Film Review: ‘Interstellar’ – a Breathtaking Journey to the Infinite

By: Anthony Hernandez

From the audacious mind of director Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception) comes an exhilarating, wholly original, epic romp through space and time, based on real science, that isn’t a sequel, reboot, or the start of a franchise – and this alone is reason enough to see it.

Though it’s been three days since I saw Interstellar, I still don’t know what to think about it. Many of the critics are divided, with some calling it a “masterpiece” or nearly one; while others saying it was disappointing, but still worth seeing. As it stands, my opinion falls somewhere near the top; but this is a film that is unlike anything put on the big screen and most definitely requires more than one viewing.

Without giving too much away, Interstellar takes place in an undefined future where humankind is doomed to die on a planet that can no longer sustain it. Blight has destroyed most of the earth’s crops. Massive dust storms choke the life from the air, very reminiscent of the Dust Bowl of the Great Depression. Society is crumbling and the answer to humankind’s survival lies not on the ground, but in the stars. With the appearance of a wormhole just outside of Saturn, the discovery of new inhabitable worlds is within our grasp. And it’s from here that the movie takes you – into the infinite of time and space.

It is breathtaking in scope – awesome (in the truest form of the word) in its visuals and heartbreaking in its emotional arc. It’s an incredible achievement of practical special effects that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen with the best sound system available. In this case, the price surcharge for an IMAX ticket is well worth it – though I advise caution, considering the sound is turned up to a seat-shaking, ear shattering maximum and it can be difficult to hear some of the dialogue in the big action set pieces.

Filmed with minimal CGI and no green screens, the sets and effects are tactile. The black hole is both beautiful and terrifying. It is a terrible force that consumes all – not even light can escape it. There is an incredible sense of realism in Interstellar that is lacking in most big budget blockbusters. Scenes on earth are intimate and foreboding. Dust is everywhere. It isn’t just space that can suffocate you. The grand, sweeping cinematography transports you to other worlds – stark, unforgiving, and vast – leaving you hanging, breathless in the vast emptiness of space while Hans Zimmer’s rich, imaginative score rages through every scene (it’s quite possibly his best work to date).

Matthew McConaughey, riding the high of his recent Oscar win, arguably gives the best performance of his career; while Mackenzie Foy, Jessica Chastain, and Anne Hathaway all shine. But it isn’t just the human performances that drive the film. The walking monolith TARS – a sarcastic, ex-military security robot – is so much more than that. Realistic, funny, and most of all crucial – he is quite possibly one of my favorite movie robots.

Interstellar demands that you suspend your notions of reality, and it becomes exceedingly easy to do so as the film quickly progresses. I found myself on the edge of my seat and audibly gasping in awe more than once. At nearly three hours, it moves at such a breakneck pace – perhaps to a fault – that I was honestly shocked when it was all over. Time is truly relative. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps the film moved too fast. I wanted it to slow down and make us think a little harder, reach a little deeper – instead, it just makes you feel.

This is Christopher Nolan’s most personal film. It is not for the cynical, presenting the idea that the connections we make as humans and the emotions we experience can transcend space and time. At its core, it is a story about love. It is at times forgivably clunky in its presentation of what makes us human. And some of the emotional heft is reliant on our ability to forgive the film’s occasional watered-down character development. But there is definitely more in the space between the frames than first meets the eye.

So much could be said (but shouldn’t, so avoid spoilers at all costs) about Interstellar. It swept over me like a great wave and I lost myself in the deep. I was overwhelmed by this movie and it wouldn’t be fair to apply a definitive rating without another viewing. Is it Christopher Nolan’s best film? Maybe. Is it a masterpiece? A flawed one, perhaps. But is it worth seeing? Absolutely.

Interstellar

Run Time: 169 minutes

Rated PG-13 for some intense perilous action and brief strong language

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Wes Bentley, Michael Caine, John Lithgow, Casey Affleck, Mackenzie Foy

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writers: Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan