Interstellar

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To say that we, as moviegoers, were "expecting more" from Christopher Nolan in his latest film, is something that I believe is inaccurate. A more fair statement would be, perhaps, that we were expecting better, or perhaps, less. After over a decade of making films that didn't need to showboat every aspect, Interstellar went overboard. So how can we say that we "expected more" from Christopher Nolan's Interstellar when, in fact, it gave us "more" than we've ever had in a Christopher Nolan movie?

Let's look at his filmography. Nolan made a name for himself with screenplay-based thrillers like Memento and The Prestige. We loved the subtlety and pacing of Batman Begins and the suspenseful intensity of The Dark Knight, yet audiences seemed to be less enthusiastic towards The Dark Knight Rises. Why? Because the build-up was too long, and the excitement, although more explosive, wasn't as satisfying as in its predecessors.

Now, this brings us to Interstellar. In conversations about this movie, you'll hardly hear anyone complaining about the film's message about the power and scope of a human's capacity to love, its visuals, and even its sheer ambition. Yet Interstellar is being viewed as one of, or even as, Christopher Nolan's least impressive film. That's not to say that Interstellar is a bad movie. When you have Christopher Nolan directing Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine (in space!), it really can't go too wrong. But somehow, Interstellar just never felt completely right.

Interstellar starts off with a graspable yet unique storyline. Decades from now, the world has destroyed its ability to sustain itself. Fearing for the future of humanity, NASA is running covert missions, sending teams to distant galaxies to explore the chances of finding a new home. When single father and former pilot Cooper (Matthew McCon-alright-alright-alright-aughay) inexplicably finds his way to NASA's secret headquarters, the man in charge (Michael Caine) sees it as a sign to send him on the next shuttle. Cooper's departure is understood by his eldest son but breaks the heart of his daughter Murph. After he takes off, Cooper and his team (Anne Hathaway and Wes Bentley, performing with their expected depth) spend years looking for a new Earth. Here's where things should've gotten interesting, but instead, it's where the movie took a turn for the worse.

To quote a member of YouTube's ScreenJunkies team (check them out if you don't know who they are, they're perfect), Interstellar takes its intriguing premise and becomes "a movie about a girl whose dad flies into a black hole, and through the power of love, travels back in time to his daughter's bedroom to haunt an old wristwatch so that it taps out the secrets of the universe in morse code."

I completely respect ambition in filmmaking, so long as it pays off in the long run, but Interstellar didn't pay off the way I was expecting. What really hindered my complete, unabashed praise for the movie was a terribly-edited montage sequence that failed at its efforts to balance four different story lines, spanning lightyears away and trying to simultaneously keep our attention on a grown woman in her childhood bedroom, three astronauts panicking, an angry farmer trying to save his burning crops, and Matt Damon trying to dock a spaceship. All of the other problems people had with these movie would've just been imperfections in my eyes, but following that horrendously constructed scene, all of those little problems, including the film failing to pay off on its build-up, added insult to injury.

Now that I've given Interstellar its deserved bashing, let's revisit why you should see this movie, because you should. Two things I've mentioned in this review are ambition and Christopher Nolan. No one will argue Interstallar is not ambitious, and for the places the movie goes, from the human heart to the farthest galaxy, the movie demands to be viewed.

I think it's fair to say that following this movie, the phrase "Christopher Nolan can do no wrong" would be a falsity, yet "Christopher Nolan is a brilliant filmmaker" would still hold true. Interstellar deserves praise for its themes, effects, music, performances, and set design; all of which truly will take your breath away time and time again. I just hope that one day, we can look back at Interstellar as a tiny blemish on the record of Christopher Nolan's work and not the beginning of the end.

Rating: 3.5/5