Interstellar

Another mind-blowing Christopher Nolan movie

Featuring

Matthew McConaughey as Cooper

Anne Hathaway as Amelia Brand

Michael Caine as Professor Brand

Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain as Murph Cooper

John Lithgow as Donald

with Timothee Chamalet and Casey Affleck as Tom Cooper

and Matt Damon as Dr Mann

Any movie made by Christopher Nolan these days is a long, wild, yet contemplative ride. They’re full of lofty ideas about time, humanity and moral dilemmas, packaged into a conveniently digestible package. Interstellar is no different, and because it has been on the top of my most anticipated movies list this whole year, so I eagerly went to see it at the first opportunity. A word of warning though, some rudimentary knowledge of physics and relativity is required.

The premise of the movie is simple enough, an ecological disaster is spreading across the Earth in the not too distant future, droughts, failed crops and failed rains are dwindling the planet’s ability to support life. Humanity is on the brink of collapse and extinction. An expedition is sent by what remains of NASA through a newly discovered artifical wormhole near Saturn leading to another galaxy to find a suitable planet to resettle our people.

Cooper is a former pilot and engineer confined to farming corn while taking care of his children, and giving them an education. He volunteers to go on the mission, which is a bit of a Hail Mary for humanity, considering the only planets worth investigating are near a black hole on the other side of the worm hole. However, there is one major logic flaw with this entire premise, which is revealed during its conclusion. It made me scratch my head. You will too, if you really think about it.

Do not read the following spoilers in ITALICS if you have not watched the movie yet. I repeat: SPOILER ALERT.

Look, let’s be honest here. If humanity manages to ascend to a technological apex where we can create wormholes and time travel, why the frak would you build a wormhole near Saturn. It takes TWO YEARS to get there, when an imminent ecological disaster is happening and time is ticking.

Then, the damned thing leads to an area near the event horizon of a black hole? This is the best that future superhumans can do? Considering all the myriad planets we’ve already discovered around other stars that are within the habitable zone, why not build a wormhole that leads there?

Future humans are either not as smart as they think they are, or they’re just massive freakin’ trolls. I mean, was their objective to force someone to go through the bloody black hole? Couldn’t they have sent a coded message with the solution to the equation through the wormhole or something, given their technological prowess? No, can’t use the simple solution in a movie…

END OF SPOILER ALERT

The movie is really a grand adventure, with a storyline that, like Inception, reaches across time and space, talks about love, survival and sacrifice, but most importantly, that humanity should never stop striving to be brave and reach further and better. There are some clunky bits here and there, but they’re quickly forgotten when so much of the movie is delicious and enticing.

The movie is filled with stark, clinical visuals that still manage to strike awe into the audience, with the sheer scale of the cosmos and our insignificance compared to them. Various shots of the Endurance, the vehicle used as a mothership and supply depot for the expedition, against the majesty of Saturn sent shivers up my spine. Great effort is also put into the science, to make it accurate and authentic, from relativity, time dilation and the emptiness of space.

I love Interstellar, despite its flaws here and there. It is a movie about humanity’s aspirations, its failings and its constant struggle to redeem itself. It’s about survival and adventure, but being brave in the face of adversity. It’s wonderfully cast and, at three hours in length, well paced and manages to fill in all of its plots completely. This is a movie that is worth watching.

Check out the trailer

Rating

Likely to be the best movie I’ve seen this year so far.

Watch this if you…

Like science fiction, loved 2001: A Space Odyssey, space opera and all the jazz

Don’t watch this if you…

There are no reasons to skip this movie.