Can love cross the
dimensions of space & time? That’s one of the central questions in director
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014), a thought-provoking
science-fiction drama co-written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan. In the near
future, Earth’s society is crumbling due to a mysterious blight that’s causing
crop failures & making the air unsafe to breathe. Our planet is dying. Cooper,
a former NASA pilot, owns a farm that he works & lives on with his son Tom
& daughter Murphy. A mysterious “ghost” is haunting Murphy’s room, and she
believes it’s trying to communicate with her. The ghost’s messages lead Cooper
& Murphy to a secret installation where a project that may save the human
race is underway.
A NASA scientist named John
Brand (Michael Caine) has already sent three astronauts through a mysterious
wormhole to find habitable planets where humanity can relocate. Brand wants
Cooper to lead a mission alongside his daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway) to
recover the data from the astronauts, so it can be decided which of the planets
can sustain human life. Due to the length of time it will take to get to the
wormhole, travel through it, and back, many years will pass on Earth before the
mission’s return. Cooper’s children will be older, and the world he as he knows
it may no longer exist. What will the crew find on their journey? Are the
original astronauts still alive? Can our heroes return in time to save
humanity? Who led us to the wormhole, and why?
Nolan (best known for his trilogy of Batman films starring Christian Bale) is working on a huge
canvas here; the movie covers a lot of ground. It’s really nice too see a big
budget, non-franchise film of this type. This is a science-fiction tale that
never loses sight of the human side of the story, much like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
or Contact (1997). Cooper is
racked with guilt over leaving his family behind, but made the decision to save
both his family and the human race. The trade off is that he doesn’t get to see
his children grow up. Others involved in the mission have made their own
difficult choices, and must deal with their own consequences. The story isn’t just about journeys into space…it’s
also about love & the journeys of the human heart. As Amelia says during
the film “…Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that
transcends dimensions of time and space…”
This is an expansive, well-designed
& beautifully filmed (by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema) movie. The effects
are fantastic, and you really get the feeling you’re traveling in space and
setting foot on other worlds. The cast are all excellent, with Matthew
McConaughey doing a great job as Cooper,
and Hathaway, Caine and Jessica Chastain (as the grown up Murphy) doing fine
work as well. There’s some beautiful music by Hans Zimmer that's a little
different than the usual score for this type of film. While the movie is a bit
overlong at almost three hours, the story has some neat surprises and
developments along the way. You definitely won’t get bored or disinterested. I’ve stayed away from giving a lot of details
about the plot so you can enjoy the story as it unfolds.
Interstellar will
appeal to science-fiction fans, and those who love a good adventure story with
a humanist bent. If you don’t lean towards the sentimental side of the street,
this may not be your cup of tea. But if you do (and especially if you’re a
parent) I think the film & its story will resonate with you. And if you've enjoyed some of Nolan's non-superhero work, like Inception (2010) & The Prestige (2006), you should like this movie as well. The film is currently finishing up its run in theaters,
but I’m sure the home video & streaming release will be announced soon. Highly
recommended. Here’s a link to the trailer for the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vxOhd4qlnA.
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