Interstellar - Film Review

Hooray!! This is it. The film I've been waiting for all year. Christopher Nolan's Interstellar staring Matthew McConaughey as Cooper, an astronaut assigned to search for a new habitable planet as Earth is no longer able to sustain human activity. Earth is now a dying planet, ravage by dust storms and with a limited food supply expected to run out within the next 30 years. NASA's head of operations Professor Brand (Michael Caine) explains to Cooper that a wormhole has been discovered near Saturn which allows the aircraft to be transported to another galaxy in the hope of finding a new planet and allowing the continuation of mankind. Cooper and his crew (Anne Hathaway, David Gyasi and Wes Bentley) embark on a quest to find this new world within a relative timescale and save the human race from extinction.

Christopher Nolan is a darling of the film critics and the film going community. In our eyes he seems to do no wrong. For all his flaws and problems, we gloss over them as he is a pioneer of cinema. He managed to adapt a well known comic book character Batman into a sublime trilogy which change the way we view comic book films. Subsequently the success of the Nolan Batman franchise has lead to studios attempting to copy his style in an attempt to rake in the cash. Dracula Untold which I reviewed not long ago tried to create a Nolan atmosphere giving the film a very serious dark tone which ultimately didn't work. Because the director wasn't Chris Nolan  His unique style is only something he can pull off and his box of tricks never gets tiring or repetitive. He's an explorer looking to push the boundaries and give the audience a memorable experience. He is the main selling point of a film and not many film makers can say that about themselves. A legend of modern cinema. Is Interstellar another Nolan mystery ride? Absolutely.

As per usual with a Nolan film, the direction is done to perfection. He creates a fascinating space exploration story which at its core is about a father and daughter relationship between Cooper and his daughter Murphy. McConaughey is superb as the lead character, for whom you have so much sympathy for because he is an emotional family man who isn't doing the mission for the glory, he's doing it for his children and one scene in particular did make me tear up which is unusual for me! My man wall got bulldozed. Powerful performance. The imagery and cinematography at times is beyond gorgeous. I only saw this in at a normal screening and I thought it looked excellent. I keep wondering what it'd be like in IMAX. Mind blowing. That brilliance mixed with Hans Zimmer's beautiful spine tingling score makes the long run time of nearly 3 hours fly by, even with the urge for a wee break which I had for an hour! There's even a surprise performance from a well known A-list actor who has a quite predictable role but is executed perfectly for what purpose it did to enhance the story. Anne Hathaway's performance is heartfelt and sincerer without being too melodramatic and she was top notch in her side character role. There is comedy relief in the form of two robots who gave a few quality one liners. This is exactly what you expect from a Nolan film, a compelling cinema experience. But his well known flaws which I gloss over without thinking are unfortunately exposed and is much more apparent the longer the film progresses.

One factor that's a bugging problem is that there are too many conveniences in the plot. How things coincidentally happen at just the right time. One or two you can get away with and you don't mind but it got out of hand especially in the third act of the film. The science behind the mission is complex even for folks who love a good dose of scientific explanation. I had to concentrate extremely hard and if I'd gone to see this film after I'd finished work I don't think I would have stood a chance. Again this got more and more difficult to understand and the last 15 minutes make you think that hard that your head starts to explode. It's interesting to listen to but it feels at times like a drawn out physics lecture. With all the futuristic science references and the insane intricate detail that the film goes in to, Interstellar maybe does deserve to be in the future. I don't think we're quite ready for this film simply because we don't yet understand it. If this came out in the next decade, we'd might appreciate it more. It reminds me of what Apple did with their apps and music software. The early models they released in the 90's weren't quite ready for the audience at the time and now they're one of the most successful technology companies. I feel like this film will get better the older it becomes. Similar to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Interstellar is an ambitious project which in true Nolan style sets the bar for what is technically possible. A majestic film that spends too much time trying to be a crazy science lesson and forgets to concentrate on the heart of the story. It's not the masterpiece which I and many others expected it to be but it is an excellent space film which I think with age will become a landmark which will be talked about for years to come.

7/10