Close but no cigar

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2015)

Interstellar is a film that transcends the label 'film' and instead becomes an 'experience'. Director Nolan embarks on an interstellar journey seeking to touch upon various universal themes. This all coalesces into a film that undoubtedly has its fair share of problems, but the overall experience more than makes up for it.
Interstellar presents its own spin on a dystopian future. Food production is grinding to a halt due to a never-ending series of dust storms. Widow and former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is a farmer whose 10-year old daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy) believes her room is haunted. Cooper gives her the 'there's no such thing as ghosts' treatment, but they soon discover some kind of 'intelligence' is leaving coded messages in the form of binary coordinates. Cooper intends to go alone, but Murph sneaks onboard Cooper's truck. They stumble upon a secret NASA base led by professor Brand (Michael Caine). Brand explains that a recently discovered wormhole might be the key to humanity's salvation. Due to the sorry state of the earth, the next generation might very well be the last and new habitable planets must be discovered. Cooper reluctantly—and to Murph's devastation—joins the crew, consisting of Brand's daughter, biologist Amelia (Anne Hathaway), physicist Romilly, geographer Doyle and two robots who bear more than a passing resemblance to 2001's monolith.
One of the major things that left me satisfied was Nolan's mostly competent handling of the emotional content, particularly the relationship between Cooper and Murph. Nolan has always been more interested in 'ideas' and the emotional accessibility of his depictions of human emotions and relationships have suffered for it. Case in point: Inception. I never really 'felt' the relationship between Cobb and Mal. Yes, it was thematically tied to the concepts of dreams, but I never cared for it. Particularly their last scene features some really awkward writing. In Interstellar however, Nolan and his brother have stepped up their game and ensured Cooper and Murph's relationship was well-handled. This is mostly due to McConaughey and Mackenzie Foy. The scene where Cooper talks to her before leaving and how his leaving is sonically crosscut with the countdown prior to the ship taking off, was the first time the film engaged me on an emotional level and that's something you don't get with every Nolan film. (Spoilers) Another compelling moment is when things spiral out of control on a planet featuring tidal waves the size of buildings. They narrowly escape and realize the time they spent there equals 23 years on Earth. Cooper is then confronted with 23 years' worth of video recordings made by his family. It's a highly impactful moment. These scenes are some of the best parts of the film, because Nolan perfectly applies the science behind it (in this case, relativity) to enhance the human drama and the emotional content.
If the film has a major weakness, it's the expository dialogue. A sci-fi film of this scale naturally can't avoid exposition, but it occasionally undercuts the emotional impact of the film. The scene with the recordings I just mentioned is followed up by a scene featuring a rather uncomfortable monologue on the concept of 'love' which feels awkward, especially after the emotional directness of the previous scene. Other parts of the film also suffer from this tendency to use expository dialogue surrounding emotional moments. This is only exacerbated by some of the dialogue sounding really unnatural. There's a plot twist where Cooper and the rest find out they've been lied to somewhat, to which Amelia responds, "but the lie, the monstrous lie." If that sounds like something that an actual human being would say, then you're wrong. The film doesn't collapse under the weight of all the exposition though and it mostly succeeds in making the film more accessible (though I can't possibly comment on the scientific accuracy). It's just that you can feel that Nolan is more a director of 'ideas' and there are just as many times when he fails in molding it all into a thrilling whole as there are times when he succeeds (the wave scene and its aftermath).
Also noteworthy is Nolan's response to reviews decrying the score's overwhelming nature and how it tends to drown out dialogue. He responded by saying he doesn't "agree with the idea that you can only achieve clarity through dialogue. Clarity of story, clarity of emotions—I try to achieve that in a very layered way using all the different things at my disposal—picture and sound." What I find hilarious is that while denouncing dialogue as the sole means for conveying ideas and emotions, he nevertheless fills Interstellar to the brim with 'deliberately meaningful' and expository dialogue, sometimes to the point of losing the audience's emotional investment.
I've read discussions on whether it's the next 2001. Only time will tell, but I think the main thing holding Interstellar back in this regard is something that characterizes most of Nolan's epics: the tendency to please everyone, to combine the epic scale of a Hollywood blockbuster with 'intelligent' filmmaking. Whereas 2001 has always been an undefinable film, Interstellar is highly conventional. Take the action sequences for instance. 2001's 'action scenes' were defined by a deliberately slow pace that emphasized how humans are like fish out of water in space whereas Interstellar's tend to feel more 'blockbuster-y'; they're there so the film doesn't devolve into a dissertation on universal themes.
All in all, there's a lot to appreciate about Interstellar. The acting is formidable, the emotional scenes are mostly well-handled (somewhat of a first for Nolan), the action scenes (particularly the wave scene) are intense and the science on display is intriguing without it hurting the film's appeal. The next 2001 it's not, but it's definitely one hell of an experience, warts and all.