“Interstellar” in review

Jill Odom

Sports Editor

 

Christopher Nolan’s newest film “Interstellar” is visually stunning and has intriguing concepts, but ultimately has some flaws that will make the movie forgettable and a one time only viewing.

Despite a collection of minor issues, “Interstellar” still earns seven out of ten stars due to the fantastic acting, emotional drama and definitely being original.

Set on a dying Earth plagued by a blight that is slowly taking out one crop at a time, Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper, an astronaut who refuses to believe man wasn’t meant to explore among the stars.

After some mysterious signs send Cooper to the underground NASA program, he joins a team of scientists on an expedition to explore a wormhole that leads to potential habitable planets.

The story is stressful because the viewers are deeply invested in the success of the astronauts and their mission. By the time the 169-minute space odyssey is over, the audience is mentally exhausted thanks to the concern over the adventures and the attempts to understand the science behind the film.

Nolan is presumptuous in taking advantage of the fact the general public does not have a strong grasp on quantum physics, which serves as an explanation for later plot twists.

The film is an emotional roller coaster with plot twists wrenching at the heart strings. Early in the plot, Cooper has to leave behind his two kids and the aftereffects of this decision haunt both Cooper and his daughter, Murphy, especially.

Visually, “Interstellar” will take your breath away. The different planets visited and the immense size of some of the dust storms put the ones from the 1930s to shame.

One major problem with the plot is the lack of exposition — clearly time wasn’t an issue for the studio producing it. Through some brief dialogue, it is hinted at that the selfishness of the 21st century wanting to always create new things caused people to forget the need to produce food, but that is all that is mentioned. This sort of poor storytelling raises more questions than it answers.

One of the most interesting and intriguing things in the film is the robots, TARS and CASE, who deviate from the traditional concept of what a robot should look like. TARS and CASE both travel with the exploration crew and serve as the small form of comedic relief with their dry wit.

Some themes that are explored are the difficult challenge of deciding to save your family or save the species and how science is abandoned by society when basic survival comes in question. Other philosophical topics of what really matters is shoved down the audience’s throat, with every character having their own opinion of what value is the most important.

While these are thought-provoking concepts, drawn out space travel with minimal action threatens to bore viewers at times.

The last portion of the film takes a step out of the logic built within its own world and drops into a bizarre space Twilight Zone that comes across as a deus ex machina to tie everything together neatly.

One thing that “Interstellar” does nail is the concept of relativity and how time moves differently in different locations. The consequences of not taking relativity seriously enough is always weighing on astronauts’ and the audience’s minds.

McConaughey and Anne Hathaway do a spectacular job of presenting relatable and driven characters that do everything for a reason.

While the film has plot issues, “Interstellar” is still a good movie for any Nolan, sci-fi, or space fan to watch.

 

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