Interstellar captivates and enthralls as it transports you on an intergalactic odyssey that touches both the heart and excites the imagination.

Rating: 9/10 (5 November 2014)

Ladies and gentleman, prepare for lift off. Destination: Christopher Nolan's brilliant and beautiful universe (literally). There, you'll find a plethora of different themes, settings, and ideas including, but not limited too: space, interstellar travel, Earth, death, life, ethics, mortality, morality and, above all, love. Interstellar captivates and enthralls as it transports you on an intergalactic odyssey that touches both the heart and excites the imagination.
In a not so distant future, we find Earth in a particularly dangerous situation. Because of the hazardous affects of drought, famine, and global warming, food has become scarce and the planet is nearing the point of being inhabitable. It is under these conditions that we meet Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a widowed engineer turned farmer with a NASA past, his young daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy) his son son Tom, and father (John Lithgow). After accidentally stumbling upon a secret NASA facility, Cooper learns from Professor Brand (Michael Caine) of a wormhole that was discovered in their solar system, which would allow interstellar travel to other galaxies in search of habitable planets. After some convincing, Cooper makes the decision to lead the voyage despite Murph's pleas.
The idea behind Interstellar is fascinating, but not altogether revolutionary in nature. What I found most interesting were the various underlying themes that were both obvious and omnipresent through the duration of this adventure. In Inception and Memento, Nolan plays extensively with the idea of memory, but in Interstellar he firmly tackles the notion of time, and wraps it around the idea of love to create a wonderfully emotional story. I'm not a lover of physics, let's be clear on that, and there are definitely a few moments when some of the scientific theories soared right over my head. However, Nolan doesn't let these physics-based ideas (ew) continue in their confusing trajectory, but circles them back around in ways that will leave you exclaiming, "OH WAIT! I get it!" That's the ploy of a truly fantastic storyteller, and Nolan proves once again that he's on the top of his game.
When it comes to a Nolan film, we've come to expect several things. As discussed above, we know that he's a fabulous storyteller, but we know that he demands the best performances possible from his actors. When has he let us down performance-wise? (Okay, Marion Cotillard's death in The Dark Knight Rises doesn't count) Once again, the acting is rather spectacular across the board. The character of Murph exemplifies the notion of time in which Nolan plays with so extensively in the film. We find her at three points in her life: Adolescence, middle-aged, and elderly. At all life stages, the actresses nail the richly complex character on the head. Mackenzie Foy carries several of the more emotional scenes in the beginning of Interstellar on her small shoulders. I'm not ashamed to admit that her performance made me tear up when it came time for her father to leave. Jessica Chastain was perfectly casted as middle aged Murph, showcasing a wide range of refined emotions as she struggled to work with Professor Brand on a theory to help save humanity.
I had very high expectations for Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in the movie. I'm happy to inform you that they both met, and in some cases surpassed, my expectations. McConaughey takes this opportunity to prove just how much he deserves his Academy Award. His character suffers deeply from this trip, not just physically in moments, but emotionally from the sheer distance placed between him and his beloved daughter Murph. Although his thoughts are on the mission at hand, we never forget that he's doing it more for his children than for himself, in the hopes that he will see their faces again someday. (All the feels.)
This Interstellar project is the first major thing that we've seen Anne Hathaway attached to since Les Miserables. Love her, or Hath-a-hate her, but there is no denying Hathaway's great performance in this movie. I was surprised to find myself so impressed by her performance actually. Was it her character? Was it simply her acting? It was certainly a mixture of the two, as we see this character experience a different kind of love and struggle than Cooper's on their voyage.
Glazed with spectacular cinematography and reinforced with a powerful score by Hans Zimmer, Interstellar reaffirms its position as one of the better films of the year. With that being said however, the gleaming spaceship does come with a few (very) small cracks on its hull. The film has a long runtime of 169 minutes, a dilemma for anyone with a weak bladder. I truly only felt the film drag for a bit in certain opening scenes, but these feelings quickly dispersed as the main plot of the film set in. While watching you will see an odd futuristic robot accompany the crew on their journey named TARES (voiced by Bill Irwin). I couldn't help myself from feeling the lack of imagination in this robot, for it was a rectangular shaped block with two 10-inch TV screens for a face. The robot itself was great for comic relief, but the design definitely felt cheap at first. Imagine buying an expensive tiered wedding cake and putting cool whip on it. "The HorrorThe Horror."
Despite all of its bells and whistles, which are certainly impressive, at its core, Interstellar is the story about a father's undying love for his daughter. Christopher Nolan takes us both to and from our home on Earth, and regardless of our location in the universe, love remains a prevailing innate sensation that we cannot possibly deny or attempt to escape.