Movie Review: INTERSTELLAR

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Whether you love or hate Christopher Nolan’s work, there is no doubt that the man is one of the best filmmakers working for studios of our generation. Hell, I think it’s safe to say that he may be one of the best filmmakers making films in the past 15 years. Sixteen years ago, Nolan directed a black & white feature called Following which definitely introduced him as an interesting voice in storytelling. At the beginning of the new century, Nolan would direct an independent film called Memento. A film that re-popularized that need to go see a movie again after you finished it. That insatiable need to see it just one more time in the theaters before it hit the cable network of choice or that new format called “DVD”. Memento wasn’t a gimmick, Nolan utilized the character’s disability to put the audience into the film and feel the complicated yet disappearing emotions of Leonard Shelby. Christopher Nolan has crafted some interesting films since then. One-third of his feature-length film history is dedicated to revitalizing not only the Batman franchise but changing the comic book adaptation game forever – for better or worse. The last time we saw a non-franchise Christopher Nolan motion picture, we got a very heady sci-fi action film called Inception. He returns to the genre with this year’s most anticipated film, Interstellar.

I will fully admit that I saw the teaser trailer when it was first released but kept mainly in the dark (damn near impossible) on the film. It’s obvious that Stanley Kubrick is an influence on Nolan, and it is even more obvious in Interstellar. The way Kubrick did things was that if the studios wanted to advertise his film, he gave very calculated teasers that gave you a glimpse of the look and overall feel of the film without spoiling any plot points or imperative parts of the story. My advice to you dear reader, DO NOT WATCH ANY PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL. GO INTO THE FILM BLIND! Come back to this article when you see it.

Ok, so you saw the film, right? Feel exhausted. Yeah, that’s how I felt. Don’t worry, if you still haven’t seen it, I’ll still keep this pretty spoiler free.

Interstellar is an amazing, bold and brave film. Yes, it has some flaws – mainly the script – but it’s easy to look over these things because, at least in this person’s opinion, Nolan has crafted something that makes you invest in the film on such an emotional level that when you get out, you feel physically worn out. Yes, the film is near 3 hours long but does it feel like that? I don’t think so. The effects are outstanding and Hans Zimmer’s score is pretty amazing. Some viewers may have problems with moments of the film where Zimmer’s score is too overwhelming and drowns out dialogue. The scene that comes to mind is when a certain video message with very important information is playing to an empty vessel. However, it’s important to note that this information is repeated in a different scene where it is more potent to what is happening at that moment.

Matthew McConaughey has been doing some pretty extraordinary character work in the past couple of years, with Interstellar, McConaughey plays a pretty straight forward character, some may even feel that the character is one-dimensional. While the actors in the film do an exceptional job, it’s pretty obvious that this is not a film that benefits from a strong script in respects to the characters. It is an exercise in filmmaking and how to tie audiences into the emotion of the characters – again, something that has been done in all of Nolan’s films, whether you like it or not.

Where the film will lose some audiences is during the pivotal point of where Cooper enters into the 5th dimension and finds out what was really happening back at the farm house with the dust and in Murph’s room with the gravity anomaly. It feels a bit too rushed and silly. It also feels like it diminishes what Nolan was building up to where, after all the splendor and magnificence winds down, you feel a little let down by how this epic film wraps up.

Even with the flaws that people will find, which there are quite a few, there is no denying that Nolan has craved something that is pretty brilliant. Interstellar is a must see – especially in IMAX or 70mm if available to you.