INTERSTELLAR (review)

Review by Benn Robbins

Interstellar is a hefty film. I am not even talking about its almost 3 hour running time either.

Christopher Nolan has presented us with his personal 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Now before you all fly off the handle and tell me there is no way this film is as good as 2001, let me remind you that when 2001 came out in 1968 it was met with stunningly bad reviews.

Later, of course, it is heralded as one of the greatest pieces of Science Fiction film making ever made.

Has Mr. Nolan achieved this?

Not entirely but I believe that it comes close.

Only time will tell.

Interstellar is a grand film and had me intrigued from the opening frames till the final credit rolled. It tells the story of a dying Earth. One that is slowly becoming unable to sustain life on it. A group of hopeful explorers led by Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, must travel through a mysterious worm hole, discovered near Saturn, to find a new planet for the Human race to continue its existence on.

That is just the briefest of explanations of what the story of the film is about and it doesn’t even come close to encompassing the breadth and scope of the film.

This film is an epic on most every scale. It is also methodical and very deliberately paced. It is also a true Science Fiction film in every sense of the meaning. This film harkens back to the heady days of Asimov, Clarke, Dick, Bester, Herbert and Bradbury.

Nolan and his writing partner and brother, Jonathan have crafted a well thought out and gripping story with both heart and suspense.

The cast of this film are all perfect and give fantastic performances. Coopers space mission team, Academy Award Winner, Anne Hathaway as Amelia, Wes Bentley as Doyle, David Gyasi as Romilly and both Bill Irwin and Josh Stewart as the voices of the robots, TARS and CASE are outstanding.

Back on Earth, Michael Caine as Amelia’s father and brilliant scientist Professor Brand, the architect of the mission must finish his formula to get everyone off the planet when a suitable new planet is found. Rounding out the already amazing cast are Matt Damon as the stranded Dr. Mann, Casey Affleck as Cooper’s adult son, Tom,  who desperately hopes to save his father’s farm, Jessica Chasten as Cooper’s grown up daughter, Murph, who is the entire reason Cooper is on this mission in the first place and is Professor Brand’s assistant in trying to both save the human race as well as her father.

I can only hope that anyone who reads this will go see this film.

I loved it and it made me feel like a kid again watching hopeful and wondrous Science Fiction films for the first time.

Yes, it has it’s flaws and it has it’s inherent paradoxes that are always going to be there when you deal with time and space. But if you let the film just tell its story, on the other side of that is a great piece of filmmaking and a film about hope discovery in this rather cynical and hopeless real world.

It is a breath of fresh air in the rather stale and stagnant terrarium we call movies.