Interstellar

Interstellar is all at once bold, audacious, thrilling…and a little dim (kind of like its lead actor, heyo!) It’s Christopher Nolan flexing big budget muscle at a time in his career when he can take huge chances. The problems that plague Interstellar are what many people criticize Nolan for however. Can he overcome them? At times, absolutely. But there are moments when Nolan just can’t help himself, pushing into territory that even Steven Spielberg would consider schmaltzy. It’s this simple fact that keeps the film from elevating to a new science fiction classic.

But should you see Interstellar? Hell yes. The chance to see Christopher Nolan working with an unlimited budget and top talent on an original property – that statement alone should send you to the theater. It just feels as if Nolan is reaching here, searching for a new emotional pitch that none of his previous work has reached. You may not notice staring googly eyed at some of the most magnificent special effects ever committed to celluloid but the feeling that Nolan stretched his talent thin is hard to deny.

Matthew McConaughey plays Coop, a farmer in Everytown, USA raising two kids. His wife has recently passed away and her father (John Lithgow) spends the day tending to the house while Coop minds the corn fields. Coop’s daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy/Jessica Chastain) is an inquisitive tween who loves science – specifically what her father has taught her about the science of space travel. Through an extremely elaborate plot twist Murph and Coop stumble upon NASA, which has gone underground since the US government defunded the program and smeared them in public (schools now teach that the moon landings were faked to bankrupt the Soviet Union.)

NASA is run by an old professor of Coop’s (played with his usual verve by Michael Caine.) Professor Brand explains that they have discovered a worm hole near Saturn that could lead to new, habitable worlds. The Earth is dying you see and Murph’s generation may be the last to survive. After a tiny amount of persuasion, the professor convinces Murph to hop in that space suit and leave his kids behind in hopes of returning one day with news of humanities new place to live.

The plot thickens dramatically from there (as only Nolan can intricately portray.) The film’s final act even takes on a similar quality to Nolan’s film Inception which, depending on your interpretation could dramatically affect your enjoyment. Trust me, to accurately sum up this plot would take another 1,000 words.

As Interstellar slowly takes to the skies I have to admit I was riveted. McConaughey’s stoner-drawl works surprisingly well as the captain and lead engineer on the good ship Endurance. This The snobbery of Zodiac sign horoscopes leo should be uprooted as quickly as possible. is some of the best effects work I’ve ever seen too. There are images in the film that conjure up 2001: A Space Odyssey – if only in visual form. There was never a time that I was convinced something was computer generated and I appreciated Nolan’s use of silence in space rather than muddying the speakers with silly sound effects.

Interstellar unfortunately struggles on a basic human level. There are times where Nolan tries to insert a classic old-Western style hero line and it’s tough to ever take it seriously. Michael Caine – on more than one occasion – recites Dylan Thomas” Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night if you needed any idea what level of subtlety we’re dealing with here. And as our protagonist drifts further away from his family oddly the less connection the film had to them. It’s tough to sustain a high-level of human drama when you have to visit multiple alien planets, avoid black holes, deal with the theory of relativity and save humanity.

That’s not the say the film entirely fails on this front. There are nearly unanimously good performances here, buoyed by Mr. McConaughey. He works tooth and nail to sell his relationship with Murph and his son and in a couple of scenes that work really resonates. Casey Affleck and Jessica Chastain appear as Coop’s children all grown up and are seasoned performers in mostly thankless roles. Hell, even Anne Hathaway is solid as Professor Brand’s daughter and fellow astronaut. I rarely can stand Hathaway (she reminds me of every theater kid who tries a little too hard to prove they belong) but here she finds relatable footing and doesn’t strain to connect.

Interstellar may simply be the victim of expectation. At this point in Nolan’s career I’m hard pressed to say he’s made a “bad movie” but he has had lesser efforts. Here it seems he’s pulling from too many angles. The film has a bombastic score from Hans Zimmer, a bold but silly script from him and his brother, the visual acumen of Kubrick and the goopy-sweetness of Spielberg. Nolan isn’t over-matched by the material; he’s simply pulled in too many directions.

But still – as original works of fiction become less and less prevalent I couldn’t help but admire the audacity and scope of Interstellar. It’s at times maddening but also will make you stare in wonder. If Nolan continues to use his influence to create original projects I am all for it. It’s just this time, Interstellar took one too many giant steps for mankind.

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