Movie Thoughts - Interstellar

Hey everybody, I'm back today with my thoughts on one of the newest blockbuster hits. Interstellar!
Since this movie just came out, I don't have any pictures to add unless I screencap from the trailer (which I'm not going to do). Once it's available for home viewing, I will add them but for now, this post will be mainly text.

One last caution, this "review" WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Let's begin.

Interstellar features the dynamic duo of Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer and boy do they earn that name. It's apparent that they've worked together so many times because the score matches the picture so well. One scene in particular that was really well put together was the part where Cooper is driving away from the farm while audio of the launch is heard. The rumbling of the engines and the music in the background. Man, the theatre was trembling and overall, it was really intense. Huge props to Zimmer for once again putting together a wonderful score.

A hard to describe ambiance that "Super 8" has

Another technical part of the movie that I enjoyed was the cinematography. Although I found the first act of the movie to be rather slow, I couldn't ignore the marvelous cinematography. For me at least, it really captured the essence of the early 90's American South/Countryside. I know it's supposed to be in the future but the striking parallel's with the Dustbowl leads me to believe that this was intentional. One shot that I really liked is right at the beginning when the truck blows a tire. Cooper tells Tom to go take a look at it and Cooper and Murph are leaning against the side of the truck in the sunset talking about life. It gave me a "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Super 8" ish feel. Kinda strange since the settings aren't that similar but that's how I felt. I really liked the shadows and sunsets, plus the colour correction was spot on; not overdone, but gave an extra oomph to the mood. The use of oranges and blues worked surprisingly well together.
I don't even have to mention the space scenes do I? It was phenomenal, especially the wormhole scene. In my opinion, they could have done away with Amelia (Anne Hathaway) shaking the ghost hand since it felt a little corny. It was like "Sunshine" but with the breathtaking realism that "Gravity" had.

A shot from Danny Boyle's 2007 "Sunshine"

The plot was pretty good, but nothing special. The time dilation concept was pretty cool but it didn't play that much of a role on the characters but was more used as a way to advance the plot. I really enjoyed the symbolism and motifs throughout. There were a couple that really struck out to me. The first is Discovery vs Sustainability. At the beginning, especially with the whole Apollo mess, there was definitely something to be said about how Earth became the way it did. Although discovery is admirable and adding to the collective bank of human knowledge, sustainability is equally important. My interpretation was that everyone tried to revolutionize the world but it's not possible for everyone to be a hero. There will always have to be people who at the end of the day, keep us alive with food, water, and shelter.

Another one that I found interesting was the Will of Life. First of all, when Matt Damon appeared, there were at least three people in the theatre (including my friend who was sitting beside me) who yelled: "WOAH! IS THAT MATT DAMON?" Pleasant surprise seeing him in the movie and he did a fine job. This theme is really open and the movie talks about different aspects of it. One was simply the measures taken to keep a species alive. With the whole Plan B, the idea of for the greater good couldn't be more evident. As well, the whole thing that Matt Damon talked about as you die and what you feel and see. His character itself is a testimony that says humans are incapable of sacrificing themselves for the greater good. It's kind of ironic because it seemed like he did understand with the whole "Humans can empathize with those they love but will never truly be able to do the same with strangers". Him continuing sending the green thumb shows that it is almost impossible for a human to just lie down and die. "Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night" indeed.

There's way more themes and motifs but I think I'll leave it at that. If you found one that I didn't include, please leave your thoughts in a comment below.

The cast was pretty stellar, I found Michael Caine's character to be the weakest, I literally could not hear a word he was saying as he died. Anne Hathaway's character was also not too amazing. Neither was the son, Tom. Cooper definitely has his favourite kid.

One last thing I wanted to go over, and that is the ending. The general consensus is that what was portrayed after Cooper went into the blackhole is literally what happened. As with most Nolan movies, I think that the ending has many different interpretations. I think that after he went into the black hole, he died and the ensuing events is a metaphorical depiction of him leaving this existential plane and going to the afterlife. Here's why:

What Matt Damon said about the instinctual thoughts that humans have as they near death nearly matched what happened after Coop went into the black hole perfectly. All major things in his life had closure in the most perfect way possible, showing that his body and mind making peace with the fact that he has died. The lighting style when he woke up on Cooper Station starkly contrasted the entire movie's up to that point and I noticed a lot of whites being used. This made it feel like it was representing heaven/afterlife. Not only that, it overall seemed too outrageous that they found his body since it is shown that NASA is okay with sacrificing astronauts. Either way you interpret it however, I think we can all appreciate the themes presented in this movie.

All in all, Interstellar is definitely one of the best movies that I've seen in the past two years. I would definitely bet on it being a big player in the upcoming Awards season. It lives up the Nolan name by proving an exciting yet thoughtful film. Nightcrawler is next on the list so stay tuned for that!

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful day!