Interstellar Review: Reach for the stars

Matthew McConaughey driving through farmland in Interstellar

Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Interstellar

A+

A review by Frederick Cholowski

Sometimes a film can transcend its flaws. Good storytelling mixed with some great elements can sometimes forgive the worst of sins. It’s hard not to watch Christopher Nolan’s latest film Interstellar and not be able to find flaws; some of the dialogue is strangely bad and sometimes the motivations of the characters are odd, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. Interstellar is a film that I left in awe of the overall achievement, a big, beautiful, and massively ambitious film that promotes the ideas of imagination and exploration in a time when they can often be forgotten. There are moments here and there that may not work as well but the since of awe that I left the theater with is unlike anything I've experienced in a theater.

Interstellar opens with a world in despair. The planet has become overpopulated and food is scares forcing the majority of the world to become farmers. The world also has seemed to lose most of its ambition, science has been put to the wayside and ambition and exploration seem to be ideas of the past. We are introduced to Cooper (Mathew McConaughey) a former pilot and engineer for NASA turned farmer and his two children, his eldest son Tom (played as a young boy by Timothee Chalament) and his younger daughter Murph (played as a young lady by Mackenzie Foy). Tom seems to be the successor to the farm while Murph is a child filled with wonder and after a sand storm her and Cooper find coordinates to a mysterious destination. Turns out it’s the underground base of NASA led by Professor Brand (Michael Cain) and his daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway). Their mission is to find a new planet to settle the human race on as earth is becoming increasingly inhabitable and they need Cooper to pilot the ship. Cooper is forced to leave his family behind and set off on a near impossible mission.

The first half of Interstellar is one of the most fascinating cinematic experiences I’ve seen in a while. The film loops artfully from one moment to the next disregarding time and focusing on the big picture of what is happening to Cooper’s family as well as the world around him. It’s all done in one powerful sweeping tour de force, allowing the viewer to figure plot points out for themselves as well as giving the set up in a most interesting way. Particularly effective especially the material regarding the relationship between Cooper and his daughter Murph and just how much of an impact that the mission will have on her. By the time Cooper is set to lift off into space (in a great takeoff sequence) Nolan has done a fine job of making the mission and its ramifications into a big deal setting the stage for the adventures that come.

 
Once the characters blast off into space the visuals really begin to kick in. The space sequences are thrilling visual moments and continuously find unique ways to suck the viewer into the affairs. The film looks beautiful, especially in IMAX, and each sequence provides a new and creative visual element. Space, along with the planets that are visited feel like real characters in and amongst themselves as they each have their own unique elements and visual quirks. The visuals are ultimately awe inspiring and keep the film powerful and interesting even when the flaws begin to rear their ugly head.

That’s the thing with Interstellar, the film has flaws and they are not subtle either. Some of the dialogue in this film is head scratching especially with some of the female characters. There is one speech from the Anne Hathaway character in particular that is really cringe worthy and tough to sit through. Nolan has never been a real master of dialogue often overemphasizing emotions and not allowing scenes to speak and Interstellar often brings out the worst of that tendency.

The other thing that seems to happen is that many of the characters have some strange almost inexplicable motivations. Sometimes Interstellar overlooks or rushes through many of the idea of why certain characters do what they do leaving me often times either puzzled or just angry at how some character scenes are handled. The earlier Anne Hathaway character speech midway through the film also applies to this criticism, as it just kind of comes out of nowhere and doesn’t fit with anything that the character does before or since.

All that being said in the end those flaws really didn’t affect my enjoyment of Interstellar. As mentioned at the beginning of this review the film ultimately transcends its flaws with the power of its overall experience. Interstellar is a film that promotes the ideas of exploration, hope, and imagination. In more ways than one it attempts to reach for the stars, its ambition is so great, it attempts to go to places that a science fiction film hasn’t gone to in a while (of course the easy comparison is the Kubrick classic 2001) and for the most part it achieves what it sets out to do. Ultimately the feeling of awe that the film and its themes gave me triumphs over any potential flaws the film could have.

We have gone long enough without discussing some of the really good performances in this film. Mathew McConaughey is fantastic in this film. McConaughey brings such a warmth and humanity to Cooper and his interactions with his children. Mackenzie Foy who plays Murph as a child throughout the first hour of the film is also fantastic really selling the relationship that her and Cooper have as well as how big of an impact him leaving has on her. The rest of the performances work well here too, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain (whom plays the adult version of Murph) work well considering the material they are given and Michael Cain is always reliably good.

Another quick note to make is in regards to the score and sound mixing. Hanz Zimmer’s score is very good as it adds a grand feel to big sequences. The main point of contention though is in the way it is used throughout the film. The score is pushed right into the forefront of big sequences pounding to the point it can almost be really overwhelming. Ultimately I didn’t mind the way in which the score is used and in fact in many moments I found it quite effective. It makes the big moments (like for example a liftoff) bigger and ultimately adds to what many of the sequences are trying to convey.  

Interstellar is a flawed masterpiece. It’s a film that has problems in certain areas, mostly in the character department, but ultimately the ambition, the visuals, and the since of awe the film left me with nearly make the flaws irrelevant. Interstellar is unlike anything I’ve seen in a theater in a long time and is one of the single best experiences of 2014.