Grade: 93/100
Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” not only captivates the audience with its stunning visual aspects, but Nolan details what might be the most terrifying antagonist in human life: time.
The film follows Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a father who is desperately trying to save his children, in search of a new planet for humans to inhabit. In this slightly futuristic setting, Earth’s food supply is quickly deteriorating because of a lack of healthy soil.
A secret, small NASA organization discovered a black hole near Saturn leading to different galaxies across the universe. Cooper and a small crew make the difficult choice of going through the black hole in search of a hospitable planet for relocation.
The problem is that while traveling through the space-time continuum, time becomes precious because the ratios of time in relation to Earth become exponential when entering other parts of the universe. At one point, the crew travels to a planet where one hour on the surface equates to about seven years on Earth. So not only does the crew have to find a new planet, they have to do so before everyone back home has died.
The film brings an almost unbelievable realistic approach to the film, and evidently cannot be grouped in the normal “science-fiction” genre.
Apparently, Nolan partnered with astrophysicist Kip Thorne in creating the film, and a new scientific discovery was made in black hole theory. The discovery was applied to the black hole representation in the film. So, this means the black hole the audience sees in the theater is the most up-to-date representation of what it would actually look like.
Aside from the science, McConaughey, alongside a cast including Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine and Jessica Chastain, capture the audience with his extremely emotional performance.
He does a fantastic job depicting a character that struggles in finding a balance between father and explorer whose actions are not only consequential in space, but also on the homefront as well.
Additionally, McConaughey brings an extreme sense of helplessness in certain scenes that assists to display Cooper’s delicate state.
While the script is somewhat lacking in a few scenes, the visual aspects in “Interstellar” are unparalleled and make Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” look like child’s play, a small appetizer in comparison to the feast that Nolan presents.
“Interstellar” is sure to be a contender come award season in the categories of cinematography and visual effects.