Space is vast. It’s intimidating and fascinating, but it is also a vacuum devoid of character and emotion. It’s easy to forget about human characters while making a science fiction epic about reaching the farthest corners of the known universe, and my biggest fear when going into “Interstellar” was that Christopher Nolan would let humanity fall to the wayside in favor of showcasing the awe inspiring visuals that he and his special effects team concocted. Thankfully, this is not the case as Nolan and his team have crafted one of the most emotionally powerful, albeit imperfect, films of the year, thanks in no small part to Matthew McConaughey’s riveting performance.
The film takes its time setting up the plot, choosing to remain on Earth for the better part of the first act. Cooper (McConaughey) is a retired pilot who is desperately trying to make a living by farming to provide for his family. The time period isn’t made explicit, but the film takes place somewhere in the near future with Earth having turned into one giant dust bowl. Blight has wiped out almost every crop available except corn, and the dirt is no longer suitable to grow anything. Dust storms occur on a regular basis, and the Earth’s breathable atmosphere is slowly changing to carbon dioxide. After establishing the dire situation that humanity faces, Cooper is recruited by an underground form of NASA to travel through a wormhole that miraculously appeared by Saturn in order to search for a habitable planet.
The first act of the film packs an emotional wallop. It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch Cooper part with his daughter, Murph, without knowing if he will be making a return trip. Murph’s feelings of betrayal by her father evolve into a much more interesting internal conflict for her, and watching her try to reconcile with the belief that her father abandoned her to suffocate on the dying Earth is nothing short of engrossing. Jessica Chastain is wonderful as the adult Murph, but McConaughey is the one who truly delivers a standout performance. Watching him struggle with the conflicting ideals of self-preservation and species-preservation is utterly captivating. His performance in “Interstellar” is one of the best of his already impressive career.
Unfortunately, Anne Hathaway’s performance is a bit more one-note than everyone else’s, but I’m hesitant to place her at fault. She is a fantastic actress, and you can see tidbits of emotion come through her character, but for the most part, her character is simply boring. Most of the time it feels like her character exists simply for expository purposes.
Still, whatever flaws there are in characterization are almost made up for by the incredible visuals. You’ve never seen space like this. The alien planets are gorgeous, the black hole is beautiful and the space travel sequences are visceral. The cinematography does a fantastic job of showing just how insignificant humanity is in the grand scope of universe, but it also showcases the beauty of astronomical phenomena that we cannot even begin to understand. The best part is that all of the visuals, like the gravitational lensing of light around a black hole, are based on real mathematical calculations done by Nolan’s visual effects team. The grounding of this film by real world mathematics makes it even more breathtaking to look at.
However, there is one major gripe I have with the film that I’m hesitant to write about here. I cannot describe in detail what the major problem was, as it has to do with the final ten minutes of the film that I don’t want to spoil, but suffice to say that the ending was a bit too neatly wrapped up for my tastes. Still, with everything else that this film gets right, it really would be shame to discount the film simply because of the final 10 minutes.
“Interstellar” is one of my favorite films of 2014, and if you do decide to see it, I highly recommend going to a large format theater if you can. The film may be almost three hours long, but you can bet I’ll be seeing it at least one more time.
