Sunday, June 7, 2015

Interstellar


RATING: B+

Christopher Nolan has made a name for himself recently; gaining a reputation as one of the better directors in Hollywood, and rightfully so. The Dark Knight Trilogy; and Inception. Four classics. Much like Pixar, he is now expected to keep his streak going. The expectations are high. The question is can he hold up? 

Well, never count out Nolan in the creativity department. That much can be said, at least. 

Interstellar centers on a future Earth where civilization is falling apart due to the atmosphere weakening; dust storms are becoming a frequent thing and they are slowly running out of food sources. So, what is humanity gonna do with Earth dying? Well, find a new home. Cause as luck would have it, there's a wormhole next to Saturn that leads to another galaxy with planets that could support life. Cooper, a pilot living in the wrong time where pilots are no longer needed, gets chosen for the mission to find said planets--leaving behind daughter Murphy grief-stricken. 

Interstellar is a very complex and also quite long film, clocking in at 168 minutes. The film focuses on multiple plotlines--with Cooper's journey in space with a few other scientists--and Murphy's fight back at home as Earth continues to fall apart. Things get weirder and weirder over time--until we get to a conclusion involving some fifth dimension mumbo jumbo. 

Wormholes, singularities, fifth dimension, and all that good stuff. All in all, Interstellar can be a pretty confusing film at times. Perhaps that it its greatest flaw--it's probably Nolan's least accessible film to date (having not seen his older films). For me, the best way to describe my feelings on the final act is "I understand it, but I don't." I'm okay with it, and I'm not okay with it. 

In some ways I'm honestly torn on the film. It's slightly underwhelming compared to what we're used to seeing from Nolan, and yet it's quite groundbreaking at the same time. It's hard to think of many films that compare to it in some regards. The visuals are astounding, and the various twists are quite good. The simple yet powerful soundtrack coincides with the film brilliantly. And yet, at times, the feeling cannot be shaken: this is a hard film to understand. Does it take away from the enjoyment of the film? Not completely--there are other reasons this film falls short of other Nolan films (Anne Hathaway's character Brand is more annoying than anything). 

Nevertheless, Christopher Nolan has put together a worthy film that while it may not be a classic, it's still well worth watching with the warning of its complexity, and that if you don't like such films, it's not for you. It may well be a treat for many science geeks who understand the film better and just for people who enjoy a mental challenge in a film, or seeing something as groundbreaking as this. Interstellar is a pretty good film, but depending on whether you like more heavy thinking in your movies or not, it should be approached with caution. 

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