Interstellar Review
For months I have been waiting for
the release Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Nolan casted the brilliant
Matthew McConaughey for the lead role in his latest blockbuster, drawing even
more appeal to one of the most hyped movies of the year. Nolan hasn’t directed
a movie since the conclusion of his epic Batman trilogy, and Interstellar has
been in the works for a few years now.
Interstellar tells the story of a
group of astronauts that travel through a wormhole in deep space in an attempt
to find a new planet for the people of Earth. Set in the not to distance
future, the movie begins by telling the story of Cooper, played by McConaughey,
and his family living in a world that has exhausted all of Earths natural
resources. Cooper and his daughter Murph, discover the location of the remains
of NASA and Cooper is tasked with leading a team to find a new home.
Michael
Caine, a favorite of director Christopher Nolan, is the head Scientist at NASA
tasked with finding a way to save humanity. Cooper agrees to go through the
warm hole, which they know leads to another galaxy orbiting a massive black
hole. Cooper and his team head out in hopes of saving humanity. I don’t want to
tell to much more of the plot line because I encourage everyone to see this
movie, as the story and acting are both extraordinary.
It is Christopher Nolan at his
best, and there is no actor in Hollywood that is better than McConaughey right
now. Nolan broke onto the scene in 2000 with the release of his thriller
Memento. However, Nolan really made a name for himself with the release of
Batman Begins in 2005, a darker more action packed version of the comic book
classics. Nolan followed up Batman begins by releasing two more Batman movies,
both of which are acclaimed as some of the best action and Super Hero movies
ever.
Matthew McConaughey was casted as
the lead for Interstellar in 2013 after Nolan saw his performance in Mud. Since
Mud, McConaughey has become one of the hottest actors on the planet. His role
in HBO’s True Detective showed the world he was capable of totally diving into
a role. However, McConaughey wasn’t done with just True Detective. His
performance in Dallas Buyers Club earned him an Oscar for actor in a leading
role, one of the most coveted awards in movies.
McConaughey would costar with Anne
Hathaway, a previous star of Nolan’s film The Dark Knight Rises, his conclusion
to the Batman trilogy. Paramount announced in 2013 that McConaughey and
Hathaway would be the stars of Nolan’s new film, produced from his company
Syncopy.
Originally one of the movies
producers Lynda Obst, who came up with the idea of the movie with physicist Kip
Thorne, sold the idea to Paramount and Steven Spielberg. But in 2009 when
Spielberg moved his DreamWorks Productions from Paramount to Disney, the movie
needed a new director. According to Entertainment weekly, it was Nolan’s
brother Jonathan, writer of the Interstellar script, that recommended
Christopher to direct the movie. It was interesting to me reading that
originally Spielberg was on board to create this movie.
Interstellar is Nolan at his
directing and writing best. With the help of his brother Jonathan, who also
wrote the Batman trilogy, the team created a movie that is more than just
visually appealing. Much like Inception, the depth of the story line amazed me.
As outlandish as the story line is, viewers are captivated by what will happen
next. But above all else are the performances by the actors, the writing is so
good you can’t take your eyes off of the action. “The pace is gripping, the central performances compelling
and the action sequences thrilling” Said Rich Phippen of Sky Movies.
Many people have compared
Interstellar to 2001 A Space Odyssey and Gravity, because of the space
exploration side of the movie. However, with Interstellar you don’t feel like
it’s a movie about space exploration. It’s much more that that. It’s a story of
a man trying to save humanity and return home to his children.
Interstellar dives into a topic
that many people are not familiar with or interested in, physics. Nolan
received praise from the science community for the accuracy and use of the
space-time continuum and the theories of gravity in the movie. Although, we are
not able to travel into deep space the movie makes you think that maybe someday
we will find a way. It also in a weird way tells the story of how we are
burning through our own natural resources. I don’t think Nolan’s message was to
say “Hey people you are killing earth” but the movie makes you wonder if we are
prepared to face those consequences.
Nolan has almost created a cult
following with his movies. He is a director that is not afraid to take risks,
especially with his writing. We see this in Memento and Inception; two movies
that people either love or can’t stand to watch. Nolan is becoming one of the
premiere directors in Hollywood and people (like me) can’t wait for his next
big blockbuster.
All together I thought this movie
exceeded expectations. We haven’t seen anything from Nolan in a while and
expectations for this movie were extremely high. To begin once again the Nolan
brothers wrote a script so complex and full of wow moments it is impossible to
not be captivated. Another reason this movie was so successful was the cast.
McConaughey, Caine, and Hathaway are all huge names and Nolan casted them
perfectly. For me, I’ve been excited for this movie for a while so I think
naturally I really enjoyed it. I thought it was such a new concept and idea for
a movie, much like Inception. I’ve never seen a movie quite like this. However,
for all the praise I am giving it the film received mixed reviews. IMDB gave
the movie 9/10 stars, extremely high praise. However, other people thought the
ideas of the movie were to outlandish and fake. Many critics were left wanting
more, that the final revelation let them down.
All together Interstellar is a
movie that you have to see for yourself. The ideas and science in it are to
complex to explain without seeing them. It is also a movie that I think you
need to go to the theatres to really experience. I was fan, but I think you
should go see for yourself!!
