Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" Movie Review

“165 minutes of space travelling movie can be tedious as you can imagine but apparently, Christopher Nolan’s film of the era “Interstellar” is not one of them”. Interstellar is a 2.49 hours Sci-Fi space adventure film, featured in the distant future, when the world almost comes to an end. In addition, humankind has to face with natural disasters such as dust bowl, drought and high nitrogen in the air. Corn was surprisingly the only option left for them in this global food crisis. It was certain that the earth could not afford to support humans’ lives anymore. The lead character Cooper, a widower with two kids who used to work for NASA as a space pilot, was asked to do last straw of this mission in searching for new planet in the distant galaxy, where humankind can resettle for survival. Cooper and his astronaut crew including Amelia Brand have to leave their families behind and take one hell of a ride through mysterious wormhole with no precise time when they will be back. 

The opening scene of Interstellar was excellently displayed the unhealthy living conditions of humans which was certainly different from the present day. It is very detailed and greatly reflected apocalyptic phenomena that mankind are scared of. Furthermore, there is no such thing like meteors explosion on earth which makes the film realistic, reasonable and relatable to viewers. Now turning to the plot, in my opinion, is beyond genius. 

The plot contains various elements which allow the audiences to follow up, whether it is family drama, philosophical aspects and science technology. It seems like these combinations are well-blended together. The scenarios are narrated upon actuality logic through creative imagination of the directors, the Nolan brothers. Even though there are a lot of hardcore science talks and slangs about black hole, fifth dimensions, binary and quantum physics, but the film has its own ways to portray the story out wisely and smoothly making the audiences able to understand what is currently happening on the screen. I would say that instead of confusing about the wild spun of astrophysics, you collect home a handful of scientific knowledge without being aware of it.

Apart from the plot, what should not be left out are the messages which engrave in the story. The intimate relationship between a single dad, Cooper and two of his children, Murph and Tom is pure and powerful. Imagine your not so typical dad has to travel exploring planets on the other end of nowhere while you are sitting alone in the dark waiting for the day to reunite again. Cooper has to sacrifice basic human desires; home and love ones in hope not only to save millions of people but also find a promising future for his kids. It represents tender tale of love and loss. Furthermore, the most epic part where cooper comes out of the wormhole to find that time has slipped forward decades as he has been away only hours, had me shook up in tears a couple times. 

Matthew McConaughey’s performance as a main actor is undeniably first class with voice trembling in the sentimental scenes. Anne Hathaway is also serving up well as a support actress, even though she is not the main one but she is astonishing as always. Both McConaughey and Hathaway are an Oscar worthy and hold my interest throughout the past hours. Not going to lie but it will make you shed a bucketful of tears. I knew this film is going to break my heart somehow but I let it crush my feeling on repeat. Interstellar is filled with faith, raw emotion and is overwhelming in every ways. Christopher Nolan is known to be the type of go big or go home film maker so I am not surprise how Interstellar has turned out. 

For visual and effects, Nolan used anamorphic format and IMAX 70 mm cameras during the process while switching location from one country to another. Other than that, to reduce the use of computer graphic, he had practical locations built such as the interior of space shuttle. I understand now why I feel like drowning at the same time as Cooper is floating through the cosmic. The whole scenery of the outer space is incredibly picturesque and it sucks the breath out of me. I am completely in awe of the views. Certainly, he has done what he always did in production as usual. 

With hard works he has put into the process, there is no denying that the visual of Interstellar is masterpiece, surreal and looks dreamlike. Besides, the soundtracks of Interstellar were composed by Hans Zimmer which has previously worked with Nolan before. The genre of these soundtracks are cotemporary classic and also minimal but sentimental. He also used booming music in most of the scenes to build up excitement level of the audiences. 

To be honest, I can feel the chill run down my spine as these astronauts are stumbling through the wormholes. Interstellar brings together different kind of feelings; understanding, sad, impressive and emotional but what thrilled me the most was realizing about the impact and power of love as it is beyond all reasons and rules in the universe. With visionary and imaginative minds of the directors and the attempts to produce this unique movie, Interstellar is now couple steps ahead comparing to other Sci-Fi movies in this decade. Despite some scientific theories, I have no idea what the characters were talking about, I give it 9.5 out of 10. This film is worth giving a go. A must watch film. It has my whole heart. One of the greatest movies, I have seen so far. 

Works Cited

1. ChatGPT
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3. Canby, V. (2014). Interstellar: Through a Wormhole, Darkly. The New York Times.
4. Charpentier, M. (2016). Christopher Nolan's Interstellar: Exploring Scientific Themes in Film. Palgrave Macmillan.
5. Freeman, D. (2015). Interstellar: Beyond Time and Space. Insight Editions.
6. Lozano, M. (2014). Interstellar: A Visual Guide. Insight Editions.
7. Nichols, P. M. (2015). Interstellar: The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books.
8. Pappademas, A. (2014). Matthew McConaughey Saves the Universe. Grantland.
9. Schedeen, J. (2014). Interstellar: Review. IGN.
10. Smith, J. (2014). Hans Zimmer's Soundtrack for 'Interstellar': A Track-by-Track Review. Digital Spy.
11. Travis, B. (2015). The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan. Abrams Press.