Interstellar – Relatively perfect

Rating: 8/10 (6 November 2014)

Quickie Review:
Humanity faces extinction as the world can no longer produce the food to sustain themselves. This leads to the choice of either exploring far away worlds in search of a new home, or accepting the end, left to fade into the dust. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and his team embark upon a journey into deep space to find such a new home, and save the human race along with his daughter. Director Christopher Nolan is well known for his intricate and often complex stories, Interstellar is no exception. Visuals are stunning, the soundtrack is impactful, and the cast is strong with McConaughey being the excellent emotional anchor. Unfortunately, when the intangible is explored the strangeness of the ideas displayed can be distracting and pull you out of the moment. Still this is a must see movie for successfully melding the ambitious take on the sci-fi genre with the human drama.
Full Review:
Story-telling master Christopher Nolan, the recent McConaughaissance, combined with sci-fi which sane movie lover would say no to that?! I had to see it on the opening night and I expected to be blown away. Thankfully as a whole Interstellar did deliver on the high expectations, but I have to admit there is one problem with this movie that bothers me enough to not give it the perfect score.
Everyone in the cast did a great job but the standout by far is McConaughey. He plays his character Cooper with incredible depth and that helped a lot to make us care about what he's going through for his daughter. Add all the visuals in the universe, but it won't make a difference if the lead was not strong. So safe to say the McConaughaissance is still going strong. The father-daughter relationship is the emotional core, and they share some scenes together that hit you right in the soft spot of your heart. As for two of your five senses (six if you see ghosts) sound and sight, they are both in for a delicious treat. Visually this movie is gorgeous, multiple times my jaw dropped in awe. It is all the more impressive that for the first time ever the black holes and worm holes have actual mathematical and physics basis for how they have been depicted. Facts can be stranger than fiction, strangely beautiful, and there are countless moments of that in Interstellar. The sounds and music only help amplify the effect of the visuals. More than once I was clenching my fist and biting my fingers because of the intensity building up with Hans Zimmer's score. I think this may be Zimmer's most unique soundtrack since Inception.
My problems with the movie has to do with the story. Before I explain further I have to be clear about this, I actually really like the story. Nolan is meticulous with Interstellar, the amount of attention given to the effect of scientific theories on the structure of the story is impressive. This reminds me to caution you about the scientific expositions given in the movie. All you need to know is how gravity can affect time (general relativity), this is briefly explained so pay attention to that fact to understand what's going on. You don't need to be theoretical physicist to understand (but hey it wouldn't hurt). Ultimately this brings me to my negative point, while the movie excels at explaining the difficult but accepted scientific theories, it fails when showcasing the currently intangible areas of science. It forces the filmmaker to make artistic decisions on certain things that may come off too strange for the audience to accept. These scenes were really distracting for me, and I think it was for others as well because I'd hear giggles for something that was supposed to be taken seriously. Sorry for the vagueness, but I don't want to give away any plot points.
Honestly though, Interstellar is truly a special film with grand ideas given in a deep narrative context. It's a blend that works almost perfectly. Interstellar is thought provoking and I am sure you will be having some long conversions with your friends and family afterwards. Cast, visuals, music, is the trifecta that will make this movie stick with you. Don't miss out on this one.
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