Interstellar

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Written by KTP

Interstellar:  The real reason McConaughey left Earth is because he was sick of fucking corn.

Space shit is making a huge comeback lately with Cosmos back on the air, Elon Musk saying, “Fuck it. We should colonize Mars.”, Neil Tyson Degrasse hailed as the science Jesus with the holy spirit being Bill Nye, and we are actually going to land a probe on a comet. Now we have Interstellar coming in at the right time to not only fill the void of space exploration films, but to give us more McConaughey. With Christopher Nolan at the helm and a great cast of supporting characters, we get a great science fiction movie in spite of being a little too cut and dry.

Goddamn is it pretty.

We start off on Earth in the distant future. Everyone is a farmer due to lack of food and there are constant dust storms coating everything in silt. McConaughey, a former pilot and now farmer with his family, is clearly agitated with his life and wonders where humanity lost its wonder and adventure (*nudge* *nudge*). His daughter discovers an anomaly in their house and they quickly decipher that it is coordinates to the now headquarters of an aging NASA. Offered the chance to save the world and be a pilot again, he accepts regrettably leaving behind his son and daughter. He joins a crew of three others to enter a wormhole with the mission of finding a suitable planet to colonize and to link up with the astronauts that were on a previous mission. While this is happening (time is a huge factor in the movie) the brother and sister struggle with the absence of their father and try to adjust with a world that seems to have given up.

Some people just want to watch the corn burn. That was corny. Damn it.

This is a really great film and has earned a respectable spot in the science-fiction genre, but I have exactly two problems with it. One is minor and the other is most certainly not. This movie is traditionally Nolan-ish. Christopher Nolan movies have the Michael Bay of dialogue. We get a lot of long winded, drawn out exposition that mostly makes sense. Mostly. The film is also extremely logical following the pattern with the rest of his films. For a film about space exploration, a lot of things get explained a little too easily. It feels like it gets rid of the mystery of the unknown. This is not really a big deal and the minor problem I have. The big one goes back to the logic of the film. When I found out who “they” were I wanted to punch a fucking diabetic puppy in the jaw. If you are a fan of Nolan movies, you would have figured this out, BUT JUST BECAUSE IT MAKES SENSE DOESN’T MEAN I HAVE TO LIKE IT. I’m not going to say that it’s Jodie Foster Contact bad, but it irked me more than it should have.

Goddamn is she pretty.

Look at that paragraph above. Those gripes do not kill this movie. Interstellar is fucking beautiful, well-acted, and has a solid story; much better than 90% of movies today. Performances by the entire cast are great and believable, the special effects are top notch, and even though I have problems with the story, it still holds up. Even though it tries to make it to a 2001: Space Odyssey level, it doesn't make it. It does make a damn valiant effort, though and should be seen if space even slightly interests you. Grab a ticket. It's worth the ride.