As an ultimately imperfect, yet often breathtaking film that tackles the significance of love and sacrifice in conflict with a basic human survival instinct, “Interstellar” does the impossible and fails to collapse into a “gargantua” of disillusionment for the viewer; if you’re looking for a mind-blowing spectacle, then Interstellar definitely serves its purpose.

The beginning of the film leaves you wondering if you’ve stumbled into the wrong screen, with the depression era reminiscent dust storms and blight ravaged emaciated agricultural land being a far shout from the space travel epic promised. However, it is soon revealed that the Earth’s atmosphere is shifting in a negative way, with human extinction becoming a real threat. “This world is a treasure, but it’s been telling us to leave for a while now,” as McConoughey’s character Cooper puts it.

Former NASA pilot and engineer Cooper, is a widowed farmer trying to provide for his teenage children, Tom (Timothée Chalamet) and Murph (Mackenzie Foy), as well as his elderly father-in-law (John Lithgow). In a period when everyone has been asked to sacrifice their individual aspirations for the interest of the greater good, Cooper has attempted to make peace with the simplistic farm life he loathes. However, as the living conditions progressively deteriorate on Earth, Cooper’s thirst for scientific discovery is ignited once again when he and his daughter are able to uncover a secret message seemingly being sent to them by a supernatural element that exists in Murph’s room, which leads them to stumble straight into a secure NASA base.

Coopers former employer, Professor Brand (Michael Caine) explains to him and his daughter that a wormhole has been discovered in space leading to another solar system with twelve planets. Twelve brave explorers, led by Dr. Mann, have previously been sent through it with Project Lazarus ten years earlier, one to each planet, in search of a new home for Earth’s inhabitants. This is their Plan A. Plan B would involve rebuilding life, instead of moving it, through fertilized embryos that would replace human life on Earth. Cooper disagrees strongly with this plan, so he agrees to pilot the mission for Plan A.

After a heartfelt goodbye, in which Murph refuses to accept he is leaving for an indefinite amount of time, Cooper and a small team of scientists, Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), Doyle (Wes Bentley) and Romilly (David Gyasi) as well as two artificially intelligent robots, TARS and CASE, are launched into the universe to see discover the planet most likely to sustain human life as the Project Endurance team. Three potentially sustainable planets have been identified – named after their scientists that inhabit them – Miller, Mann and Edmunds. With the effect of the black hole Gargantua’s close proximity, causing a difference in gravitational pull being felt through time dilution, one hour on Millers planet equates to seven years of Earth time, which ultimately affects Coopers family, as they are forced to grow up without their father’s presence, while he ceases to age.

Although “Interstellar” has been a controversial topic for critics who disagree on the movies value, there has been undisputed approval of the block robots TARS and CASE, both of which assist the Endurance team on their mission. As supporting characters, both robots steal almost every scene they are in. They are fitted with artificial intelligence, which allows them to have a sense of humor and even a judge of how honest to be that can be changed by the astronauts, with a discrepancy setting also mentioned. Their role in the movie is both pivotal to the plot development and to provide comic relief from the seriousness. The sarcasm and humour associated with both have produced many memorable quotes from the film, such as “I have a cue light I can use to show you when I’m joking, if you like.”

The film is definitely both audibly and visually appealing. It encompasses a mass of locations; the dusty Earth expanses, Mann’s icy planet, Miller’s water dominated world, and the splendor of galactic travel with visual representations of both black holes and expectation breaking spherical wormholes. Hans Zimmer has also created a booming, even at times domineering, score that expresses the colossal task underhand, and demands the intense emotion to be felt by the audience in his fifth collaboration with director Christopher Nolan.

Physicist Kip Thorne is credited as an executive producer and consultant on wormholes, space travel, time relativity and black holes for the movie, so it is expected that many elements present rely more on relevant scientific notions rather than creative designs, which is maybe why some of the concepts may be harder to grasp than your average movie; though this is the norm for many Christopher Nolan blockbusters. With “Interstellar” Nolan has developed a concept so emotive and courageous that it forces you think about the deeper meaning behind everything. For any flaws that “Interstellar” may have, it is a film that is intellectually and emotionally engaging for the audience.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Running time: 169 minutes
Screenplay: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Certificate: 12a
Cast: Matthew McConoughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Wes Bentley, David Gyasi, Mackenzie Foy, Casey Affleck, John Lithgow, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Caine, Ellen Burstyn, Topher Grace

By Faith Shaboo-Meere, Haberdashers Aske's Knights Academy