The Final Frontier

Rating: 9/10 (9 November 2014)

Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" is perhaps his most ambitious and beautiful looking film to date. More importantly, it may be his more heartfelt. The stakes are very high in this movie with mankind being on the verge of extinction due to a new Dust Bowl. Food has become so precious that farmers have become more valuable than engineers. Matthew McConaughey as the protagonist Cooper, a former astronaut laments how mankind as become caretakers instead of explorers. He is eventually called by Professor Brand (Michael Caine), who runs a secret NASA installation, to explore a possible chance for mankind's survival. In doing so he must travel to a wormhole near Saturn for a habitable environment for humans. In this tension to save humanity, the relationship between Cooper and his daughter serves as a microcosm. The day before he leaves they share a scene where the Murphy the daughter resents Cooper for abandoning her. This could have been very manipulative and sappy in another movie however this came of as real and emotional due to the actor's performances. Speaking of which, Matthew McConaughey gives another outstanding performance in his film, who is able to handle the heavy emotions required. Take a scene where he is watching a video feed of his son. Many years have passed on Earth while Cooper and his crew are in space. His son is now showing him his child and is catching him up on what has gone on in his life. How McConaughey reacts to this is absolutely touching and makes the audience care about these characters. The movie has an excellent supporting cast that includes Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain (as a grown up Murphy), and another A- list celebrity whose name is nowhere in the credits because I assume the filmmakers wanted it to be a surprise. There are also some very interesting robot characters, that have one of the most original designs I've ever seen. The movie is an absolute joyful experience to watch, and provides visuals of space this side of "Gravity". In a film where CGI is basically mandatory, Nolan manages to use a little as possible. Apparently he even shot these scenes WITHOUT ANY GREEN SCREENS!!! There are scenes on an ice planet that could have been very convenient to use green screen, yet it was actually filmed on a glacier in Iceland. To top it off Hans Zimmer backs it up with arguably the best score of his career and that's saying something. "2001: A Space Odyssey" is supposed the film that inspired Christopher Nolan and that definitely shows. Although Stanley's Kubrick's film lacks the emotional touch of "Interstellar". I would not be surprised if Nolan owes a debt to Andrei Tartovsky's "Solaris", a sci-fi epic that deals with the emotional turmoil of the characters while raising questions about humanity. In this review I have left out countless point points and twists, because this movie is more of an experience than a formulaic picture. Unlike Nolan's recent films, this was not released as a summer blockbuster and I can see why. This is perhaps his most thought-provoking film, even more so than "Inception". The reason I give this movie a 9/10 instead of a perfect score is that I often felt that there was too much scientific speak in the dialogue, though granted it is delivered well by the actors. However the flaws are really just nitpicks. One final comment is that while for the first 2/3 of the movie I was admiring the visuals, the final act made me lean forward in my seat, with my mouth dropped.