Grant Pearsall

Staff Writer

Christopher Nolan’s latest bit of hard science fiction, “Interstellar” is a grand, sweeping cinematic gesture meant to evoke deep-seated pride in the human ability to persevere in the face of certain doom. But like us, it is flawed work, better than the sum of its parts and forever striving for greatness found somewhere between the stars.

“Interstellar” was directed by Christopher Nolan, who also directed the “Dark Knight” trilogy and “Man of Steel.”
“Interstellar” was directed by Christopher Nolan, who also directed the “Dark Knight” trilogy and “Inception.”

Humanity has retreated to the margins, regressing into a Neo-dust bowl agrarian society. Cooper, an ex-NASA test pilot and engineer salvages old machines of war, repurposing them into parts for a ramshackle fleet of combines that tend his fields of corn– one of the scant few crops keeping global starvation at bay. Storms rage across the land, brown grave dust spread about as an apocalyptic metaphor– it is a living burial at humanity’s end. Its not long before contrivances drive Cooper into joining the secret remnants of NASA and piloting the shuttle Endurance into the stars on a last ditch mission to save the human race from extinction.

“Interstellar” shares DNA with other works by lauded director Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight,” “Inception”) and brother Jonathan Nolan sharing writing credit. Nolan’s films are sweeping in scope, highly engaging yet short on levity and forever lacking in character dynamism. While Nolan’s movies are often delightfully stressful and thrilling, the impression left behind is distinctly antiseptic.

Endurance’s mission to Saturn to explore a mysterious gateway to another world is mounted by a band of characters that are as living props to Nolan– objects to be shifted around within frame, occasionally speaking for purposes of exposition, interpersonal relationships be damned.

“Love is the one thing that transcends time and space,” pleads Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), a scientist aboard the Endurance attempting to entice the crew to an unknown, possibly habitable, planet where her object of affection resides. The line inspires about as much reaction aloud as it does on the page.

There are other members aboard the Endurance, all entirely forgettable with the exception of TARS and CAGE, automatons resembling enormous metal accordions. It is a shame that some of the most lively performances of the film are from actors voicing giant CG cubes.

Despite this weak supporting cast, Matthew McConaughey drives the narrative with a

Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway star as astronauts in search of a new habitable planet when Earth becomes unable to sustain humanity.
Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway star as astronauts in search of a new habitable planet when Earth becomes unable to sustain humanity.

performance that transcends the material of his generic protagonist. His relationship with his daughter Murphy (the lovely Mackenzie Foy) is wrought and heartbreaking. “The McConaissance,” (a colloquialism for McConaughey’s recent spate of high-quality performances) remains alive and well.

A moment must be taken to pay homage to Hans Zimmer’s score for the film. The work is epic and operatic with horns blazing and pipe organs booming. The effect is deeply funereal. Often the score for a film works best remaining a light aural motif to accent the visuals. Here it is an integral soundscape inextricable from Nolan’s work, increasing the sorrow, the dread and the wonder of a journey through the pitch black enigma of deep space.

“Interstellar” is a thematic nesting doll of familial responsibility– the ways our relationships are drawn between parents, children and our past and future selves. Nolan’s stage may be galactic, but beneath all the cinematic multi-million dollar computer trickery it all comes back to the family unit. The finale is a visual wonder, a cinematic tribute to the bond between fathers and daughters. The turn will invariably draw favorable comparisons to Kubrick’s unassailable film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and there are certainly worse films with which one can be compared.

Amelia’s father, Professor Brand, delivers the film’s mantra, cribbed from the poet Dylan Thomas and spoken in voiceover: “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

In the wake of recent disasters in would-be space exploration (See: Orbital Sciences) “Interstellar” reminds us to keep looking up and keep striving in the face of adversity– To rage against the dying of the light.

Keep the fires burning, Mr. Nolan, and we will too.

(Note: This reviewer viewed this film in IMAX.)

Grade: B+