Morgan Lanyon
At one point in your life, you have probably wondered if there were other planets out there that could support life. And while those were most likely childish thoughts in your eyes, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar explores this exact thought. Nolan does so in a brilliant, mind-blowing sequence of scenes that not only entertain the audience, but opens up ideas to ponder.
The film, starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Matt Damon, Michael Caine, and a smattering of other brilliant actors, explores the plot of our world in an apocalyptic state. Now when I say apocalyptic, I am not talking about zombies or asteroids. I am talking about in the not-so-distant future: there is a shortage of food, and a mass amount of dust, which alludes to the Dust Bowl in the 30’s. This shortage of food has led NASA to look for other worlds, before everyone on earth perishes from dust in their lungs, or starvation.
And then in comes McConaughey’s character Cooper, an ex-pilot who NASA chooses to navigate the craft that will go through a black-hole, called Gargantua, and into another galaxy in search for a liveable planet, as well as receive data from astronauts sent through the black hole a decade before.
But what is a movie without a deep emotional plot? Cooper is a widow, who has two young children that he must leave behind, including his daughter Murph, who was named after Murphy’s Law. If you want to see something that will pull at your heartstrings, then the relationship between Cooper and Murph is something you will have to see.
Murphy’s Law states, as said in the film, “anything that can happen will happen.” This law has a deep underlying role throughout the film, as well as Murph’s character when she grows up. But what is a large part of the film is the theory of relativity, which states that space and time are interwoven into one continuum. This proves difficult for Cooper as he realizes how much faster time is going on earth compared to in space, and how he is missing his children grow up.
Now I must say, I am a space nerd. Walking into the theatre, I knew I would be amazed. And yet I was still shocked at how good the film was. However, the one thing that made me really excited was that everything in the film scientifically is plausible. Sure, black holes haven’t been proved stable enough for travel, but the premise could still happen.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, a cosmologist, astrophysicist and acclaimed author gave the film a glowing review on Twitter, including tweets such as, “In #Interstellar: The producers knew exactly how, why, & when you’d achieve zero-G in space,” and, “In #Interstellar: And in the real universe, strong gravitational fields measurably slow passage of time relative to others.” This review contrasts greatly with Tyson’s review on Gravity, in which he pointed out the inaccuracies.
And as if the film couldn’t get any better, the score was done by Hans Zimmer, which made me sit on the edge of my seat for the entirety of the film. With such films such as Inception, The Dark Knight, and Man of Steel under his belt, Zimmer provides a soundtrack that makes each moment a beautiful work of art. I don’t believe movie composers are given enough credit. Without the beautiful and suspenseful music, I probably wouldn’t have payed attention.
However, this film will make you think. It will make you question time and relativity, and anything that you ever thought about noises in your room. If you are not someone to pay attention to every detail and listen to every line of content, then the film might not be for you.
This film is brilliant. I can say nothing less. There was never a dull moment, I was thinking, and I was in awe that everything in the film had a point. And for that very reason, I’m giving this movie an A+.
