by Sean Narborough
As the biggest Christopher Nolan fanboy, my expectations for his latest film were set incredibly high. And despite the odd problem here and there, I wasn’t disappointed. Interstellar was Nolan’s first venture into the sci-fi genre and starred many big name actors, including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and, because it’s a Nolan film, Michael Caine. In a world where food supplies are running out and the possibility of a real human extinction in just a generation, former pilot Cooper (McConaughey) is tasked on leading a team into a wormhole to find a new suitable home for mankind. But once through the wormhole, nothing is quite what it seems.
Now before I go any further, I must warn everyone that I’m about to go into SPOILER territory, so if you haven’t seen Interstellar yet, you have been warned.
Still here? Good, then let’s travel through the wormhole.
As the biggest Christopher Nolan fanboy, my expectations for his latest film were set incredibly high. And despite the odd problem here and there, I wasn’t disappointed. Interstellar was Nolan’s first venture into the sci-fi genre and starred many big name actors, including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and, because it’s a Nolan film, Michael Caine. In a world where food supplies are running out and the possibility of a real human extinction in just a generation, former pilot Cooper (McConaughey) is tasked on leading a team into a wormhole to find a new suitable home for mankind. But once through the wormhole, nothing is quite what it seems.
Now before I go any further, I must warn everyone that I’m about to go into SPOILER territory, so if you haven’t seen Interstellar yet, you have been warned.
Still here? Good, then let’s travel through the wormhole.
Interstellar was a film laced with mystery, we knew what the story was but didn’t really know much else. A lot of the trailers showcased Cooper and young Murphy (Mackenzie Foy) on the farm and everything before they entered the wormhole. The trailers created an air of intrigue, we all wanted to know what happens on the other side. In the end, the story that unfolded in front of our eyes was near perfect and for me there are two things that stop this film from being Nolan’s best film ever. The first problem is a logical one, at the end, adult Murphy (Jessica Chastain) figures out that the “ghost” is Cooper and that the stopped watch is the code to figuring Dr. Brand’s (Michael Caine) problem. Now my question is… how? I know Murphy is supposed to be incredibly smart but how does she figure this out, especially the ghost part. It’s just one of those small plot holes that draws you out of the experience. When it comes to Nolan’s films, I don’t usually spot the plot holes until a couple of viewings or someone points them out to me (six months it took me to realise the plot holes in The Dark Knight Rises), but this is one that jumped out at me straight from the first viewing. I’m sure there are smarter individuals you can explain this plot hole in a more scientific manner, but there is one problem that every single person who saw Interstellar can agree on, Anne Hathaway’s Brand is a God awful character. She makes stupid decisions, jeopardies the entire crew on numerous occasions and gives one of the most cringe worthy monologues of all time. You just watch her character and think how did she make it onto this mission. Female characters have never really been Nolan’s strong point but considering the great job he did with Murphy, it’s annoying to see him fall into old patterns.
Due to the high level of talent involved in Interstellar putting in a great performance was vital for everyone. After turning his career around and winning an Oscar for Dallas Buyer’s Club, Matthew McConaughey was on a career high and starring as the lead in a Christopher Nolan was the next big step. It was crucial that McConaughey performed well in Interstellar, he had to prove that his Oscar win wasn’t a fluke and prove to studios that he was big name draw. Thankfully for Matthew, he puts in a great performance. I’ve never been a big McConaughey fan, in fact it wasn’t until a few years ago that I realised how Southern his accent really is. But after seeing him a few things now, I can see why everyone is falling over backwards for him including Nolan. Matthew is perfectly cast as Cooper, you understand his desire to go and help save the world, but understand his struggle to leave his family behind, especially Murphy. The scene where he leaves is so heartbreaking to watch and made me really feel for Cooper and Murphy, and this is coming from the emotionless robot that I am.
Due to the high level of talent involved in Interstellar putting in a great performance was vital for everyone. After turning his career around and winning an Oscar for Dallas Buyer’s Club, Matthew McConaughey was on a career high and starring as the lead in a Christopher Nolan was the next big step. It was crucial that McConaughey performed well in Interstellar, he had to prove that his Oscar win wasn’t a fluke and prove to studios that he was big name draw. Thankfully for Matthew, he puts in a great performance. I’ve never been a big McConaughey fan, in fact it wasn’t until a few years ago that I realised how Southern his accent really is. But after seeing him a few things now, I can see why everyone is falling over backwards for him including Nolan. Matthew is perfectly cast as Cooper, you understand his desire to go and help save the world, but understand his struggle to leave his family behind, especially Murphy. The scene where he leaves is so heartbreaking to watch and made me really feel for Cooper and Murphy, and this is coming from the emotionless robot that I am.
