Chris Nolan astounds again. Sci-fi epic or spiritual experience, it's a mind-blowingly fine trip!

Rating: 8/10 (21 November 2014)

Much has been written and spoken of the plot holes in Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic, Interstellar. That's Nolan's science FICTION epic, Interstellar. If you want science fact, head over to The Sky at Night or listen to Professor Brian Cox. Nolan is in the entertainment business.
That said, Interstellar is sufficiently plausible (note, I did not write 'realistic') to hold the attention and to prompt deep consideration of space travel and humanity's future. Heck, this is almost a spiritual experience touching on mortality beyond the physical realm.
With Earth virtually devastated through drought and famine that have caused dramatic climate change and a dearth of food, humankind is on the verge of extinction. A rip in the space-time continuum is discovered and a substantially downsized NASA, led by visionary Professor Brand (Nolan stalwart Michael Caine), plans to send a select team into deep space, through a black hole and into the great unknown with the hope of saving our species. Mysterious circumstances contrive to place Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) on NASA's doorstep and he is forced to choose between watching his children grow up and saving the world.
Interstellar owes much to the legacy of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Contact in its depth, silence and cerebral possibilities. It is a work of entertainment with occasional thrills, a few questions, much thought and some beautiful effects that will either meld or clash with your imagination. Having never found myself hurtling through a wormhole into an unchartered time, place or dimension, I have no idea what it should look like, but Nolan's vision of such a journey and the destination is colourful and ambiguous enough to prompt contemplation and debate.
There are times when Interstellar strolls along, gazing at the scenery and wondering at the possibilities of space and time exploration and those sequences allow for our own reflection upon Nolan's suggestion. Like Contact before it, there is emotional tension and a spiritual journey that accompanies the physical jaunt. This is more than a film about outer space; it is a film about love and with that comes betrayal. Just as space has layers and depths we cannot comprehend (how do we truly grasp the magnitude of infinity?), love and betrayal have numerous facets and strata as Nolan depicts. Unlike Contact, Nolan endeavours to wrap his film completely in explanation and tie it with a bow for us to admire, when perhaps the ambiguity and lack of absolute definition would have been the greatest finale.
Interstellar isn't the film the original trailer led me to expect. It first implied Nolan's spin on Armageddon but this isn't a gung-ho America saves the world nonsense. It may not have the emotional attachment or the startling visual effects of last year's phenomenal Gravity, but the central performances from McConaughey, Anne Hathaway (as fellow crew member, Brand) and, particularly, Jessica Chastain (as the abandoned daughter, Murph) make this an experience that resounds with us all. What would it take for you to abandon those you love? Could you see the bigger picture?
Hans Zimmerman's score is beautifully redolent of Michael Nyman's best work, and it adds not just depth but character to the mystery of what lies beyond all that we understand and can define. It doesn't, however, explain how an intelligent man like Cooper can be so wrong in his explanation of Murphy's Law and we are left to wonder whether he is confused or just lying to his daughter, adding another layer to the betrayal.
I'm not convinced that Interstellar is going to astound sufficiently to prompt multiple viewings in the way Gravity did, but it is yet another resounding success in Nolan's canon that can be tucked away and watched periodically in the future. That lad Michael Caine is turning out to be a pretty good muse for Christopher Nolan. Watch him, he could go far.
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