The exact opposite of “Rosewater” in that it’s a sprawling film on a vast canvas that no one will accuse of being too light or insufficiently big enough to see at the theater. IMAX screenings are rarely worth the extra ticket price, but this is the best film since “Gravity” to watch that way. Even people who don’t like “Interstellar” (and there are plenty who don’t) will be glad they saw it at the theater instead of at home, and gave it every opportunity to wow them. But will it? I was spellbound, but I could tell not everyone felt that way when the lights came up.
What Works: I haven’t seen a Christopher Nolan movie that I wouldn’t recommend, and “Interstellar” is his biggest, most passionate, and (seemingly) most personal film yet. Most of his movies are about gamesmanship or duels between dangerous men (The Dark Knight trilogy, Insomnia, The Prestige, Memento), but here he abandons his usual clockwork plots and trickery for something that is, in his way, as close to a romantic movie as he’s ever made. For the first time, he lets idealism and love trump precision and mind games. It’s a totally different look for him, and a testament to what a skillful director he is that he’s able to pull it off.
For me, most of the best scenes in this film are about the pull of filial love instead of the orbit of the planets. And the scene where Matthew McConaughey watches his children age 21 years in the span of a few hours of video is arguably the most moving of Nolan’s filmography.
McConaughey was cast for his all-American realism, and that’s a smart move since Nolan is trying to combine Arthur C. Clarke with Norman Rockwell. [Or given the poor shape Interstellar’s dust-storm ridden America is in, maybe John Steinback would be more accurate.] McConaughey anchors the film’s wilder wormhole/blackhole logic and nothing is as ridiculous as it could have been. Even though he’s given a quasi-love interest in Anne Hathaway, it’s his bond with his daughter (played by an excellent Jessica Chastain in part of the film, her eyes equally capable of expressing deep disillusionment and wild optimism) that is the film’s real love story.
What Doesn’t: Casey Affleck may be miscast as the adult version of McConaughey’s sullen son. People have complained (a lot) about Interstellar’s sound mix, and how some of the movie’s score overpowers the dialogue, but I only had a truly hard time making out Affleck’s mumbled line readings.
Other that that, could the film be shorter? Sure. Could it be a little less sprawling? Well, yes, but that would kind-of defeat the point. It’s very goal is to be a big film with big ideas. We’re talking about the survival of the human race and whether love overrides survival instinct, so it can be forgiven for having a lot to say on the topic.
It’s trying to work on a bigger canvas than most sci-fi movies would even dream of, and on a much deeper level than any “space” film has in ages. And it makes me a little sad that Guardians of the Galaxy got better reviews.
What I Would Have Done Differently: A film that manages to paint a convincing portrait of a polluted, dying Earth, vast interstellar travel, the mystery of black holes, the hope of colonizing a new world, and a moving portrait of the bond between father and daughter is in theaters right now, go see it.