There’s an old saying that goes “the sky’s the limit”, which literally means humans’ only limitation is the sky. But technology has advanced, the sky is no longer the limit, and we all know that the universe is an endless blackness of space. There’s no end to our universe, which is why we have astronauts exploring further into space and collecting as much information as we possibly can about the universe we live in. Before you get lost in translation, we are talking about Christopher Nolan’s new film, “Interstellar“.
Honestly, watching the trailer alone is enough to make us go, “Yes, this is it. This is another film that will make people debate over its ending.” In fact, some people might even compare it to the Oscar winning film, “Gravity” as both films set their stories in the outer space. Ironically, the story as told in Nolan’s “Interstellar” is a far cry from “Gravity” and if not, slightly better than “Gravity”, as Nolan was able to create an exciting cinematic experience beyond our imaginations.
But, of course, if we really must compare, then it’s best to compare “Interstellar” with Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey“. Nolan has tried to avoid having this film being too similar to Kubrick’s film, because the notable similarities between these 2 movies is the emotional storytelling that shows the good side and the ugly side of human nature.
The story begins by introducing the world that almost seems like it’s coming to an end with approximately 6 billion people in the world struggling to survive. The severe dust storm brought blight to the world and affected the agricultural sector greatly with corns becoming the only crop left for people to survive.
We were then introduced to Cooper (played by Matthew McConaughey), a relatively smart farmer who plants vast fields of corn. But Cooper is not just any normal farmer, he was once a test astronaut pilot and engineer. However, after a traumatic incident, he eventually became a farmer since the world only needs more farmers now.
Despite the unfortunate event, Cooper never gave up on himself and even managed to pass down his knowledge about the universe to his family, especially his daughter Murph (played by Mackenzie Foy). Thus, when Murph complained to him that there was a “ghost” in her room trying to communicate with her, he just brushed it off as the usual kids’ nonsense. We know what you’re thinking but obviously this film is not going to end up as a horror movie. There’s a logical, or rather theoretical explanation behind it but we shall not explain why. 😉
Cooper and his family lived a quiet life in their town until one day, the so-called paranormal event in Murph’s room led them to a hidden NASA base. It was so hidden that no one was even supposed to find it by accident. From there, they met an aged scientist Dr. Brand (played by Michael Caine) and his daughter, Amelia (played by Anne Hathaway). Dr. Brand was once Cooper’s instructor in NASA and he knew Cooper was one of the best astronauts. Thus, Cooper was asked to “save the world”, by traveling into outer space to find the next best planet for humans to live in.
Armed with such a great responsibility, Cooper must make a choice; to leave his family behind to save the world or to remain on Earth and spend the last couple of years with his family. It was a hard decision to make, because not even Cooper himself knew how long the expedition would take and worse, if he could come back alive. Thus, his decision will affect his family greatly and even the world because his mission is to find a way to rescue the people from this dying world, with the help of Amelia and 2 other experienced astronauts Doyle (played by Wes Bentley) and Romilly (played by David Gyasi).
It’s going to be an emotional journey but at the same time, it is exciting because they are about to explore the planets near the newly discovered wormhole that might have the solutions to save the human race. The whole epic space journey is the one that has not been shown in the trailer, because it will spoil the whole cinematic experience.
What we can describe is that Nolan’s outer space feels invincible and beautiful, especially when it’s paired with the dramatic orchestral score composed by Hans Zimmer (of “The Dark Knight” and “Lion King” fame). It is a visual feast with Nolan’s breathtaking shots of the other “planets” they’ve landed on. However, the visual imagery merely served as a backdrop to Nolan’s story in the film.
The focus is still on the human nature, where it touches upon the characters’ feelings toward everything that happens to them. Throughout the journey, audience may realise that there are no good people or bad people; there are only people who can’t make good decisions when they are blinded by greed and desperation. Sometimes, even the surplus military machine with artificial intelligence, TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin) serves as a better soldier than the humans with ever-changing attitudes.
In fact, TARS serves as a comic relief in the film as it reduces the overall intensity of the film with a shot of humour, that sometimes humans might be afraid of. If necessary, TARS would even sacrifice themselves for humans because that’s what they’re programmed to do. Did TARS sacrifice itself for the humans in the film? Well, let’s just say a plot twist sort of saved TARS from extinction.
That’s not the only plot twists you will see in the film because Cooper and the crew will also find themselves in a rather depressing situation after one big discovery. What did they find out, you ask? You just got to watch the film for yourself!
The aftermath of watching the film is rather strong as it leaves an emotional impact on the audience. No prizes for guessing who cried countless time while watching this film in the cinema, of course. Besides that, it’s the kind of the film that will make you think about the possibility of time travel under the physics law and that is enough to keep people debating over “Interstellar”.
Forget what people say about the major plot holes in Nolan’s previous films, because he laid out the explanation in the beginning of the film, before audience get lost in his “Inception”-esque world.
Although it is slated for a November 7th worldwide released, “Interstellar” is set to hit Malaysian cinemas on November 6th. Don’t forget to check out these fun facts before watching “Interstellar”!
For more information, visit the movie’s official website.
