'Interstellar' needed more help with it's beginning and end, but the film overall is a brilliant space adventure

Rating: 9/10 (15 July 2015)

"Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Christopher Nolan, over his long and illustrious film career, has made many films that have redefined cinema and people's notion of filmmaking. Memento, for example, with it's unorthodox storytelling and mind-bending way of letting the film unfold showed us all that a film doesn't have to be in perfect order to make sense. Inception changed our perception on dreams and what can be shown in reality, it gave us a new dimension to our dreams and what we perceive and believe. The Dark Knight Trilogy made it so that comic book movies could be taken seriously without judgment, and redefined not only the comic book film genre, but also the action genre. And, so, when people first saw trailers for his latest work, they immediately began to think in the vein of Memento, Inception and The Dark Knight Trilogy - they began to think of it as a film that would change things. Let's see if the Nolan man has done it again. Let us begin our travel with...
Interstellar follows a group of explorers who head into space, leaving behind a Earth filled with drought and famine, through a rip in the space-time continuum to try and find a new home for the slowly dying people of Earth. As they travel, they realize they are about to go farther than any other human has, and they have to decide whether it's worth the risk of never seeing their loved ones again.
I had heard nothing but pretty positive things about this film. People said it was mindblowing, really emotional, and such, so I decided I had to check it out for myself. I thought McConaughey outacted everybody else in the cast, because he did such a great job at portraying the simple family man who has to try and be the last hope for humanity. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point, with his acting in some of his latest work, but it still astounds me that he can do such a good job. Anne Hathaway was great as well, especially in some of the scenes where her and McConaughey's character verbally sparred. Jessica Chastain and Mackenzie Foy both do terrific jobs in portraying the older and younger versions of McConaughey's daughter. I think they both did a really good job in showing that they really cared about their father and just really wanted him to come home. Michael Caine was great, as well, as Hathaway's father. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since he's been in Nolan's last like seven films.
The effects in this film were brilliantly breathtaking. I wish I had gotten the chance to see the film in IMAX, but even on my computer screen, I was simply blown away by what I saw. The effects used to accomplish the space travel were nothing short of brilliant, and the effects used in the final twist of the movie were also really great and truly mindbending. I thought the dialogue of the film was written very well, in particular the scenes where McConaughey's children constantly send him messages, and also the last few scenes.
The cinematography in this film is just amazing as well. The shots of the spaceship floating through space, the shots of the two planets they go to, they all looked really incredible. Nolan had to use a different cinematographer than his usual one, and although it seems like you would probably notice, you don't because you're just so sucked into the film.
I definitely enjoyed the music by Hans Zimmer, but by this point, is that really something you need to address? I mean, in every single one of Zimmer's films, his music is always one of the best parts about the film. It was definitely a different kind of score than I had really heard before, so I truly liked that a lot. I thought the characters of the robots, TARS and CASE were both pretty funny at times and really helped ground the film a bit better. They were great additions to the film and are probably one of the highlights of the film.
Now, here's what I disliked about the film. I felt the opening 40 minutes could have been trimmed a bit or could have had some things removed. Not to say the opening was all bad, but I felt like it moved too slow compared to the rest of the film. On the subject of trimming, I thought the last 10 minutes of the film were also somewhat unneeded. It basically ended the film on a happy note, and while I'm all for that, the ending felt more like a gift-wrapped present rather than a proper conclusion. Another thing I disliked was that the first planet they go to feels like a simple pit stop and not enough like a thing that needed to happen to move the story along.
Overall, however, Interstellar is a brilliant film. It's effects, cinematography, script, music, the robots and the acting were all brilliant. While I did think the opening and ending could have used some work, and the first planet they head to is a bit too pit stop- ish and not plot-needed-ish, the film overall is one you have to see to believe. IMAX is preferred, as I've learned, but a large HDTV will do you just fine.
8.5/10.|Grade: B+