A Reinvigorating Blast of Science in Science Fiction...

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2015)

There were a lot of quality films released in 2014 and, while it may not be #1, INTERSTELLAR is the most mind-blowing. As much as I loved Christopher Nolan's Batman series, I'm even more excited to see him return to his own devices. The man's got vision and I love seeing it brought to screen, and INTERSTELLAR is his jump into the world of science fiction (for the record, INCEPTION was more action/fantasy than sci-fi). This is an awe- inspiring tale of mankind's last desperate attempt to save itself from extinction. In the not-too-distant future, the world's crops have fallen victim to a new blight and food is becoming scarce. The dying crops have left the soil barren and the nation has fallen into a new era of immense dust storms. Bizarre anomalies in his daughter's bedroom lead former experimental pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to a secret base containing all that remains of the NASA space program. We discover that NASA, led by Cooper's former colleague Professor Brand (Michael Caine) and his daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway), has begun an operation to try and save what is left of humanity. A wormhole appeared in the vicinity of Saturn almost fifty years ago that links our solar system to a galaxy elsewhere in the universe, and a group of astronauts were sent through ten years ago to scope out potential habitable worlds for relocation. Now it's time to see what they found. The mission: Cooper and Amelia will lead an expedition through the wormhole to investigate the planets where astronauts are broadcasting positive signals, while Professor Brand will remain on Earth attempting to solve the problem of how to subjugate gravitational forces to the point where a station containing humanity's remnants could be launched from the surface of the Earth.
Now that his Batman series is down and gone director Christopher Nolan can focus on original material, and I'm thankful for that. I can honestly say I've never been disappointed by the man, and now he's entered one of my favorite genres with the science fiction epic INTERSTELLAR. I love that we're seeing a new trend of "realistic" films on space exploration and Nolan has created one of the most ambitious yet. He and his brother Jonathan have done their research and, just in case it's not enough, they had acclaimed physicist Kip Thorne on hand as a consultant on the film's science. The result is a movie that isin my personal opinionintriguing beyond words. The film posits what it would be like to travel through a wormhole and reminds us that the concept of time is not as cut-and-dry as the average person tends to believe. Travelling at insanely high speeds or close proximity to enormous gravitational sources affect the relative passage of time, and this concept is used in INTERSTELLAR as the film's "ticking clock". On their adventure across the cosmos, time is moving at a slower rate for Cooper and his team and minutes wasted on their expedition could equate to years lost on Earth. This is one of the most interesting elements of space travel that rarely, if ever, has been portrayed in mainstream film. It makes for a fantastic new challenge in watching this team of scientists, light years away from home, try to accomplish their goal before their mission fails purely because the human race has gone extinct in the time it took them to do it. But, as much as I loved the use of real science in the film, INTERSTELLAR is guilty of some schmaltz in the final act that weakens it.
As much as I hate the idea of love being an actual force of the universe, I'm willing to accept it in the world of the film because the cast almost, sort of sells it. Nolan scores another phenomenal cast, pulling a few from previous projects and bringing on some new faces. Matthew McConaughey is in top form as the film's hero, Cooper. A former test pilot, he's called upon by NASA to pilot the craft for this expedition. In doing so, he's forced to leave his two children behind with hopes that he can accomplish the mission and give them a future. The scene where Cooper confronts his daughter with the reality that he will most likely be gone for many years is probably the most powerful in the movie. Not going to lie, that's the part that forms the lump in my throat every time. After films like KILLER JOE and DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, McConaughey has sold himself as one of the top modern performers. The man has range and I hate that he wasted his talent for years before emerging as a powerhouse. Anne Hathaway does fine as Amelia Brand but he's pretty unlikeable until later in the movie. She's got noble intentions but her attitude problem and self-serving nature don't serve her well. No worries though; she has her redemption. Jessica Chastain is the third major role in the film as Cooper's daughter Murphy in her adult years. Chastain has an equally meaty role with Murphy having grown into a woman that never quite forgave her father for leaving but continued to work with Professor Brand on his gravity problem. Outside of our main three, the supporting cast (while impressive John Lithgow, Casey Affleck, etc.) is mostly filler. INTERSTELLAR primarily rests on the shoulders of McConaughey, Chastain, and Hathaway (all right, and a pair of fun robots) and they seem more than capable of caring us through.
INTERSTELLAR takes a lot of hits for its climax, which I'll admit is the film's major weakness, but I really enjoy it as a whole. I never feel the expansive running time and, in fact, I'm usually eager to watch it again soon after it's finished. Good science fiction that doesn't rely on laser battles or bizarre alien monsters isn't easy to come by, so Nolan's film is a welcome breath of fresh air to the genre for me.