[yasr_overall_rating]
A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity’s survival.
I was very disappointed with “Interstellar” upon its initial theatrical release in 2014. Seeing it in IMAX was an amazing experience but because of the hype surrounding it, some even claiming it was the best sci-fi movie ever made, I couldn’t but help go into it with high expectations. Sadly, the hype ruined it for me. DAMN YOU HYPE!!! That was the first and last time I watched it but when Paramount sent me a 4K copy of the movie to review, I decided to give it another shot. Since three years had passed, the hype was most certainly not there but surprisingly, I found myself enjoying it more this time around. While the CGI and sci-fi elements were still as spectacular as I remembered, the drama aspect was, unfortunately, still lacking. I love Christopher Nolan as a director, he is one of the few remaining filmmakers who shoots most of his films old school, and with real practical effects, as opposed to filling his movies with an overabundance of CGI and even though “Interstellar” obviously had to employ the use of special effects blended with practical, Nolan incorporates them so seemingly that they all look genuinely real.
The story takes place in the future where constant dust storms threaten mankind’s existence. Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) used to work for NASA and flew many missions to space and now spends his time on earth working as a farmer to care for his family. NASA has been long closed down and when his young daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy), tells him that she has a ghost in her room, Cooper laughs it off but when he begins to see strange dust patterns on her bedroom floor, results from gravity variations, these abnormalities indicate geographic coordinates in the mountains. Cooper and Murph head out to the location and are captured by a large rectangular robot with several moving parts. Once inside, Cooper meets an old friend, Professor Brand (Michael Caine) where he proceeds to inform them that they are actually inside NASA’s headquarters and that it was kept a secret from the public for years as the thought of the US Government putting money into space exploration, instead of finding a way to feed the billions of people on earth who are starving, would have caused an outcry.
Brand tells Cooper that almost 50 years earlier, NASA detected a wormhole near Saturn which led to another galaxy with the potential of discovering habitable planets located near a black hole named Gargantua. Three volunteers, Miller, Edmunds, and Mann, have since gone through the wormhole and all three have reported back that each planet they landed on, has the possibility of sustaining life. Brand informs Cooper that they have two options: the first is that if one of the planets can accommodate human life, there would be a mass exodus from earth to said planet and secondly, if the first option doesn’t work out, a spacecraft filled with over 5,000 frozen embryos would be sent into space aboard one of their ships with the intent of colonizing a habitable planet once it is found. Granted, they would rather that the first option is successful so Cooper agrees to fly the Endurance spacecraft for them, hoping it will give his kids a chance at a new life. Naturally, Murph doesn’t want him to go but he tries to remind her that should he be successful, they will get to live on a new planet, filled with life, hope, and a future.
Cooper, along with Dr. Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), Dr. Doyle (Wes Bentley), Dr. Romilly (David Gyasi), and two robots, TARS and CASE, head out to Saturn and make it safely through the wormhole. Romilly stays aboard the Endurance while Cooper, Brand, and Doyle head down to the first planet, which was discovered by Miller, where they set out to try and understand why he stopped communicating with earth. When they land, they find part of his ship but before they have time to locate the rest of it, a huge, freak tidal wave approaches and forces them to quickly take off. In the ensuing chaos, the wave kills Doyle and Cooper and Brand barely manage to escape and make their way back to the Endurance. Once inside, Romilly has noticeably aged and he informs them that 23 years have passed because time on the planet is severely dilated. They realize that they only have enough fuel to travel to one more planet and Cooper suggests going to Mann’s as his signal is still broadcasting.
When they land, they discover that Mann (Matt Damon) is still alive but in cryostasis. They wake him up and he is elated that someone came for him and he proceeds to inform them that even in spite of the frigid conditions on the planet, it can sustain life. Cooper and Mann head out on an excursion and while on the trip, Mann tries to kill Cooper. He severely damages his lifeline and leaves him for dead. Mann makes it back to base and steals Cooper’s lander and makes his way to the Endurance. Romilly is killed after Mann sets a trap at his base and Cooper is able to take off with Brand in her lander. They pursue Mann but after a failed manual docking operation with the Endurance, Mann is sucked out into deep space. With very little fuel left, Cooper decides the only viable option left, is to have his lander jettisoned from the Endurance, thereby giving Brand a chance at reaching the third and final planet. Cooper falls into Gargantua and realizes that he is in some sort of a tesseract, which he assumes was obviously constructed by an advanced civilized race but as he begins to gather his bearings, he is able to see into his young daughter’s bedroom and quickly comprehends that he was her ghost all along, trying to communicate with her from the other side, pushing books from the shelves onto the floor to get her attention and causing all sorts of irregularities. Realizing that he is watching Murph in the past, he must try and communicate with her and send her the information she needs in order to help the earth of the future.
“Interstellar”’s finale threw quite a lot of people off and for many, it ruined what could have been a truly epic sci-fi feature, including me, and even upon repeated viewing, it almost feels like Nolan had the makings of a great story but just couldn’t quite make the ending work and as we all know, the ending is the most important part of the puzzle. Matthew McConaughey is in top form and the rest of the cast are fine in their respective roles but it’s McConaughey’s interaction with his young daughter Murph, played by Mackenzie Foy, that steals the show. Their synergy is what keeps the film afloat and even though the adult Murphs, both played perfectly by Jessica Chastain and Ellen Burstyn, play their roles with great aplomb, McConaughey and Foy are one of the most believable and endearing onscreen father and daughter pairings in some time. I just wish the rest of the movie followed suit.
Now available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
