Interstellar (2014), PG-13, ★★★★

McConaughey, Hathaway and Gyasi discovering something.

Imagine Earth dying. We have to set our minds at an all-time high to carefully process on how we got here and how we can solve the problem not just for ourselves for billions of people around the world. Now, to solve that problem, there is a risk vs. reward but how far will that risk take to be more rewarding? The risk will have some consequences but it could certifiably rewarding towards not just yourself but for others. But, when hearing about this project or researching about what this story is about, I question myself why is Christopher Nolan being so secretive about this project? I think the answer, nowadays, that directors try to copy clichés in other pictures. But, he reaches for the stars paying tribute to two different directors and mission accomplished.

Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is an ex-pilot and ex-engineer who is now a widowed father and farmer who resides with his 15-year-old son, Tom (Timothee Chalet) and 10-year-old daughter, Murph (Mackenzie Foy) and his father-in-law, Donald (John Lithgow). Cooper drives the kids off to school when suddenly Coop's truck has a flat tire and also, on the way, they encounter a surveillance drone and when they follow it behind the cornfield and on the edge of a cliff, he takes out a device controlling the drone with Murph's assistance. Cooper is astonished during Murph's and Tom's parent-teacher conference about Tom's future becoming a farmer and useless machines and the Apollo mission ceasing to exist when the school replace science textbooks with the corrective textbooks and as a result, he gets Murph suspended.

After a dust storm causing Cooper and his family to flee from the baseball game, he and Murph encounters thick and thin parallel lines covered in dust and Cooper analyzes them and determines that they are coordinates. So, they both drive to the hidden area where they find out that they are the remaining people in NASA including Dr. Brand (Michael Caine) and his daughter, Amelia (Anne Hathaway). Professor Brand explains the situation saying that the Earth's crop and food supply are slowing dying off and the mission is to find a new home in the universe for a sustained life. The team of scientists consists of: Cooper, Amelia, and two other scientists, Doyle and Romilly (Wes Bentley and David Gyasi). Also accompanying them is a sarcastic tonal robot named TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin).

As Cooper leaves Murph, Tom and Donald in a tearful state in a wonderfully edited sequence, we witness Cooper going through the motions and hearing the countdown as they ascend into space. And, whatever is out there, they will find the answer to their problem or will they save Earth on time?

Jessica Chastain as a scientist and Casey Affleck as a farmer. 

It is a daunting challenge writing this review because this film is complex and complicated to take in while witnessing the majestic visuals of space and it is exhilarating and overwhelming simultaneously because the amount of effort that Christopher Nolan is making by the making the project as ambiguous as possible is harder these days due to the social media and paparazzi but he makes it work. Plus, he does not have an e-mail and I don't know he has a cellphone.

There are three aspects that I want to focus on on the basis of what Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, is trying to show us. The first aspect is the scientific aspect because he wants us, the audience, to witness the accuracy and perspective of what scientists and engineers are trying to accomplish. He tries to make it so realistic that he brought Kip Thorne, a physicist and one of the executive producers, to calculate what the worm hole is and what it produces as the team of scientists will go through. I know most of the movie is full of talky dialogue but what I admired how scientists talk intelligently like clockwork and as teamwork when they are in space. It is refreshing.

Matthew McConaughey gives another strong performance in his string of remarkable roles but notably after his Oscar-winning role in Dallas Buyers Club as not just another person who wants to seek adventure with his intelligence and skills but as a father who cares so much for his daughter and also concerned for the human race. I did not think Hathaway was miscast as an astrobiologist because I think she did well connecting with her team and also bringing logic and emotion onto the scene. Gyasi and Bentley also clicked with them. But, the two people taking center stage are Jessica Chastain and Mackenzie Foy playing the same person but in alternate timelines and that I can give away. Chastain's presence is so important that she evokes logic and humanity for the rest of the world. Foy displays the stress and sadness to lose a parent to save the world even though he does not mention that to her.

The second aspect that is focused is the logical aspect and we see how all the calculations and teamwork is presented while the stressful and effortless team of scientists is working on how to save the human race. But, is it possible or is it necessary? Plus, there can be risk ve. reward again because another character, who is a nameless A-list member and it was surprising to see this person, brings up the reality on whether or not the human race is saved.

The third aspect is the emotional center of the story which is love and Anne Hathaway brings this up as she says that "love is the one thing that transcends time and space." And, in a way, it does as to how much of a sacrifice they are willing to take to leave loved ones behind to find another world. It is philosophical but relative to what everybody is going through. Also, Michael Caine recites a poem that is a little long to illustrate the effort and chances that he thinks might the change the course of time and space.

The first two-thirds of the films are remarkable and well-conceived as Nolan is paying tribute to both Steven Spielberg and most of all, Stanley Kubrick. The first hour really builds up Earth's conditions and state and the life of a rural town. The second hour is devoted to the transition from life on Earth to the mission in space and it is visually astounding and powerful to look at on the big screen. It'll get nominated for technical Oscars, at least. The last third will get people talking because it transitions to another state of mind as the philosophy of love takes over the scientific aspects and translates it to something better. It is a confusing train of thought but it does not have to be accepted, just thought about for maybe an hour or maybe a decade.

Bottom line is that it is not 2001 nor 2010, its sequel, but it has some echoes of those two movies along with Contact (an earlier film with Foster and McConaughey) and a bit of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Nolan is just trying to piece something important: science, yes, but also focusing on the emotional aspect of love and what it does to an astronaut in space. It is the core of the film. Again, the visual effects are illuminating, the performances are great, the music by Hans Zimmer is one of his most unique and resonant and the message is fulfilling. It is going to be one to talk about for a long time even though people will debate with flaws or plot holes, but, we do not know the certainty of what's beyond the universe. It's just another sci-fi film, a worthy sci-fi film, that time will tell if it is worthy to say if it is a classic. Look how long 2001 took to view as another notable chapter in the history of cinema. Probably, a decade, I don't know.

****