Review: Interstellar

Set in a future Midwestern America, going through horrific losses of crops and horrible dust storms. Life it seems, is hard for everyone the world over, not just the American Midwest, and it’s predicted to only get worse. The planet itself will likely become uninhabitable for us before long. Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper, a former NASA test pilot/engineer and widower, now a struggling Midwest farmer trying to raise two kids. His intelligent, but wilful  10 year-old daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy) claims ghosts are haunting her room, and when Cooper investigates he notices some very strange dust patterns that appear to be communicating some kind of message. Figuring out that they are co-ordinates, he and young Murph drive off to investigate, leaving teenage son Tom at home with the boy’s realist grandfather John Lithgow. The co-ordinates land Cooper and Murph in a secret NASA base, with NASA having essentially been defunded in these harsh economic times (and with the revelation that the Apollo moon landing missions were all faked, teachers are instructed to dissuade students from having too much ambition!). Cooper finds a friendly face in former mentor Professor Brand (Sir Michael Caine), who informs Cooper that the Earth is in dire straits and something must be done now to save its inhabitants. Prof. Brand invites Cooper to pilot a space mission near Saturn, going through a wormhole (!) into another galaxy, and find the three previous teams sent through the wormhole, and to investigate the findings from three different reports of three different planets said to be possible alternatives for us to live on. Murph is angry and inconsolable that her father is going to leave them, but he promises her he’ll be back. Meanwhile, Cooper is introduced to the rest of the team; co-pilot/researcher Wes Bentley, slightly nervy astrophysicist David Gyasi, and Brand’s astronaut/scientist daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway). Also on board the mission is a robot named TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin). William Devane turns up briefly as one of the NASA officials, Collette Wolfe plays Murph’s concerned teacher, and David Oyelowo is the school principal.

Although I might’ve personally preferred the more simplistic story of the previous year’s “Gravity”, this 2014 film from director Christopher Nolan (“Memento”, “Insomnia”, “Inception”) and his co-writer/brother Jonathan isn’t the “Contact” rip-off some are accusing it of being. I’s also not the epic space classic Nolan probably wanted it to be (and others are championing it as), either, but honestly the similarities with that 1997 film are few and trivial. In fact, I think even if you did compare the two films, this one’s probably the better one. If it weren’t for its slightly predictable trajectory, it would’ve been even better.

It’s a really fascinating yarn, with a helluva central concept based on social themes that are pretty relevant and interesting. Much more sci-fi oriented than “Gravity” this space film also doubles as a time-travel yarn, and on that level it’s pretty damn clever I must say. It’s set in a fascinating future, seemingly a world in no need of astronauts or NASA (there’s more pressing concerns in need of funding), and indeed Matthew McConaughey’s kids are taught in school that the Apollo moon landings were faked to bankrupt the Soviet Union! So, we’re definitely in the fiction side of sci-fi here, but with environmental and socio-economic themes that one can easily relate to. It’s a pretty terrific premise I have to say, with clever use of actual documentary footage from “Dust Bowl” too, in the framing device. Nolan does an expert job with the space scenes, even if I might prefer those in “Gravity”. What I especially appreciated here was that Nolan has paid attention to the fact that there’s no sound in space, so we get moments of silence. You can’t blame him for wanting to bring in the music score from time to time, but the silences were very much appreciated by me. There you go, space nerds, someone’s finally gotten it right. Now sit back down and shut up, OK? When we do hear sounds, it’s usually to alert the audience to something happening, which is perfectly understandable if you ask me.

I was a tad sceptical that, although the film spans many, many years, technology doesn’t appear to have changed much during that time, not that we see at least. However, that’s a minor issue, really. ***** POTENTIAL SPOILERS FROM HERE ON ***** The bigger issue is that Matt Damon keeps having to get fucking rescued all the time. I hope he has compensated everyone for all the time, money and effort spent in trying to rescue the guy in movies. I mean goddamn that guy gets himself in trouble a lot, doesn’t he? There’s a pretty amazing conceptualisation of an alien planet, looking like Mordor crossed with Winterfell during the harshest of winters, but minus the ‘White Walkers’. I was less impressed with the design of the robots in the film (one of whom was voiced by Bill Irwin, but I swear it sounded exactly like William Fichtner). Although I understand the reasoning behind the rather low-tech design of the robots, I think Nolan and his team have gone a little too far to the point where they look like TARDIS. From like a 60s-era “Dr. Who”. It just didn’t seem right to me, even for a NASA that has been forced to go underground.

Normally with a split narrative, I tend to find it a bit hard to get invested in either strand. However, Nolan (x2?) has managed to make it work here, it’s very cleverly done. Aside from the predictability, it’s a really good screenplay. As for the performances, Matthew McConaughey is ideal and instantly relatable in the lead, Anne Hathaway is almost impossible to take your eyes off (I believe that’s called charisma personified), the overrated Jessica Chastain is for once well-cast and affecting, and Casey Affleck is similarly affecting. John Lithgow (rather taciturn) and Sir Michael Caine are never bad to have around, and I was glad to see the talented Wes Bentley in a decent film for a change, even if his role was minor. Despite needing to be rescued yet again, Matt Damon (Who is unbilled, hence the spoiler alert, though I knew about him well in advance) is cast in a rather different, darker role for him, and he is very effective in limited time. His first moment on screen is quite heartbreakingly vulnerable. It’s a small moment, but a noticeable and affecting one.

Although I don’t really see what the detractors of the film are on about, I can definitely see why some people are very, very enthusiastic about the film. It deals with themes and issues that I and others definitely believe in, but I don’t think this is the “2001: A Space Odyssey” of the modern era, much as Nolan is seemingly aiming for it to be. The ultimately predictable trajectory really does hold it back a little for me, but it’s certainly a very solid science-fiction film with some fascinating ideas and really cleverly conceived in a lot of ways. Hell, even if I saw it coming from a mile away, I still found myself getting a little emotional at the end. It’s a good film, and better than any of Nolan’s overrated Batman movies, but not an especially great film.

Rating: B-