So, I finally got around to going and seeing Interstellar on the weekend – blame a cancelled flight to Brisbane, in addition to the cancellation of the first test at the ‘Gabba for that little opportunity. I don’t know about you, but I find going to the cinema to be an excruciating prospect at the best of times – the queues, the ridiculous cost of everything, the interminable ads before the film starts. Added to that, I knew that Interstellar was almost three hours long – three hours that I could use to do something else. I know, I know, grumpy old man etc.
But I’m glad I went and saw the movie. It’s been a long time since I sat for a minute or two at the end of a movie, my mind racing with new and exciting thoughts, but that’s what I did after interstellar. It takes a powerful movie – a movie that’s large in scope and range – but that’s precisely what Interstellar was like. It’s an incredible movie, and easily the best movie that I have seen for a very long time. I was staggered by the depth of it – the careful plotting, the epic nature of that plot, and the power of the actors – especially Matthew McConaughey, but they are all good. No, they are all great. There’s hardly a bum note in the whole film (even if some of the science seems a little bit strained). It takes a careful hand to make a film about the future of the human race and not make it cheesy like Armageddon, but that’s exactly what Nolan has managed to do.
In some ways, the film is a paean to science. It joyfully and gleefully plays with some of the stranger variations of physics and relativity, toying with our own meagre understandings. But it’s more than that, too – it’s an expression of love – love that exists quite literally across space and time. It’s a warning and a hope for a better future. It is, quite literally, epic in both scope and vision. But it’s in the intricate details that it really shines – everything in the film seems to relate to everything else, and it’s done with a deft touch for plotting that is only possible in films where time is just another plot device.
Go see it. Then tell me that you don’t want to throw everything in and become an astronomer or an astrophysicist or an engineer.