As stated earlier, Nolan doesn’t really write great female characters, but this time round, he lucked out. The character of Murphy is a great female character and that statement of greatness is portrayed through every generation of the character. Starting with young Murphy, Mackenzie Foy puts in a brilliant performance. After only being known for her role as Renesmee in the Twilight films, Foy was able to step out of the shadows of the Twilight franchise and shine higher and brighter than anyone from those films. Seeing a female character that is passionately interested in science and space is very rare to see on movie screens and Foy plays this greatly into her character, at times always seeming to be much smarter than everyone else around her. Murphy’s genius stays with her in the next version of her played by Jessica Chastain. After staying quiet for the first few years of her career, Chastain is slowly emerging as one of the best actresses in Hollywood at the moment. After a strong performance in films like Zero Dark Thirty and The Help, Chastain portrays the adult life of Murphy and how Cooper leaving as effected her but also inspired her for what she wanted to do for living. Chastain’s performance is truly wonderful, you feel her anger, you feel her sadness and you are with her all the way going ‘Come on Murph, you can figure this out’. Her performance alone is a great reason to watch Interstellar and watch the rising star that is Jessica Chastain.
While Murphy is a great character, as stated, the character of Brand is not but Anne Hathaway can’t blame her performance on poor writing. I am a fan of Anne Hathaway and I know what a great actress she is, so I was surprised to see her do very little with this role. Where you feel everything for Murphy, you feel nothing for her character and part of that is because of her performance. Just small, little changes and we would have a much better character to relate to.
While Hathaway’s Brand is flawed from a writing standpoint, the other Brand in Interstellar is flawed in a different way. Michael Caine’s Dr. Brand is something different for the famed actor to work with. Where as lately, Caine has played the father figure role, in Interstellar Caine essentially plays the villain. When Dr. Brand reveals to Murphy that Plan A was a lie and that everyone on Earth was going to die, that’s a truly evil thing to do. He was evil; Michael Caine was evil in a Christopher Nolan film. That’s something new for Caine in a Nolan film, but he wasn’t over the top evil where he says ‘You’re all going to die’, big evil laugh and then drops dead. He was subtler and because of the soft nature of his character, his betrayal of humanity is more shocking.
But if we are talking evil we have to talk about Matt Damon. The reveal of Matt Damon playing Dr. Mann was suppose to be a surprise but it did get leaked that he was involved in the film. But I didn’t expect him to play a character like Dr. Mann. Throughout the film you get small pieces of people talking about Dr. Mann and what wonderful person he is, so when you meet him you have an expectation of what his character is like. But when Mann isn’t what he appears to be and you see the insanity that has corrupted him, casting Matt Damon in this role is so perfect. Matt has always played the good guy and to see him as the villain of Interstellar was truly inspiring. He threw away what people were expecting from him and created another great subtle villain for the film. Enraged by this desire to go home, you understand the reasoning for wanting to leave but the depths he’s willing to go to save himself are truly evil. Matt plays the role perfectly and for people who didn’t know he was in the film, it’s a brilliant moment. There are many great actors involved in Interstellar including John Lithgow, Ellen Burstyn and David Gyasi, but I do want to give a quick mention to Bill Irwin, who was the voice of TARS. He played the role brilliantly as this, at times, sarcastic robot and bought a lot of the humour into the film at times where it was needed. I think we can all safely say we want our own TARS in real life, because I know I do.
While Murphy is a great character, as stated, the character of Brand is not but Anne Hathaway can’t blame her performance on poor writing. I am a fan of Anne Hathaway and I know what a great actress she is, so I was surprised to see her do very little with this role. Where you feel everything for Murphy, you feel nothing for her character and part of that is because of her performance. Just small, little changes and we would have a much better character to relate to.
While Hathaway’s Brand is flawed from a writing standpoint, the other Brand in Interstellar is flawed in a different way. Michael Caine’s Dr. Brand is something different for the famed actor to work with. Where as lately, Caine has played the father figure role, in Interstellar Caine essentially plays the villain. When Dr. Brand reveals to Murphy that Plan A was a lie and that everyone on Earth was going to die, that’s a truly evil thing to do. He was evil; Michael Caine was evil in a Christopher Nolan film. That’s something new for Caine in a Nolan film, but he wasn’t over the top evil where he says ‘You’re all going to die’, big evil laugh and then drops dead. He was subtler and because of the soft nature of his character, his betrayal of humanity is more shocking.
