by Peter O'Connell
Interstellar.
Released: Nov. 7, 2014. Running time: 169 mins. Rated: PG13 for some intense,
perilous action and brief strong language.
Interstellar is an
ambitious attempt at fusing a visionary sci-fi epic with an intense family
drama. It's directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan, who has helmed some
of the biggest blockbusters of recent years, such as Inception (2010) and the Dark
Knight trilogy (2005-2012). Nolan's interests tend toward convoluted plots
and conflicted heroes. Interstellar
is no exception. The convolutions here involve astronomical blackholes and
wormholes, the space/time continuum, relativity, quantum mechanics, the fifth
dimension and other such stuff, presented through dialogue that some may find
to be explanatory but others may find to be gobbledygook.
The film is set about 100 years from now (2101 anyone?) in a
world where environmental blight has produced conditions akin to those of the
Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Matthew McConaughey is Cooper, a pilot and engineer who has become a corn
(just about the only crop still growing) farmer in order to feed his family.
Various circumstances put Cooper to work for a downsized and secretive NASA.
His mission is to fly with three other astronauts—one played by Anne Hathaway—into
deep space in an attempt to locate a suitable venue for establishing colonies
to which earthlings may be transplanted from their dying planet.
The four encounter various vicissitudes in space, but their
greatest difficulty may be psychological and emotional--the fact that they have
to leave their families behind for the long voyage. The scientific phenomena
mentioned above mean that the astronauts will live much longer than a normal
lifespan but change little in appearance. Yet their families on earth will live
normal lifespans and show the effects of aging. The pain involved in this
situation is brought out well by McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy (as his daughter at
age 10), the always magnetic Jessica Chastain (as his daughter at around age
30), and Ellen Burstyn as his daughter in old age.
The visual effects on the voyage are engrossing,
particularly the almost balletic movement of the spacecraft and their
computerized, as it were, coital couplings. In some of its effects, Interstellar makes a bow in the
direction of Stanley Kubrick's iconic sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). It also does that in its use of music.
Kubrick's score of classical pieces added much to his film. Nolan uses an
original score by Hans Zimmer to the same end. However, Nolan's computerized
robot thingies (it's hard to describe them in any other way!) are not silent
like Kubrick's “sentinel” nor malevolent like his speaking computer HAL.
Nolan's thingies speak and are helpful, but they are not humanoid or cute like
R2D2 and Threepio in Star Wars. They
are, though, unique and quite enjoyable to watch.
How enjoyable is Interstellar
to watch? That may depend on whether one feels that the fusion mentioned at the
beginning of this review is achieved—or that the film is essentially a clunky
combination of space opera and soap opera.
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