Tone Reviews “Interstellar”
As printed in the mX Thursday November 6 2014. Click to make big or just read the text below.
Odyssey with grit
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine and Jessica Chastain
Director: Christopher Nolan
It was 46 years ago that 2001: A Space Odyssey hit our movie screens. Promising the ultimate space trip, the movie delighted in open-ended sequences that raised more questions than answers.
Now comes Interstellar, which could almost be considered Christopher Nolan’s much more realistic 2001 reboot: a movie that promises to take us on a similar trip but leave no questions unanswered, with everything tied up in a comparatively safe bow.
Matthew McConaughey stars as Cooper, a one-time NASA engineer forced into a second life as a farmer when the Earth of the future faces an ever-worsening food shortage.
With environmental conditions declining rapidly, all looks lost for the planet and its people - until a deep-space wormhole, almost certainly designed by beings of unknown origin, is discovered leading into unknown territory.
If you’ve ever seen a science-fiction movie dealing with space travel there’ll be something familiar to be seen here.
Mankind’s brightest putting everything they’ve got into one last-ditch survival effort? Check.
At least one character overwhelmed by despair whose panic attack places everyone in jeopardy? Check.
Rather than take us anywhere drastically new, Interstellar seems more interested in galvanising everywhere we’ve ever been.
But everything seems fresh through Nolan’s trademark gritty “real-world” lens, and the performances - particularly McConaughey’s conflicted turn as a father turned reluctant pioneer - are both remendous and emotionally engaging. If the film has any weakness it is in its sincere and earnest desire not to confuse or lose the audience when certain plot threads kick into gear.
At critical moments throughout the near-three hours of running time, key arc-words are used over and over, at times obviously out of context, purely to keep everyone on the same page.
With the story so keen to signpost where it has been and where it is going, an important reveal or two may occur to attentive audience members before our on-screen heroes have time to catch up.
But with many surprises still up its sleeve, Interstellar will have you perfectly situated for the full weight of its conclusion.
And almost all of your questions will be answered except for the most probing and reaching question of all: Once everything that we know and we’ve mastered is out of the way, where have we left to go?