But if we are talking evil we have to talk about Matt Damon. The reveal of Matt Damon playing Dr. Mann was suppose to be a surprise but it did get leaked that he was involved in the film. But I didn’t expect him to play a character like Dr. Mann. Throughout the film you get small pieces of people talking about Dr. Mann and what wonderful person he is, so when you meet him you have an expectation of what his character is like. But when Mann isn’t what he appears to be and you see the insanity that has corrupted him, casting Matt Damon in this role is so perfect. Matt has always played the good guy and to see him as the villain of Interstellar was truly inspiring. He threw away what people were expecting from him and created another great subtle villain for the film. Enraged by this desire to go home, you understand the reasoning for wanting to leave but the depths he’s willing to go to save himself are truly evil. Matt plays the role perfectly and for people who didn’t know he was in the film, it’s a brilliant moment. There are many great actors involved in Interstellar including John Lithgow, Ellen Burstyn and David Gyasi, but I do want to give a quick mention to Bill Irwin, who was the voice of TARS. He played the role brilliantly as this, at times, sarcastic robot and bought a lot of the humour into the film at times where it was needed. I think we can all safely say we want our own TARS in real life, because I know I do.
Nowadays, it wouldn’t be a Christopher Nolan film without a Hans Zimmer score. Hans gave the Batman series the epic scale it needed, he blew our eardrums with Inception and for Interstellar, he not only gave us the big, loud, epic score we were expecting, but also some heart. He played the right music for the right time, for example when Cooper leaves his family and Murphy tries running after him, Zimmer unleashes this big emotional piece of music that fits the scene and the emotion of the scene and the characters perfectly. Listening back to that piece of music now it stills gives me goose bumps and reminds me of how chocked up I got during that moment. That’s the power of a great score, it makes you feel things you maybe wouldn’t have felt with a different of music and it engrosses you even more into the film. Another great example is the docking scene; the music helps to build the tension and keeps the entire audience on the edge of their seats. I do love the scores from The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception, but the score for Interstellar is possibly my favourite score Zimmer’s done for a Nolan film; it added to epic scale that Interstellar needed.
Speaking of epic scales, Nolan has pushed things even further than before when it comes to the visual style. Nolan is famed for making his films as realistic as possible but for Interstellar, he had to venture into new territory. The scenes in space and on the different planets are incredible to watch, at times it’s like you’re looking at a painting. The journey through the wormhole is awe-inspiring; the “library from hell” is insane to look at and the worlds are so visually incredible to see. The FX team behind the visuals went on the win the Academy Award. But not to be out done by space, the world created back on Earth is just as interesting. It’s so believable that you can imagine at some point in our future, the world actually being like this. You always hear stories about how at some point in the future we will run out of this and that, which makes the threat in Interstellar more impactful. The world building in Interstellar is Nolan at his best, realistic but bold enough to expand on what you thought you were going to get.
While Interstellar didn’t win my award for best film of 2014, it was a very close second. A few changes here and there and we could have had the best film of the year. That said it’s still a visual and emotional experience that everyone must live. If you didn’t see it on the big screen, you might not get the same experience if you’re watching it on your TV or laptop or phone (please dear God, don’t watch this on your phone), but it is essential viewing. While Interstellar isn’t as good as The Dark Knight, it is definitely one of Christopher Nolan’s best films ever and a definite hit play.
Speaking of epic scales, Nolan has pushed things even further than before when it comes to the visual style. Nolan is famed for making his films as realistic as possible but for Interstellar, he had to venture into new territory. The scenes in space and on the different planets are incredible to watch, at times it’s like you’re looking at a painting. The journey through the wormhole is awe-inspiring; the “library from hell” is insane to look at and the worlds are so visually incredible to see. The FX team behind the visuals went on the win the Academy Award. But not to be out done by space, the world created back on Earth is just as interesting. It’s so believable that you can imagine at some point in our future, the world actually being like this. You always hear stories about how at some point in the future we will run out of this and that, which makes the threat in Interstellar more impactful. The world building in Interstellar is Nolan at his best, realistic but bold enough to expand on what you thought you were going to get.
While Interstellar didn’t win my award for best film of 2014, it was a very close second. A few changes here and there and we could have had the best film of the year. That said it’s still a visual and emotional experience that everyone must live. If you didn’t see it on the big screen, you might not get the same experience if you’re watching it on your TV or laptop or phone (please dear God, don’t watch this on your phone), but it is essential viewing. While Interstellar isn’t as good as The Dark Knight, it is definitely one of Christopher Nolan’s best films ever and a definite hit play.
What Do You Think?
Is the film a Hit Play?
Or does it get lost in the wormhole?
Let us know in the comments!
Read our Christopher Nolan Essentials too!
Interstellar is out on DVD now!
Or does it get lost in the wormhole?
Let us know in the comments!
Read our Christopher Nolan Essentials too!
Interstellar is out on DVD now!
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