'Interstellar' Review

Opinions aside: Christopher Nolan has a crazy amount of ambition.

Nolan's ninth feature film, 'Interstellar', may very well be his most epic undertaking. From the man who reinvented Batman for the twenty-first century, that's saying a lot. This movie revolves around inter-dimensional wormholes, quantum physics, extra-terrestrial life, time lapsing, and even the concept of evolution. The film strives to explain all of these ideas, while also holding a father/daughter relationship at its core. Does the movie achieve a delicate balancing act between all of these subjects? Not exactly. 

Let's start out with the story. In the near future, Earth has succumbed to a massive drought. This causes our planet to be in a nearly-constant dust bowl with scarce food supply. Farmers are now looked upon as admirably as doctors and scientists. Among one of these farmers is Cooper (played by Matthew McConaughey), a widower/former pilot/father who looks after his two kids with his father-in-law, played by John Lithgow. Eventually Cooper runs into an old friend played by Michael Caine, who works for a now crippled NASA. He and his team have discovered wormholes to different galaxies from satellite footage. Caine believes these wormholes could lead to a planet that humans could find inhabitable--away from the dying Earth. After being convinced to go on a life threatening mission with a small team, Cooper says his goodbyes to his two children, not knowing if this is their last moment together. Will Cooper save the Earth and make it home to his family? 

The first thing to mention is how stunningly gorgeous this picture is. If I were to judge this film on a purely visual impression, then not only would it be Nolan's best movie, but also one of the best sci-fi flicks of the decade. The beautiful silent long shots of black holes and gargantuan planets are a marvel to look at. Nolan also blends classic practical effects with modern CG graphics in one of the most masterful ways I've ever seen. Exteriors and interiors of ships are almost all real, while a small green-screen enhancement is used to show off the infinite space outside. Shots like these make 'Interstellar' unforgettable, whether you're a fan of the movie or not. It's also important to mention that Nolan shot the movie on 70mm film, as opposed to modern digital cameras. This proves that films can be just as epic and entertaining using old techniques.

The movie's cast is also quite impressive. It's McConaughey's movie, and he does a terrific job, even with a character who may seem a bit stale and cliche. Yet, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Wes Bentley, Casey Affleck, and John Lithgow all deliver fine performances. Not to mention, there's a pretty surprising famous actor who shows up near the end of the film's second act. To avoid spoilers, I won't give away who it is. Also, some may find it interesting to see Topher Grace squeeze into this impressive cast list.

While there are many things to fall in love with in this space epic, there's a good chunk of problems that make 'Interstellar' very frustrating at times. The movie's plot is always bound by the relationship McConaughey has to his children, specifically his daughter. It's a simple, yet sweet motivation that starts out almost without a hitch. Sadly, while the movie progresses, Nolan feels the need to keep switching from McConaughey in space to his ever changing daughter (eventually played by Jessica Chastain) on Earth, arguing with Michael Caine and Casey Affleck (McConaughey's grown-up son). These transitions are a bit jarring. To be honest, I would've been far more satisfied without the daughter centric sequences, and just keeping the plot focused on our lead until the film's final moments. This could've easily taken about thirty minutes off of the 2hr and 49 minute runtime. Yes, you read that runtime correctly. 

Another problem lies in the film's basic script structure. I get the feeling that a studio executive told Nolan that his movies were too gritty with no emotion, and he responded with a movie that featured a tear-jerking moment almost every other page of the screenplay. The trouble I had was that only one or two of these moments truly affected me, because the rest felt so forced. I love when a director tries new things after years of feeling repetitive, but he goes overboard, causing some of the film to feel senselessly sappy. You also get the feeling that the movie wants everything that could go wrong to go wrong for our cast of heroes. Last year's 'Gravity' had a similar structure, but I could take it for an hour and a half film, but for a movie that runs almost three hours, the constant "Your princess is in another castle" routine gets a tad bit obnoxious. This problem also paves way for plenty of strangely written dialogue. Nolan and his co-writing brother have truly amazing linguistic skills, but this leads a large chunk of exposition based dialogue, and character speeches that sound less natural and prepared beforehand. I almost found myself cringing when Anne Hathaway said that the mystery to discovering the secrets of the universe is LOVE! Sadly, this theme gets carried all the way through the flick.

All those quibbles aside, I still found 'Interstellar' quite enjoyable. Sure it's bloated and maybe a bit sappy, but that's the price a director must pay when he or she has the level of ambition carried by Christopher Nolan. Is the movie frustrating? Yes. Moments in this film are so wonderful, that every fiber in your body wants to love this damn thing, but it's hard to when it features such problems. But is it an admirable movie? Absolutely. If Nolan wanted nothing more than the audience to feel whisked away for three hours, then leave having an intelligent conversation about the flick's ending, he accomplished something spectacular. Still, 'Interstellar' wants so badly to be an A+/FIVE STAR movie, that it ends up trying to please too many people with its semi-sappy message. Overall, it's a gorgeous, inventive movie that deserves to be seen; however, it just can't match the feel of the classic sci-fi epics it's trying to be.

Hey. They can't all be 'The Dark Knight'.

Grade:B

Review by:Josh McCormack