Interstellar review (100TH POST!)

INTERSTELLAR:

A BREATHTAKING ADVENTURE THROUGH SPACE AND TIME YOU WILL NEVER FORGET!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Matthew McConaughey and a group of astronauts saving the human race in Interstellar

            Complex filmmaker, Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Memento) strikes back with his latest visually stunning character driven journey known as Interstellar. Now at first you’ll probably think it’s going to be like last year’s space adventure by Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity, but no, not exactly.

            The film isn’t entirely about astronauts in space but more about the survival of the human race and Albert Einstein’s relativity theory about how when humans are moving at the speed of light, time slows down. Nolan executes it perfectly with complex story arcs, incredibly strong character development, and gripping suspense and special effects that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

            The movie stars Matthew McConaughey (The Lincoln Lawyer, Fool’s Gold, Dazed and Confused) as Cooper, a widowed astronaut living on a farmland with his two children, son, Tom (Timothée Chalamet) and daughter, Murphy nicknamed Murph (Mackenzie Foy-The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2, The Conjuring). When Cooper realizes that the end of mankind is coming, he is recruited by Professor Brand (Michael Caine-The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, The Muppet Christmas Carol) to lead a group of astronauts into space to find a new home for human survival.

            So Cooper and his astronaut crew, Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway-The Dark Knight Rises, Alice in Wonderland, Les Miserables), Romilly (David Gyasi-Red Tails, Cloud Atlas), Doyle (Wes Bentley-American Beauty, The Hunger Games, Cesar Chavez), and a talking robot guide, TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin-How The Grinch Stole Christmas, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Adventures of Pete and Pete) fly into space in search for a new world that will save humanity from starvation and death and along the way they run into many surprises and twists.

            Overall, Interstellar is an amazing film, no scratch that, it’s an experience, especially if you’re watching it in IMAX. The visual effects and scenes where the astronauts are flying into wormholes and alternate dimensions are absolutely breathtaking, you feel like you’re flying with them.

            Besides the special effects and suspense, the character development is very strong, especially the chemistry behind McConaughey and his daughter, it’s really emotional and tragic when he has to leave his family to save the world but he does promise that he’s coming back, at least that’s what he says, but we don’t know. The film is full of surprises and twists and half the time you have no idea what’s going on, much like Inception and Memento, it’s one of those movies where you really have to pay attention to understand everything, but that’s part of the Nolan fun.

            It’s definitely one of Christopher Nolan’s best films and it’s always refreshing to see him direct a movie that doesn’t relate to Batman. The film isn’t too heavy on action or having an antagonist, but the characters, visuals, and suspense are enough to keep audiences thrilled, human extinction is the bad guy, which is a lot more interesting than a traditional villain, just as long as Roland Emmerich has nothing to do with it.

            If you enjoyed Christopher Nolan’s movies in the past and love movies heavy on character and story, chances are Interstellar is going to be a ride through space and time you will never forget, especially on the giant IMAX screen.