by Shilpa Saravanan, editor-in-chief
Immense hype surrounded Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” in the weeks before its release: critics hailed it as (potentially) the first great space-travel epic since Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Nolan even hired theoretical physicist Kip Thorne as a consultant to make every detail as scientifically accurate as possible (and, perhaps, to avoid something like Neil deGrasse Tyson poking fun at the science of last year’s space film, “Gravity” — unfortunately, it didn’t exactly work). Certainly, the research shows, but the science of “Interstellar,” while impressively mind-boggling, is second to Nolan’s exploration of the most selfless (and selfish) aspects of humanity.
“Interstellar” begins intriguingly enough, with a government that’s written the American space program out of all textbooks and a hard-nosed father and space pilot-turned-farmer, Coop (Matthew McConaughey), who raises his children with tenderness and science. Unfortunately, its deeper messages get a bit lost in the ensuing mix of jaw-dropping visuals, trite writing and Hans Zimmer’s grandiose piano arpeggios. Is the film grounded in reality, a warning of what will happen should America abandon its space program entirely ? Is it about the insatiable human need to explore and overcome the unknown? (According to Matthew McConaughey’s Coop, in one of the stronger little speeches in the film, we are still pioneers.) Is it, most loftily, a testament to the power of love — across space, across time, across dimensions? “Interstellar” does well to address all of these and more, but in the end, the excessive exposition and jumpy pace leave the viewer more than a little overwhelmed.
Like those of “Inception,” the seemingly random plot threads of “Interstellar” come together in a visually-arresting but perplexing climax that likely requires more than one viewing to unravel. Nolan might have done better to leave the details of the scene to the audience’s imagination — to let them explore the unknown for themselves — rather than having McConaughey and snarky robot sidekick TARS explain the strangeness away. In this way especially, Nolan has in no way made the new “2001”: but having shot for a gigantic black hole and fallen a little short, “Interstellar” still lands very respectably among the stars.
