Interstellar (2014)

"What's your idea for the end?" "Well you know how these scientists talk about String Theory? Well, I'm going to make it look like strings. Like literal strings." "Oh...."

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Cinematographer: Hoyte van Hoytema

by Jon Cvack

I didn’t watch one trailer, even the teaser; I didn’t read one article; I didn’t know a single thing about the plot; that is, until one day, while sitting at a red light, I read the slogan by accident when seeing the poster at a bus stop, pissed that I spoiled even the broadest detail - I had no idea it took place in the future during the world’s end. I caught the film in iMAX right before it’s run ended. The theater was still packed and what a wild ride it was. I’ve read some popular literature about Quantum Mechanics - Physics and Philosophy by Heisenberg, The Fabric of the Cosmos and Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I always thought the ideas would make an amazing film if executed correctly. Of course, most of these books lost me about midway through. It all goes off that one quote where if you’re not getting a headache by the time you’re done reading about Quantum Mechanics then you’re not grasping the concepts.

And yet every time I want to appreciate the movie for including these ideas I keep hearing Anne Hathaway's ridiculous monologue about love. That stupid, melodramatic, anti-scientific piece of garbage monologue that nearly ruined the whole movie for me. I’m not exaggerating, I can’t think about that movie without seeing her teary eyes talking about ideas that I assume no scientist in their right mind would ever possibly consider - that some way, somehow love links us together across the universe - it’s gross to even have to write. While Christopher Nolan is the 21st Century’s Steven Spielberg, taking us places and in ways that feel extremely real and unchartered, he clogs his films with these melodramatic, highly unrealistic moments of dialogue that, at times, pull you right out of the film.

Still, there are plot holes, some subtle, others gaping - with a monster one being when Matthew McConaughey takes off in the rocket two days after discovering the bunker with no training, or physical tests. Sure - things are pressing, but he was up in space before his daughter even stopped crying; as in, literally, he returned to the bunker, got ready, launched a space ship, all while his little daughter was still on the bed crying about her dad having to leave. Nevertheless, this movie takes you for an absolutely wild ride. It's a film that embodies the spirit of Going to the Movies, immersing you within strange and exotic environments. It’s like Gravity with a stronger story, except I’d actually be willing to watch this at home, rather than wait for the next theatrical run.
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The transition alone, from leaving the farm to launching into space, might be one of the greatest since 2001. I haven’t been more excited, my eyes never more wide, than at that moment - at least not since the oil rig scene from There Will Be Blood. Like all great filmmakers, Nolan has taken the genre to a whole new level; heeding to the complaints scientists make about popular scifi films, demonstrating that absolute silence in space is terrifying, and that the right score is enough to make your heartbeat and bring tears to your eyes with its beauty. I feel bad for anyone who didn’t catch it in iMAX. There was no other way to see it.

BELOW: Currently one of the greatest pieces of film score created this century. Made by the man who gave us one of the greatest pieces of film score from the last century - Hans Zimmer (90s score being The Thin Red Line's "Journey to the Line")