Christopher Nolan’s latest, ‘Interstellar,’ is a bold, if a bit too ambitious, original sci-fi film, with compelling performances and powerful storytelling
In a day and age where movie studios seem hell-bent on rebooting successful properties and making a sequel, prequel or whatever to any and all films in existence, it’s deeply comforting to see Christopher Nolan continue to use his big budget abilities to provide challenging and — key word —original films. He uses big stars, state of the art effects and wide millimeters of film to compliment his equally big thinking, creating dynamic worlds and psychologically sound pictures.
Even if it’s not among his best work, Interstellar should be praised as a big budget movie that’s not only slick and well made, but also genuinely explorative and oddly heartfelt.
Earth can barely sustain human life in the not-too-distant future. Dust swims around Middle America on an annual basis, food quantities are deflating and people are riddled with diseases. Even with his checkered past, widower and ex-NASA test pilot/engineer-turned-farmer Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) tries to make the best of his life, providing his kids, 15-year-old Tom (Timothee Chalamet) and 10-year-old Murph (Mackenzie Foy), with as fulfilling of a future as possible. Times are tough, of course, and answers come rarely to their humbled lives.
When Murph discovers some puzzling directions created in dust formation in her room, though, she sends her father and herself into a whole field of explanations. Particularly, the company of Professor Brand (Michael Caine) and his daughter, also called Brand (Anne Hathaway), and their co-workers, Doyle (Wes Bentley), Romilly (David Gyasi) and TARS, the robot (voiced by Bill Irwin). Together, they function as a secretive remaining branch of NASA, attempting to discover a new livable planet for humans to call home.
Recognizing Cooper’s talents in his past life, they persuade him to join in their exposition. He leads the crew through a wormhole and discovers various different planets within our expanded solar system. But as their mission grows longer, so too does Cooper’s time away from his family, as he loses valuable memories and misses out on their lives’ endeavors and growth. As this weighs on his mind, he must ask himself if he decide whether to continue his mission or go back to his inoperable home planet with the ones he loves.
In Interstellar, more so than any film on his resume, Nolan wears his influences firmly on his sleeve. Inspirations to films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Planet of the Apes and Star Wars, to name a few, are apparent throughout, almost to a distracting fault. At times, it makes the film feel more like the sum of other parts than its own beast. But through a stern dedication to its themes of parenthood and the struggles of connection, Nolan’s film succeeds as an equally thoughtful exploration of sci-fi thematic morals. His new movie may be heavy on complexities, but its morals become decidedly simpler.
For essentially, Interstellar serves as the big-budget sci-fi version of Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” His exploration on fatherhood is bold in approach, but almost miraculously personal in its humanity. While crippled more so than any of his other films by his self-seriousness —his attempts at levity here coming across more awkward than enduring —he eases gently into pathos. By removing his stern demeanor in favor of personal reflection and sincerity, Nolan —even when his narrative struggles—grows as a filmmaker. He was never one to settle.
At 169 minutes, just eleven minutes shy of three hours, Interstellar is easily Nolan’s longest film to date. As the movie deals with the themes of passing time and the burdening of progressing away from humanity, you do feel its length more than you do in either of the Dark Knight sequels or Inception. Its thoughtful pace may be too much for some to bare. While it does drag at times, particularly towards the beginning and middle segments muddled by heavy exposition and hard science, its thoughtful is ever showing.
With its characters growing genuinely and its story progressing in a (mostly) competent manner, the journey feels earned and rewarding. McConaughey gives what could very well be his most humane performance, weighing the moral complexities of this story and his character with genuine, natural grace. A sequence of him watching tapes of his family is hard to watch without getting a little watery in the eyes. Equally as sterling is Jessica Chastain, as an older Murph, who balances the struggles of her father’s mission and her own insecurities with nuance and depth. Hathaway, while overacting at times, makes some of the movie’s most wonky dialogue sound at least passable, while little Foy carries a solid third of the movie’s emotion heart with tenure three times her age.
As the third act progresses, Interstellar sadly loses some of his grounded complexities in favor of overwrought dialogue, odd character decisions and plot inconsistencies. While it picks itself up towards its final reels, there’s no denying the sense the script, written by Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, finally lets its ambition get the better of itself. Particularly involving a cameo/supporting appearance from a “surprise” actor, whose motivation seems lacking to say the least, and some stretches of the imagination in terms of science possibilities, things start to get silly towards the last legs of this adventure.
Still, even when the dialogue is a little too pompous or trite, and its ideas just a tad to grand for its own capabilities, there’s a fiery passion inside Nolan’s latest shown all the way through. His commitment to his central themes rides Interstellar through its bumpier patches, and its mesmerizing score from Hans Zimmer and beautiful cinematography from Hoyte Van Hoytema makes it all the more compelling and cinematic. If anything, this is a film that needs to be appreciated in as big of a form as possible.
