Far out. I think that’s the best way to describe Interstellar. It’s hardcore sci-fi, edge of humanity type story telling that really grabbed me and twisted my brain in knots.
In the future, humanity isn’t doing well. The weather has turned on us causing a major food shortage. Each year the variety and quantity of food grown lessens. Dust storms ravage the land as well as our lungs. We must look way into outer space for our salvation, it’s only a matter of time before Earth becomes completely inhospitable.
Professor Brand and other leading scientists at the now underground NASA, have a plan to save us. What appears to be a wormhole has appeared in our galaxy. This wormhole opens up the possibility to deep space travel, allowing mankind to go way farther in a reasonable amount of time in search for a new home. Two plans are put into motion when the first three expedition teams go out. A)Find a suitable planet and get everyone on Earth there to continue our existence. B) The contingency plan in case anything goes wrong: bring enough human DNA samples along for the ride to provide a diverse base for a brand new colony of humans to start life on the new planet. Time is running out, this must be done.
Enter Cooper. He’s a world class pilot that got his wings clipped early in his career after a mishap. Professor Brand wants him to pilot The Endurance shuttle to follow the three expedition teams that left years earlier to lock down and establish our new home. Cooper must leave his two kids in order to do so.
Interstellar is a movie you have to watch more than once. The beginning is a big set up, but once Cooper and his team lift off, it’s a wild and mind scrambling journey into the stars. The concepts at work are (mostly) all cutting edge scientific theory. It challenges and explores everything we know. The reality and complexities for us to explore and communicate through space. The very concepts of space and time itself.
Mankind’s existence relies on the success of The Endurance’s mission. There’s so much on the line, that conflict and stress just burst out of the seams. There’s a lot of fantastic set pieces, right from get go. The visit to the first planet is one you won’t soon forget. Plans don’t workout, secrets and lies are revealed along with hidden and shocking truths.
It’s a gorgeous movie with an all star cast as most Christopher Nolan productions are. There’s a lot of forward thinking futurist stuff on display (the robots really threw me out first, but they’re pretty great) as well as being discussed. It’s a challenging movie to watch as it challenges the the things you know and think you know (the end gets very far out, it’s a lot to take in).
As a whole, I really liked it. Future watches will mean skipping the first 45 minutes as that part is very by the numbers set up. The rest of the movie is where all the meat is. Cast is great, it’s well acted and written. Only one line by Cooper really jumped out as me as overtly Hollywood and I’m sure it’ll smack you in the face too. The girl who plays young Murphy is really good, which is major since she’s such an integral part of the story. There is some manufactured drama here and there, but none of it bothered me. For such a long run time (a good 2 1/2 hours), the movie is well paced, there’s always something interesting going on.
Interstellar is a hard movie to describe, but I think it’s one of the best sci-fi movies to come out in some time and it’ll stand up for years to come. I’m not sure if I liked this or Gravity more, but Gravity is much more accessible. You’ll leave Interstellar with a lot of questions, but I think that’s fun and necessary. Lots of great discussions have come from this film. If you’re looking for a new and fantastic journey to go on, I highly recommend it.