Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Mackenzie Foy
Christopher Nolan has one of the most impressive
filmographies in cinema history. It is almost certain at this point that he has
positively propelled himself into the imaginary directorial hall of fame. While
Interstellar isn’t my favourite of Nolan’s films, it certainly doesn’t drop the
confusingly entertaining ball.
Whilst watching the movie, it was extremely difficult not to draw obvious parallels to Inception. They are almost identical thematically (Anyone who has seen Inception would know that this is definitely not a bad thing). The films have different settings but at their core, is a story of a father trying to return to their children. In terms of this so-called ‘man’, I much prefer the character of Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) in Interstellar to Cobb in Inception. Since the whole story is about the parental relationship, your belief of the relationship is paramount. In Inception you get one reused shot of some children in a garden but in Interstellar you get countless scenes with two great characters with great chemistry having very interesting dialogue. There is scene where Cooper is talking to his daughter’s teachers and just verbally backhands them and then jokingly breaks the news to her that he has gotten her suspended. It is a brilliantly memorable performance and most importantly; you just want Cooper to succeed because of how much he makes you like him.
The leading man is not the only great thing the movie has to bring to the table. There are some images the movie provides that have welded themselves deeply to my central nervous system and I haven’t been able to get them out of my head since I have seen it. In my opinion, the most impressive sequence (visually) in the entire movie is when the crew go through a wormhole (this isn’t a spoiler, the movie’s called Interstellar for god’s sake). As the ship eclipses the hole, it appears flat like the animated Chicken Little movie. It was an utterly jaw-dropping shot. It was as if something had glued the Hubble deep space image onto the inside of a Jupiter sized steel drum. When they went in it, I believe I recall my mind melting due to sheer mind numbing awesome. There were multiple times I found my mouth slightly agape.
One criticism I have heard from my friends and other life forms is about the complexity of the movie. I personally loved how much I had to think about the story as we were pulled along through it. Imagine a movie in which people go to other planets and things happen. I can think of ludicrous amounts of movies that can be described in that way and I’m happy to say that Interstellar isn’t one of them. It’s complexity means that it will be talked about in years to come much like Inception and Memento. If you said that the plot-driving ending is rather convenient, you would be rather correct if you have seen the movie, let’s be honest, you didn’t see that ending coming.
A definite criticism that I personally have of the movie is that it felt too long. They could have probably cut out a character that appears later on and not have hindered the movie too badly. Everything that is in the movie certainly has a reason to be there but it did make it feel like time was slowing down at some points *wink*.
Interstellar is a solid addition to the list of Nolan movies that look incredible and question how much time you have to constantly think about it later. Its title is deceptive, its characters are great and its visuals are vibrant and memorable to say the least. While it wasn’t able to reversely murder Memento as my favourite Nolan movie, I see it being worshipped as Inception’s younger (yet equal) brother in the coming years.
Speaking of Memento, there is a line in Interstellar where Anne Hathaway says that you can’t travel backwards in time. Probably not a reference but I can certainly hope it is. In any case…
Recommendation Status: Unmissable
Whilst watching the movie, it was extremely difficult not to draw obvious parallels to Inception. They are almost identical thematically (Anyone who has seen Inception would know that this is definitely not a bad thing). The films have different settings but at their core, is a story of a father trying to return to their children. In terms of this so-called ‘man’, I much prefer the character of Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) in Interstellar to Cobb in Inception. Since the whole story is about the parental relationship, your belief of the relationship is paramount. In Inception you get one reused shot of some children in a garden but in Interstellar you get countless scenes with two great characters with great chemistry having very interesting dialogue. There is scene where Cooper is talking to his daughter’s teachers and just verbally backhands them and then jokingly breaks the news to her that he has gotten her suspended. It is a brilliantly memorable performance and most importantly; you just want Cooper to succeed because of how much he makes you like him.
The leading man is not the only great thing the movie has to bring to the table. There are some images the movie provides that have welded themselves deeply to my central nervous system and I haven’t been able to get them out of my head since I have seen it. In my opinion, the most impressive sequence (visually) in the entire movie is when the crew go through a wormhole (this isn’t a spoiler, the movie’s called Interstellar for god’s sake). As the ship eclipses the hole, it appears flat like the animated Chicken Little movie. It was an utterly jaw-dropping shot. It was as if something had glued the Hubble deep space image onto the inside of a Jupiter sized steel drum. When they went in it, I believe I recall my mind melting due to sheer mind numbing awesome. There were multiple times I found my mouth slightly agape.
One criticism I have heard from my friends and other life forms is about the complexity of the movie. I personally loved how much I had to think about the story as we were pulled along through it. Imagine a movie in which people go to other planets and things happen. I can think of ludicrous amounts of movies that can be described in that way and I’m happy to say that Interstellar isn’t one of them. It’s complexity means that it will be talked about in years to come much like Inception and Memento. If you said that the plot-driving ending is rather convenient, you would be rather correct if you have seen the movie, let’s be honest, you didn’t see that ending coming.
A definite criticism that I personally have of the movie is that it felt too long. They could have probably cut out a character that appears later on and not have hindered the movie too badly. Everything that is in the movie certainly has a reason to be there but it did make it feel like time was slowing down at some points *wink*.
Interstellar is a solid addition to the list of Nolan movies that look incredible and question how much time you have to constantly think about it later. Its title is deceptive, its characters are great and its visuals are vibrant and memorable to say the least. While it wasn’t able to reversely murder Memento as my favourite Nolan movie, I see it being worshipped as Inception’s younger (yet equal) brother in the coming years.
Speaking of Memento, there is a line in Interstellar where Anne Hathaway says that you can’t travel backwards in time. Probably not a reference but I can certainly hope it is. In any case…
Recommendation Status: Unmissable
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