Interstellar

I am a self-professed Nolanite.

A Nolanite is someone who worships the ground that the man walks on as his genius has provided us with some of the best movies in the last few decades, and one could argue, ever.

Nothing really changes my opinion of a movie goer faster than if they disregard Christopher Nolan's work. I can understand not liking a film here or there, or maybe his style just isn't your thing, but if someone openly denies his skill in telling stories and the man's insane ability to harness his imagination?

Let's just say I really don't ever hold that person's opinions on film in the same light again.

So yes, I am a deep, true, Nolanite who often defends his works against the animosity they tend to receive post release by the film hipster crowd. You know, that group of people that love the film when it comes out, praise it openly, and then months later start bashing on it? I've seen it happen countless times...The Avengers (not Nolan's I know, but still a prime example), The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and even my beloved Inception have all been victims of this. But not I! I believe in the credo, "In Nolan We Trust" and I will defend those films to the ends of the earth, despite some of the minor pitfalls they may have.

But Interstellar is a new film and I need to review it with a fresh perspective. It's only fair to my readers and to Nolan himself.

Is this his masterpiece?

If that's what a wormhole actually looks like, then color me terrified

What the hell is Catwoman doing in space?

No. Interstellar, as fantastical and mind-bending as it may be, is a culmination of some of Nolan's best attributes, but also his worst. Two of the main culprits are pacing and editing. The pace of the film makes it almost immediately clear that this nearly-3-hour-long-film could have (and probably should have) been 2 different films. The story, which of course will be spoiler free as always, is about an earth that is very near to it's last days of supporting human life. Food is scarce and a dust cloud has engulfed much of what remains, slowly suffocating the citizens. It's up to a team from NASA to investigate a wormhole that recently opened up by Saturn to find habitable planets on the other side for the human race to begin anew. That's all I'll give you and that's all I could really explain without making this post longer than I already have it planned to be. Needless to say, that borderline 3 hour runtime has A LOT to pack in it, and because of that, certain sections of the film plow ahead at a rather uncomfortably fast speed. The first hour is probably the most prominent example of this as there is little time spent introducing the threats, science, and potential outcomes of the mission that McConaughey's Cooper is all of the sudden blasting out of our atmosphere on. Of course, this is a strategic move on Nolan's part to leave time for the "good stuff" later, but the first hour is so breathless in its pursuit to get into space that it's a bit jarring.

Editing is an issue that has plagued Nolan for a long time now, at least in my eyes. Even his uber-successful The Dark Knight has some severe issues in this space. And when I say editing, in this regard I generally mean that the audience doesn't know what is going on in certain frames. I thought that Nolan had overcome this issue largely because The Dark Knight Rises, and certainly Inception were vast improvements over some of his earlier works, but in Interstellar there were too many scenes where I just really had no idea where every person was staged, which way they were facing, what they were supposed to be doing, etc. It's not a crippling blow to the film, but it certainly makes some scenes overly complicated and hectic simply because I didn't have a great awareness of what was going on. This issue, combined with the brisk pacing, makes you wish that at times Nolan would have just cut some plot lines/threads out of the film to let it simmer just a tad more.

"Alright, alright, alright."
"Dad, please stop saying that..."

Lastly on the negative front is the way the film presents its technical aspects and science. I don't doubt at all that Nolan and company did their research on theories, space, wormholes, and time, among other things. But the way the film presents them, often with lightning fast technical jargon, is flat-out confusing. I was able to keep up by the fact that I have learned a lot of this stuff before as I've researched it a bit in my spare time, but for someone going in blind, and I saw this expression on many faces in my theater, people were left in the technical dust, so to speak. Nolan has always thought very highly of his audience's intelligence, and that is certainly one of my favorite things about him, but I think that he assumes a bit too much in this film. It's a bit unfair to compare this example to the very well-explained Inception because that was an original world that Nolan created and he had to explain it to audiences, but had Interstellar taken the time to really explain wormholes, singularities, time horizons, and other terms with a little more detail it probably would have saved a lot of people a lot of headaches.

