Truly Worth the Wait. Truly a Grand Space Epic.

Rating: 9/10 (6 November 2014)

Truly, the long wait is paid off when expectations vie for the unexpected. That is the handicraft that Aussie writer-director Christopher Nolan has over to his movies. Look at the way he mold the Batman franchise to what would become The Dark Knight trilogy. Trust me on this, even though his style may run to extremes, he is reliable to provide sorrow and spectacle.
And to make sure that trust is sealed, I will not spoil any important detail to miss, but I can only say this: CHECK IT OUT.
This is one of the grandest films of the year, and it might take patience and observations to keep intact with the story.
The basic premise is that the world resorted to an agrarian system, since the planet is labeled uninhabitable and agriculture is being improved to sustain life. And that a functioning NASA program is making attempts to search for a habitable planet beyond the galaxy. Well, the marketing gave glimpse of what would wormholes be, so that will provide a hint.
Going to the characters, as the main protagonist Cooper, Matthew McConaughey proved once more he can breathe life to a relatable character, whose entire life revolves to space engineering over the primitive farming. Not bad. But what makes his character compelling is his estranged relationship with his daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy of Breaking Dawn, Part 2) as most of the movie's parts is dedicated to them. The reason I brought up Murph is that her character is the most I rooted for, since she has to live up never to see her father in many years, and that the Lazarus space program might not what it used to be. Lend your eyes on that. And for that I give kudos to Foy, Jessica Chastain and Ellen Burstyn, who appeared briefly, on bringing life to the character and giving a compelling father-and-daughter tandem.
Other characters and their performers are well in their game. Anne Hathaway as Amelia Brand is unrecognizably excellent, as she fully blends in character. John Lithgow is still a reliable asset. The Endurance crew that includes Wes Bentley's Doyle and David Gyasi's Romilly are decent, despite the small characterization and the fact that the crew has little dynamics. The rest of the supporting players (Casey Affleck, Topher Grace to name a few) are fine. And Michael Caine had poured out his inner dignity to great measure.
The only characters that are inanimate are the robots TARS and CASE (voiced by Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart, respectively). Their appearances are a mixed bag since they are mostly set aside, but their designs and purposes are enticing. And visually, they may remind of a Minecraft figure.
Speaking of visually, the movie never fails there. It kind of mixes the space realities of Gravity and the charms of Guardians of the Galaxy. But since this is a Nolan flick, it has to be grand, broad and massive- scale. That comes to the visuals of space and the planets the crew arrived on. The Endurance space shuttle design is pretty impressive, recalling 2001: A Space Odyssey. The visuals are worth-deserving to see on the best screen imaginable. Unfortunately, I saw it by the 70mm version, but still, the VFX are indeed a splendor.
Indeed, the Nolan-istic visuals are worth the price of admission, if you do not comprehend too much on the script. Leaving the sometimes stiff dialog aside, the story might surface some plot holes, as to how Nolan pulls off his own depiction of time and space. That would come into thinking, once you watched the movie. And it will leave you raising questions about the dimensions in space. Plus more, it will sometimes neglect cosmology, time frames and logic to go bounds to save it for the plot. It is complicated at times, because it is inherently Christopher Nolan. Speaking of Nolan, the movie feels like a passion project for him because all of his usual styles, tropes and uniqueness. The use of time jumps is similar to The Dark Knight trilogy. The non-fixed narrative is inspired from Memento. The existentialist ideas are reminiscent to The Prestige. The swift action, editing and dreamlike set pieces are clearly Inception-based. The expository dialog is a minor nitpick, but the grandness and epic-scale visuals are true to his heart and imagination. With the aid of co-writer and brother Jonathan Nolan, editor Lee Smith, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, vfx supervisor Paul Franklin, composer Hans Zimmer and other collaborators, Christopher Nolan was able to transform a space epic to a compelling humanism picture, without being too egotistical.
There is a lot to discuss from Interstellar, but it must be seen first before talked about. Everything is worth investing for a running time of three hours that does not feel exhausted. Nolan, McConaughey and the rest of the cast and crew are at their A-game. Though audiences may feel disoriented with the science of the movie, it is worth needing attention. And though the flaws are way afloat, they never take away the fun. Check Interstellar for it is a true space epic.