Interstellar, a sci-fi movie for the ages... almost

Rating: 7/10 (11 November 2014)

So I got around to seeing this yesterday, and really enjoyed it. I do like Christopher Nolan's films, and I would rate this as his fifth effort – behind "Inception," "Momento" and the first two Batman films. In "Interstellar," Nolan reaches for the stars, and has created a sci-fi movie for the ages... almost. The result isn't quite the "2001" of this generation, but I do think that sci-fi from this point on will need to aim high in terms of ideas and concepts presented in films, which is going to be amazing for sci-fi fans.
Set around 40-50 years in the future, life on Earth is fast approaching its use by date, as food is running out due to a number of factors. The discovery of a worm-hole near Saturn presents scientists with the possibility that humanity may be able to continue on an Earth-like planet on the other side of the wormhole. To that end, the Endurance mission follows up the earlier Lazarus missions, which were a series of manned missions seeking worlds that might be able to sustain human life. What follows is a lot of science and drama, with an ending which was a bit 2001, and will have fans of the film debating various aspects of the film until the end of time.
Taking two years to reach Saturn, before traversing through the wormhole, the Endurance encounters the first of three targeted planets; Miller, which is an ocean planet where tsunamis the size of sky-scrappers appear to be a regular occurrence, Also, due to Miller's close proximity to a Black Hole, the gravity of the planet means that for every hour on the surface of the planet, seven years elapses back on Endurance, orbiting the planet. By the time Cooper and Brand return to orbit, 23 years have passed on Endurance.
With much of the Endurances resources exhausted as a result of this leg of the mission, the crew must decide between one of the remaining two planets, or give up on the idea of returning to Earth. Mann is chosen, where the crew find and revive Dr Mann, the leader of the Lazarus missions. His glacier covered planet turns out to be unsuitable, and his data was faked in the hope of being rescued. In an attempt to hijack the mission, Mann meets his doom, along with one of the other characters.
Following a daring return to Endurance, which is now hopelessly low on fuel, Cooper pilots the ship, so it sling shots around the black-hole, launching it towards Edmund, the third planet, but launching himself into the black-hole in the process. It was a bit 2001 at this point, as Cooper finds himself in a dimension where time is not linear. Cooper then finds a way to communicate with the adult Murph, giving her information that allows for the space station being constructed on Earth to be launched, thus allowing for the eventual evacuation and relocation to the new world. Having completed his mission, Cooper then miraculously finds himself floating in space, back on other side of the wormhole, having become a fetal being enclosed in a transparent orb of light floating in space gazing at the Earth... I'm just gagging. Cooper is in fact floating in space, near Saturn, and is rescued by NASA rangers, who deliver him to a large space station, a further 50-60 years into the future. He reunites with his elderly daughter, who on her death bed, tells him to go back through the worm hole and find Brand, who has set up camp on Edmund, but is all alone.
The performance of the cast was very good, with Matthew McConaughey dominating the film throughout. Anne Hathaway was good, although I can't help but feel that perhaps Nolan could have used someone a few years older, especially since it's revealed that her character had a relationship with one of the Lazarus astronauts, whom had embarked on his mission 10 years before the Endurance mission. Michael Caine is usually good in everything he does. Matt Damon's cameo was good too, although similar to Hathaway, perhaps the director could have used someone older.
In terms of the presentation of the film, it was beautifully shot, as you would expect a film with such a large budget to be. The scenery on Mann, which was filmed in Iceland, was quite spectacular. The musical score by Hans Zimmer was out of this world, and will possibly get a few nods when awards' season rolls around.
I liked the story as a whole a lot, although it did contain a few plot holes. Some questions I found myself asking at the end of the movie included things like; how could NASA execute such a large and costly mission without the public knowing? Why was the first planet (Miller) given the thumbs up given that it was completely covered by water? Given the length of time spent on the Miller leg of the mission, would NASA (or somebody else) not have launched another mission? Finally, with the space station positioned near the worm-hole, why hasn't anyone else gone through it?
Overall, the film is highly entertaining, and will do ridiculously well at the box office, so much so that a sequel might possibly come about. I do think many reviewers are getting a bit carried away by awarding this film a 10, which clearly it is not.For me, this is a 7. The scope of this film is grand and ambitious, but it does fall short of being great. I'll probably go and watch it again, mostly in the search for answers I know I probably want get. I do recommend the film to sci-fi buffs, and also for Matthew McConaughey fans, but if you don't fall into either category, the film is three hours long, so you should probably steer clear of it.