Movie Review: Interstellar
Renowned director Christopher Nolan captivated audiences worldwide with an odyssey that was, quite literally, out of this world. "Interstellar" takes the viewer on a riveting journey to discover not only the depths of our universe, but also of our humanity. Nolan’s award-winning film is the first instant classic that we have seen in years, and it will come to be known as one of the best science fiction movies in cinema history. It is guaranteed to leave you breathless and is the perfect film to spark discussion amongst friends that will last well after the credits have rolled.
Despite initial worries about the film’s opening weekend at the box office ($47.5 million), "Interstellar" has generated $557 million worldwide to date and is ranked 15th on IMDb’s Top 250 list. Critics have been praising every aspect of the movie: the plot, cinematography, effects, acting and musical score. Inarguably, "Interstellar" is the 44-year-old director’s best film to date.
The story takes place in the not-too-distant future where a wake of environmental catastrophes and crop diseases has forced mankind to abandon technological development and instead devote resources to providing subsistence for the dying planet. We are introduced to the protagonist, farmer and former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and soon follow him on a journey aboard the Endurance with fellow explorer Brand (Anne Hathaway) in an effort to save the human race.
The cinematography was simple, but extremely effective, and it added another dimension of intensity and reality that left viewers sitting in awe. It corroborated the modest, classic American family lifestyle set in the introduction. The initial, seemingly mundane, environment only served to emphasize McConaughey’s excitement over scientific understanding. Much later in the film, we were enamored by the juxtaposition of the serene tranquility of space and catastrophes, whether they were physical or emotional.
In one particularly amazing cinematographic accomplishment, the Endurance enters a wormhole. Unlike other science fiction films, "Interstellar" truly made an effort to conform to our current understanding of astrophysics, consulting many distinguished scientists in related fields, such as California Institute of Technology’s Kip Thorne. Neither wormholes nor black holes have been depicted in Hollywood movies the way they actually would appear, until Nolan attempted it. Interstellar’s rendering of the movie’s super-massive black hole, Gargantua, is science’s most accurate rendering of a black hole to date. In an unprecedented relationship, the visual effects team worked with Thorne and took actual mathematical data to render a realistic visualization of what black holes and wormholes would actually look like. The result was phenomenally intense and extraordinarily beautiful.
The film’s invigorating soundtrack complimented its massive scope and vision. The score, courtesy of Hans Zimmer, although overpowering at times, was reminiscent of the epic tone of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and is undoubtedly the composer’s best work to date.
On a similar note, Matthew McConaughey delivered a stellar performance, as usual. The acting was deep and emotional, even leaving viewers teary-eyed in some scenes. Anne Hathaway also carried out a solid performance, contrasting McConaughey’s personality nicely throughout their adventures. Overall, the acting was solid, though at times a bit muted by the overbearing scientific focus of the film.
The focus on modern astrophysics was commendable but detracted from other equally important aspects of the film. Efforts seemed to be number heavy, sprinkled with the occasional deeper philosophical logic. Take, for instance, one scene in which Hathaway talks about all the known forces of the universe and compare them to love. These moments, though scarce and far between, felt forced and were the only instances in which the viewer could have felt detached from the movie.
Despite a few shortcomings, this film did not fail to deliver a monumental ending. Although the explanation for the ending of the film has been vehemently argued about among sci-fi fanatics, we would like to offer our own insight. (If you have not yet watched the film, please skip to the concluding paragraph). There is an underlying emphasis throughout the film on Murphy’s Law, which states that anything that can happen, will happen. Cooper named his daughter Murph after this law, and she is ultimately the key proponent to the mankind’s successful ending...in that universe.
As a result of this emphasis, we believe in the existence of an infinite number of parallel universes in which every possible action results in different consequences. In the unique universe that we, the audience, got a glimpse of, future humans with a complete understanding of time and space built a Tesseract for the man known to be the savior of the human race to communicate with his daughter. Remember the man who said he wrote his thesis about Cooper? Of course, there are time paradoxes that we will not delve into here.
In conclusion, "Interstellar" redefines the space odyssey and leaves the viewer exploring their own curiosities and realities. It is the perfect blend of science and humanity that guarantees to leave all who watch it satisfied.