Let's put away the messiness that those qualities create and focus on the good in Interstellar, because there is a lot of it. The plot, as a whole, is incredible and an example of classic Nolan, taking us on a journey through his mind and always resulting in some final scenes that will leave you reeling afterwards. Interstellar is no different in that regard and there is that "one scene" which people will be talking about for quite some time to come, and deservedly so. Interstellar also soars when it comes to the human aspect and its conversations about love with relation to time are both heartbreaking and true. There are some really mind-bending directions that the film goes with the variable of time and it makes for some intense human drama that has never quite had an angle like this. As always, count on Christopher Nolan to give us something new and original!

I know, I know Matt.
I'm being a little harsh here

Furthermore, the performances are fantastic, although there are several characters that are random and not even introduced (Topher Grace, where did you come from?). But for our main cast of McConaughy, Hathaway, and Chastain, they all do admirable with McConaughy leading this blockbuster production with ease. I was also really impressed with the child actor who plays Murph (Chastain's character when she is older) as she was able to call on a variety of emotions and jump very close to the top of my very short list of amazing child actors. Even the robot characters of TARS and CASE have some emotional depth and add a dose of humor to the film.

Interstellar's most impressive achievement is just how much it will wow you. I don't make a mandatory recommendation for my audience to go to IMAX often, but for Interstellar you need to make it a priority. The space images that it provides, of other worlds, wormholes, and things you would never expect are not only spectacular in IMAX, they are images that will be burned into your mind for a long time. Nolan has combined the very best of actual science, with ideas he has in that head of his to create some truly stunning movie-going environments.

From a technical standpoint, Nolan's film shines as brightly as the many before it. I heard rumors about some sound editing issues, but there was none of that in my theater. The cinematography, particularly in space, was outstanding and easily some of the best of the year. Hans Zimmer's score is one of his best (although I still don't hold it above Inception's) with some really well thought out instrument choices (pipe organs anyone?) to make the audience feel inspired. Much like Nolan, Zimmer really is one of the best of our time.

Jaw-dropping

You may think from this review that I was disappointed with Interstellar.

I was a bit, but that's my cross to bear, and if anything, it stands testament to Nolan's insane body of work that a film THIS good is something that slightly disappointed me.

When it's held up to Nolan's other pieces of work, Interstellar comes across as his most ambitious, but also one of his messiest. In the realm of Nolan, it is simply just "stellar".

But, and I factored this in to my final score, when you compare it to rest of Hollywood, many of whom seem to be playing in a much lower ball league than Nolan, Interstellar is a magnificent ride through time and space that, let's be honest, not many other directors would have ever dared to attempt. And in that regard, not only is the film NOT disappointing, it's destined to be iconic.

CONS:

• Some severe pacing issues, especially in the first half where I felt as if I was travelling through the plot at incredible speeds, much like our space travelers
• Nolan's editing issues have plagued him once again as there are several scenes where it is just hard to visualize what exactly is going on
• A few characters are incredibly random and not even introduced
• Many of Nolan's very final fames leave you with, what I like to call, the "Nolan Chill" down your spine. Interstellar's final frames, while still good, did not accomplish that for me
• The film takes very little time to explain the technical terms and situations which leaves the audience quite breathless at times. Often a PRO for Nolan, he assumes a tad bit too much of his audience this go around. It will take me several viewings to get a strong enough grasp on everything as I do with Inception

PROS:

• An incredible plot that goes to places where you never thought it would go
• The film remains amazingly human with emotions reigning over much of the underlying themes and reasoning. Count on Nolan to make us feel for situations that will never be possible in our lifetimes
• There are a couple iconic scenes throughout the film and, like most Nolan films, that "one scene" will leave you speechless...mainly because your face probably just melted off
• Bonus points for originality
• Insane visuals of things in space that many of us have never seen before. It's funny because while the visuals made me think about just how alone we are in the universe, I had rarely been so proud/connected to the human race as I was sitting in a packed IMAX theater in awe. Truly outstanding and it begs to be seen on the biggest screen possible
• Great performances from the entire cast, but mainly the principal cast. I was hesitant with some of the casting choices, but I think we've learned by now that Nolan knows exactly what he is doing in the casting department
• Gorgeous cinematography and sound editing
• Zimmer's score is one of his best and there are some genius aspects to it
• A strong film when held up against the director's other works and an incredible film when held up against many of the other choices that Hollywood has to offer

Rath's Review Score: 8.5/10