"Interstellar" transcends

Rating: 9/10 (27 November 2014)

Matthew McConaughey's widower Cooper consoles his 10 year-old daughter Murph played by wonderful Mackenzie Foy, "Parents end up becoming the ghosts of their children's future." Coop, now a corn crop farmer was NASA's best pilot, is embarking on a mission to find a new world for his daughter and her generation. Cooper has no idea if he returns, when that would be-- perhaps decades? Set in the near future in Director and Writer Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" the Earth is dying—sand storms and worldwide blight ravage, and humanity must look to the stars for another home. Nolan captivates with stunning visual imagery like a 500 foot tidal wave on distant planet, but it is his story along with Jonathan Nolan about the love of a father for his daughter that has profound gravity. Anne Hathaway's brilliant scientist Brand echoes this, "Love is the one thing that transcends time and space." Matthew McConaughey is amazing in his down home heroism and authentic compassion. His soothing gravitas is the stabilizing force as "Interstellar" goes n- dimensional in Nolan's narrative toward the end. "Interstellar" is the awesome epic that works best in its unassuming moments.
"Interstellar" clocks in at just under 3 hours. The first hour is engrossing earthbound storytelling. Nolan creates the personal mythology for his transformational allegory. In a powerful scene Cooper silences Murph's righteous teachers, telling them of his wife's fate. Cooper along with his rock solid Dad Donald (great John Lithgow) is raising Murph and his son Tom (spirited Timothee Chalamet). They struggle on the farm to survive like everyone else. Emerging genius Murph believes that their house is haunted by ghosts. Murph and Coop's epiphany leads them to the encounter with Dr. Brand (Hathaway) and her father Professor Brand (Michael Caine). Professor Brand trained Coop and asks him to lead the mission to find another world to rescue all of mankind. There is a wormhole, a bend in space connecting over vast distances, near Saturn's moon Titan. Cooper and Brand's daughter (Hathaway) must find a suitable new world, and somehow return home. In the meantime Prof. Brand must solve the equations that allow transport of people from Earth.
Once in space "Interstellar" embraces the wondrous unknown, and is impeded by the predictable. The conspiracy threads become a distraction. Jessica Chastain as the grown up Murph is the brilliant astrophysicist helping Brand (Caine) solve the relativity paradox. Chastain's Murph's achievements are the aftermath of her anger for her father leaving her. Chastain is powerful. McConaughey mesmerizes as he watches videos of his children grown and having their lives—without him.
Famed Physicist Kip Thorne oversaw the science of "Interstellar" for Christopher Nolan. We have amazing insights about Black Holes and special relativity. The visuals are stunning. However, the story gets really confusing as we literally go beyond 3 dimensions, as the plot holes emerge and the conspiracy narrative distracts. Matt Damon appears as Dr. Mann and is commanding, but seems more of a plot device.
Fortunately, Nolan returns to the human elements where "Interstellar" thrives with McConaughey, Chastain, and Hathaway. Chastain is awesome. She gives a touching poignancy to bond with Cooper beyond time and space. Hathaway shines, but seems under leveraged. McConaughey is at his best; he is the power within "Interstellar". We pull for him for his love for Murph, and he gave his word in a world of no possibility. This is where "Interstellar" transcends.