Movie Review: Interstellar

  Space, the final frontier for the human exploration. From our home, the 3^rd rock from the sun, mankind stares into the black infinity of the space, marveling at the stunning sights of the celestial bodies, and wonder what is our place among the stars; “what is out there?” “Are we alone”? These inquiries have inspired many of our most celebrated technological inventions up to date. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, this pivotal moment entered the river of history, as a giant, forward leap of the human evolution on earth. From that day and onward, mankind demonstrated our ability to leave the planet that gave birth to our species, to explore other worlds. Most importantly, we proved that we can survive out there.

Since then, powerful nations around the world have poured billions of dollars to further the pioneering of space exploration. Today, some have voiced their opinions, criticizing space exploration as a waste of valuable resources. However, what if one day, the continuous survival of our species can only be ensured by our ability to expand our existence onto other worlds? Director Chris Nolan, constructed a science fiction movie based on this hypothetical scenario, in a 2014 movie called Interstellar. This movie was rumored to bear reminiscence to the 1968 sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odessey. I have been waiting to see Nolan's space opera, since its announcement at the beginning of this year. On Friday, this movie was finally released in the cinema, and I was able to attend a screening of this film with eager anticipation. Today, I would like to provide a review for this movie:

Synopsis:

Cooper, a widowed father of 2 children, former NASA test pilot and an engineer, is a man with big dreams but born in the wrong time. In his time (in the future), the earth is no longer able to sustain humanity. Dust storms plagued the earth, destroying valuable food resources such as crops. The once flourishing human civilization transitioned into a dying, agrarian society, with a main focus on producing food resources.

Cooper chanced upon a discovery, where he came upon a secret NASA installation led by Professor Brand. Hiding from the eyes of the public, Brand and his team have been secretly working on a ground-breaking project. A project of paramount importance, it is the final hope for the continuous survival of mankind. Should this project bear fruition, then mankind will survive the dying earth, stepping into an interstellar future.

What I think about this movie:

I am uncertain what to say about this movie. I like most of the movie, but there are some places that I just couldn't appreciate. For starters, I found this movie fascinating, because it is mostly based on the idea of Einstein Rosen Bridge (wormhole). Meanwhile, many interesting scientific theories, such as relativity (and the twin paradox), singularity, gravity etc.. all served as fabrics, to be weaved and integrated together, forming a very clever plot.

Secondly, the technologies shown in this movie are actually believable. For example, the design of Cooper's spaceship is based on the design of the international space station, one that can simulate artificial gravity, allowing a fitful environment for astronauts to endure an extended period of stay in the space, without loosing too much bone mineral density and muscle strength. Furthermore, this movie is beautiful to look at. It is packed with breathtaking, stunning images of the celestial bodies, from a jaw dropping view of a black hole, to some intense scenes of wormhole travel, coupled with a constant note, resonating the vastness of the universe in the movie's background, this movie is a true visual spectacle to behold.

However, this movie is not just about showing beautiful images of the universe and introducing scientific theories. At its core, Interstellar is an emotional story about the spirit of human perserverence, triumphing against seemingly impossible odds. It is also a story about the human condition, the fears and love for one another, our failed dreams and how we deal with them, to find other ways to appreciate life. These themes are commonly shared across a spectrum of human experiences. Personally, I can somewhat resonate with Cooper's situation, because I too, have invested a lot of time and energy, to gain training and education in what was to be my dream, but unable to put my trained skills into practice due to the lack of opportunities in that field, and I was forced to turn to the next best widow of opportunity to go about life, learning what it is to find joys from contentment, realizing we are more than our professions.

However, while I agree a good story is usually based on the reality of the human experience, but unfortunately, this is also where the story of Interstellar over-extended itself a bit, especially in the last 20% of the film, leading to a somewhat far-fetched, disappointing finale. Having said this, the first 80% of this film is superb, with a well knitted story portrayed by stunning works of cinematography, based on interesting science. This is a movie that bears resemblance, in both tones and atmosphere, to the classic sci-fi movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

My second item of complaint about this movie, is the loud volume of background music. I found the volume of these background music too loud, not only does this become annoying, but many times I struggled to hear the dialogues exchanged between the characters on top of the soundtracks. This happened several times in the movie, and it is especially frustrating if you miss the critical dialogues (for example, I could not hear the narrations at the end of the film, because the volume of the soundtrack was too loud, and it interfered with the narrations, so I had to find it from Google after I came home from the movie).

After I watched this film, my opinion is that while Interstellar did not meet my expectations, it has flaws, but it is still a good movie. I think this movie is a visual spectacle, deserving to be seen in the cinema, where we can bear witness to the awesome grandeur of our universe, on a big, silver screen. The last 20% of this movie felt somewhat flat and uninspired, but its attempt to depict an emotional drama about the human condition, is partially (if not mostly) successful.