Interstellar (2014)

I look at Interstellar, Christopher Nolan’s latest epic starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine and Casey Affleck.

It’s safe to say that Interstellar is probably my most anticipated movie of the year. I’ve been looking forward to it ever since it was announced and given the fact that Christopher Nolan is probably among my top 5 directors at the moment, if not number 1 on that list, there was no way I wasn’t going to miss it. Last year’s space epic was Gravity, which was awesome – but Interstellar outshone that film in every single way, despite the 169 minute running time which has made it Christopher Nolan’s longest film so far, and that’s saying something especially when considering the length of The Dark Knight Rises. And, much like The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar is an incredibly divisive film, and has received plenty of mixed reviews from critics, during many complaints from the fact that the dialogue in places was difficult to hear. I had no problems with the dialogue and very little the film in general. I loved it, and as a result, this film is probably my favourite of the year so far.

Interstellar is a dystopian film, but not the kind that we’ve been used to in the last few years. As opposed to The Hunger Games and Divergent, it actually dares to explore space, with humanity looking to the stars in the hope of finding a new home following the fact that Earth itself is in very dire condition. Whilst both of the aforementioned films have looked at what life might have been like after something went terribly wrong on Earth, Interstellar is about the events itself. It’s handled incredibly well, with the split between the narrative on Earth and the narrative in space running parallel to each other. There’s plenty of time-jumps here and location jumps, but unlike TDKR, they’re clear and effective. You get a real sense of time here, and Interstellar works really well because of that.

Professor Brand (Michael Caine) is a brilliant physicist at NASA, and following in the footsteps of previous explorers, believes he can save Earth by transporting its population to a new home through a wormhole. However, first, Brand has to determine which of the three worlds on the other side of the wormhole are inhabitable, so he dispatches a former NASA pilot turned reluctant farmer Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), and a team of researchers including his own daughter (Anne Hathaway) in order to find out whether the worlds on Earth will be habitable or not. However, in the process, Cooper has to make a choice between seeing his family again (Jessica Chastain and Casey Affleck play his daughter Murphy and son Tom respectively), and the fate of humanity.

Interstellar, much like Gravity, is a film that you should see on the biggest screen possible. I haven’t been able to see it in IMAX because my nearest cinema didn’t have that to offer, but the results were incredibly impressive all the same. It looked amazing, and the CGI and cinematography was handled incredibly well. Visually, Interstellar is probably the best looking film of the year – it’s just that good. And also, at least in my opinion, the storyline packs a powerful enough narrative punch and combined with some stellar acting to make this film arguably the best of the year so far in every angle, beating my previous contender, Guardians of the Galaxy.

The film itself is pretty intense. The space sequences are handled well as previously mentioned, they look great. When coupled with the soundtrack from the excellent Hans Zimmer, a Nolan regular, Interstellar is one of the most engrossing films that you’ll see all year.

The acting is superb. This is the first time I’ve seen a Matthew McConaughey film (having previously encountered him only in True Detective) and he really does the lead character Cooper, justice. Jessica Chastain puts in an excellent performance as Murphy, Cooper’s daughter, and there’s also (going into slightly spoilery territory here), Mackenzie Foy delivers an effective role as the younger Murphy. Anne Hathaway is good, and there’s even a welcomed appearance from Matt Damon.

So if you haven’t seen Interstellar already then I highly recommend going and watching it when you can. It’s a film that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible, and it really delivers, with a very powerful ending.

VERDICT: 10/10

UPDATE: I’m going to try and get back in the habit of regularly reviewing for this blog so you can expect thoughts on at least Fury and Nightcrawler coming in the next few weeks, maybe on more films/TV series as I finish them. It's also worth noting that reviews from now on will be in a new font and format, to go with the slightly redesigned website, so you're going to have to get used to them.