Interstellar
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, John Lithgow, David Gyasi, Wes Bentley, and Michael Caine.
Backstory
Alrighty, Christopher Nolan, the man who brought us the last Batman trilogy and Inception is back with an outer space epic! The first teaser was all mysterious when it was released about a year ago, leaving many to puzzle what it may be about. As we all know from Nolan’s resume, he’s a big fan of non-linear storytelling, so when he starts dealing with physics concepts like the theory of relativity and the slowing of time due to massive gravitational forces, we all knew things were going to get really trippy. But how trippy did it get?
Plot
In the not-too-distant future, a series of ecological disasters has left Earth on the brink. Cooper is a former NASA astronaut. He lost his job when NASA was dismantled and all resources put into, well, sustaining life on Earth. But then, a series of mysterious events in his daughter’s bedroom leads him to the remnants of NASA, where a desperate plan has been hatched. A wormhole has just been discovered near Saturn, and on the other side are three, life-sustaining worlds. Cooper is soon drafted into leading the expedition through the wormhole to meet up with the astronauts on the other side who’ve been surveying the planets. If they truly are life-sustaining, then it’s hoped that mankind can follow soon after and colonize these new planets. Will Cooper and his crew succeed? What awaits them on the other side of the wormhole? And how will Cooper’s children survive on Earth?
What I Liked
Dude! Much like Gravity, this film tries to root itself in the realities of space travel and the genuine science of what lies up in space. As such, I just found it more harrowing than the average space opera. You truly feel the vastness and wonder of space. And the silence in the space scenes just adds to the tension. Acting is pretty good. It’s nice to see some raw emotion when everyone’s trying to be all clinical and scientific. Great special effects, too. I almost regret not seeing it in IMAX.
What I Didn’t Like
The ending. After being so grounded in reality, the end gets a little too “wibbley wobbley timey wimey” for my tastes.
Final Assessment
Sci-fi of the greatest order, dealing with real science rather than just cool space battles. I enjoyed it greatly.