This film banks on two things:
1) That you are a Christopher Nolan fan.
2) That you really really really like science.
The new film from Christopher Nolan, the man behind the Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception
and Memento brings us one of the BIGGEST space travel adventures ever committed to
film. I really don’t know how I can truly explain just how BIG I mean when I say
BIGGEST, this film has pulled out all the stop with regards to size, scale and stakes.
Matthew McConaughey stars as a former engineer/space pilot turned farmer out of
necessity when Earth stops being sustainable. A series of events lead him to a space
program that is planning to save the Earth and McConaughey must make the gutwrenching
decision of either staying with his kids or saving the entire human race.
The first hour establishes our characters and the stakes and we then swiftly move to
outer space, and this is why you need to see this film in IMAX. Remember when people
told you that you needed to see Gravity on the big screen and you waited until it came
out on Blu-Ray and then wished you had seen it on the big screen? Gravity is a pretty
good comparison for this film and to be fair Gravity shows the beauty of space far better,
however you have never seen wormholes depicted on screen in this way before. They
are beautiful, vast, and at times a little nauseating due to how much you are visually
taking in during the sequences.
Interstellar wears a lot of its influences with pride but it is when the drama and action
kick into gear that is when Nolan pulls ahead of the pack by giving us large scale, all or
nothing, do or die sequences. Whether it’s a fist-fight on an icy planet, mid-space
explosions or mountain-size tidal waves everything has been structured to make sure
that you’re not just on the edge of your seat but that you are holding your breath trying
not to pass out from lack of oxygen.
The soundtrack, much like the rest of the film, borrows from other science-fiction
masterpieces and Hans Zimmer, as always, does an excellent job. The only real issue
with the film though is the soundtrack. Often it is very overpowering and at times when
important pieces of information are being delivered to the audience. Sometimes it was
so loud that I could not hear what was being said and had no idea why a character was
now doing what they were doing.
Nolan has been accused of being very mechanical with the emotional side of his
storytelling however, this time the emotions are just as big as everything else in the film
is. Emotions are just flying everywhere on screen and we get crying, but not just your
run of the mill cinema crying but the ‘ugly crying’ most of that is brought by
McConaughey who really brings his A-game to the emotional stuff.
The films ending is really going to divide people and this is probably the reason this will
be known as Nolan’s most divisive film to date. Unlike 2001: A Space Odyssey,
Interstellar decides to remove any mystery or ambiguity and gives us a very clean and
tidy ending. It is easily too clean and too tidy. Unlike Inception, Interstellar leaves us with
a very clear cut understanding of what has transpired and what will happen, I personally
feel that that is a missed opportunity to give us a real bold ending to match many of the
bold choices provided in the previous 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Overall, this is one of the best films of the year and for the most part, it lives up to the
hype. Inception has a broader appeal than this but it is still good to see a director who
gives us a blockbuster that respects the audience’s intelligence.
Four out of 5 star-devouring wormholes.
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