To infinity... and even
further!! It seems fitting that this film would be playing at the
Galaxy theatre! Hahaha... sorry. Let's just review this thing.
Interstellar
displays all the trademarks of a typical Christopher Nolan film:
familiar cast/collaborators, a long run time, a huge budget, and a
plot that is heavily based in both philosophy and metaphysical
puzzles. A science fiction film that takes place in the near future
(presumably, no dates are ever given), Interstellar is
set in a world of privatized education, a drastically reduced
government, and virtually no militaries. Sounds like paradise, right?
Nope, because the now-largely-agrarian world is ravaged by a huge
blight causing dust storms everywhere. A former NASA pilot, Cooper
(McConaughey) is recruited to lead a mission to make contact with
expeditions that have already landed on far away planets in order to
gauge their habitability so that humanity can leave Earth. I'll try
not to spoil the rest for you; it's a real melon-scratcher of a plot.
And don't even think about asking me about the validity of the
sciency stuff in this; I'm sure that Stephen Hawking fella can
enlighten you. But while I'm pretty sure that artistic licence
overtakes accuracy in the film's last twenty minutes, it doesn't
diminish the film's enjoyability and I think it makes for a very
strong ending. Even though the film is nearly three hours long, it
certainly doesn't feel too long; I guess you could say that viewers
will experience time dilation of their own! This is helped by the
fact that Interstellar
jettisons the unnecessary debates that plagued some other Nolan films
(Dark Knight trilogy,
anyone?). The story handily manages to be both thought-provoking and
tear-jerking at times.
Interstellar's
acting is out of this world. The whole cast – especially
McConaughey and Jessica Chastain – does a phenomenal job with only
a few exceptions: Michael Caine's occasional unintelligible mumbling
and Matt Damon's sometimes stiff dialogue.
As
for the production, it's the same high standards that you'd expect
from a Christopher Nolan movie. The special effects – both
practical and CG – are spot-on. Interstellar
also has a powerful soundtrack that will seldom leave you wanting –
although there's one scene in particular that might have benefited
from the silly Star Trek fight music. Seriously though, it's one of
the best soundtracks I've heard in a while.
But
as with all movies, Interstellar
has a few puzzling oversights. We're not given very many details
about what Earth is like in the future. The same can be said of the
other planets that are explored in this film; they're about as
creative as Star Wars planets (spoiler alert: Kamino, Tatooine, and
Hoth appear in this movie). Also NASA comes off as a rather shady
organization here with all the lying and double-crossing going on.
And yet for such an important top-secret institution they sure do
have lousy security.
No
matter. Interstellar
is still a fantastic adventure from start to finish. It's a
splendid-looking and -sounding spectacle that has decent drama and
yet doesn't bore you with the interminable discussions that people
often criticize Nolan films for. Offering lots in the way of science,
fantasy, and surrealism, Interstellar is
a very worthwhile experience.
Rating:
four and a half stars out of five.
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