2014: The Year in Film: "Interstellar" Review

I think it goes without saying that I'm a pretty big Chris Nolan fan, readers and followers. From Memento to Batman Begins, Inception, The Dark Knight, The Prestige and The Dark Knight Rises, literally every single one of his films has been memorable, visually stunning, and utterly singular.  He's been called the second coming of Stanley Kubrick, and while I'm not sure that's accurate, the fact that the comment isn't absurd on its face kind of says it all.  While his take on Batman has its detractors, most notably among certain members of the hipster online commentariat, there shouldn't be denial among rational, adult members of society that his Dark Knight trilogy is a watershed moment in modern culture that honestly shaped the decade. We've also seen over the last two years a renaissance of sorts, a McConaissance, even, which has seen one of the more disappointing and underachieving members of the Hollywood A-list, Matthew McConaughey, turn himself into a legitimately great actor. From Mud to True Detective, Wolf of Wall Street and Dallas Buyer's Club, McConaughey had a stretch like no one else in recent memory.

So when it was announced that Nolan and McConaughey would be teaming up for their next film, Interstellar, a film that was shrouded with the typical Nolan secrecy prior to its release, the internet could barely contain its excitement. Add in a strong cast that includes Ann Hathaway, Nolan regular Michael Caine, Matt Damon and John Lithgow with an imaginative hard sci-fi premise, and I was sold from the jump.

Interstellar introduces us to an indeterminate point in the near-future when disease, blight and environmental degradation has nearly rendered the earth uninhabitable. Repeated crop failures have made the situation on earth desperate, and what's left of NASA seeks to send a mission to the stars in a desperate attempt to ensure humanity's survival.

The Good: As should be expected from Christopher Nolan by now, the film combines stunning visuals with an ambitious and thought-provoking plot. The story, of a very real human catastrophe forcing humanity to turn to the stars, is the sort of high-minded science fiction that we don't see much of any more. As America's greatest achievement, its space program, becomes an underfunded afterthought, this film can and should serve as a reminder of the hope, wonder, and species-uniting progress that space once represented and could again. Far from a fanciful futuristic story set more in fantasy than reality, this is a space saga that's very much grounded in reality, with technology and space travel that feels all too real. The film makes significant efforts to ground its space travel and voyage of exploration in scientific reality, using relativistic time as a plot device, for example, and relishing what far off worlds may in fact look like. The combination of racing against the clock to save humanity and voyaging through the endless void of space creates an interesting blend of suspense-style pacing and an explorer's sentimentality. All of this is grounded in its characters, as the film focuses on two father-daughter pairs, Cooper (McConaughey) and his daughter Murph (played as an adult by Jessica Chastain) find their bond tested, strained, and ultimately redeemed by the endless distance between them, and the incredibly high stakes are given a human dimension through their relationship. The cast is strong, and even if character isn't always Nolan's strong suit, McConaughey and Chastain both turn in moving and powerful performances. Despite the long runtime, the pacing is strong, and if anything, the film felt TOO short.




The Bad: For all of its efforts at making an intelligent and scientifically sound version of what mankind's first voyage into interstellar space may look like, at times the film falls into sentimental nonsense. I'm not docking the film TOO much for this, because I don't believe Nolan set out to film a hyper-realistic look at space travel, but it was jarring. There are times the science and the implications therein take a backseat to the plot, and while that's not always a bad thing in and of itself, at times it felt almost lazy, which is really unfortunate. I would have liked to have seen the ending fleshed out more as well, although the film already had a 3 hour runtime. Finally, everyone has criticized it, so I must mention it, the sound mix is bizarre. There are times that it was literally impossible to hear what was going on because of the combination of score and space craft noises. I respect the desire to demonstrate the inside of a spacecraft, but maybe don't have actors trying to give dialogue overtop of a booming score AND rocket engines?

In all, this film represents, while not perfection, certainly an exceptionally ambitious vision that is to be commended. At a time when Hollywood studios take fewer and fewer chances and focus their attention on established properties, big-budget original stories are important and valuable. This film joins the pantheon of great sci-fi films, and is honestly a must-see, despite its flaws.

8.5/10.