of the burden that is placed on him. McConaughey’s heartfelt performance is matched by Foy’s where we see an equal amount of pressure and desperation built up.

The other characters, most notably Anne Hathaway as biologist Amelia Brand and the aforementioned Michael Caine are also on hand to give plentiful amounts of reinforcement to the film’s central themes. Even the actors who receive smaller roles such as Matt Damon and Wes Bentley are intriguing in the ways they contribute to the film’s scientific undertones, further engaging the audience in the journey. By possessing a small circle of characters, Interstellar never becomes too uneven, allowing the plot and special effects to sit on a relatively consistent level.

2001 was one of the first science fiction films to dazzle audiences with its spell-binding imagery; and if Interstellar effects achieve anything, they represent just how far we’ve come in animation. The visuals and settings of Nolan’s latest epic are absolutely stunning, and perfectly draw the audience into the journey beyond the stars. From the gorgeous celestial backdrops to the planets explored by the team, every location feels vast and expansive and on top of it all, the production crew even brought in theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, making many of the film’s portrayals of space travel feel much more grounded in reality. The sound, typical of many Nolan films, is loud and booming; despite the few times it gets in the way of dialogue, you really do feel the roar of the spaceship and the weather effects on each planet. There’s also a heavy use of organs during the more intense scenes which greatly heightens the urgency of the character’s struggles. Suffice it to say that when it all comes together, in terms of technical presentation, Interstellar could well be the most beautiful science fiction film of modern times.

Interstellar is quite simply a modern movie masterpiece; I haven’t been so captivated by a film since 2005’s King Kong. It was never going to be as ground-breaking as something like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it doesn’t need to be; this is the one film this year that will utterly blow you away and leave you awe-struck and astounded from beginning to end.