Interstellar (2014)

Interstellar is yet another masterpiece by director Christopher Nolan. Similar to another Nolan film, Inception, the aim of this movie is to make the viewer think and try to grasp the concepts of what the movie is throwing their way, and again Nolan achieves this. Interstellar is a mind-bending, realistic and thought-provoking experience which also brings everything you should expect to get out of a sci-fi film, from spaceships to fights, to robots.

Interstellar begins by setting up the backstory. It explains, through the means of elderly people in a documentary format, that the world has been living through major food shortages due to unpredictable dust clouds. We are then introduced to our main character Joe Cooper, (Matthew McConaughey), who is a corn farmer and former NASA test pilot. He lives with his father-in-law, Donald (John Lithgow), son, Tom (Timothée Chalamet) and daughter, Murph (Mackenzie Foy). Things truly start to get interesting when Cooper and Murph discover that the dust had formed mysterious lines in Murph's room, it is later revealed that the dust had formed coordinates for Cooper to follow. The coordinates help Cooper to locate a secret headquarters for NASA, here Cooper agrees to join in an expedition into a wormhole to gather information from several astronauts who are already on the other side searching for a suitable new home for the human race. Before the launch we are introduced to Dr. John Brand, (Michael Caine), and his daughter Amelia Brand, (Anne Hathaway), who will be one of Cooper's co-pilots. After saying his rather emotional goodbye’s, Cooper flies off unsure when or if at all he will return. The ship then heads into the wormhole, unsure of what the future will hold.

With this being a major motion picture it’s a breath of fresh air to see Nolan depart from the average and over-saturated market of films by bringing something new and unique to the table. Nolan set out to create a mind-bending sci-fi masterpiece and he achieved this through the films outstanding story and concept to its stunning visuals, but Nolan doesn’t deserve all of the praise for this film due to a number of people’s exceptional work, such as Hans Zimmer and his outstanding soundtrack. The music just enhances the overall experience of the film through it and the cinematography intertwining together, it truly captures the essence of exploring faraway worlds thanks to the incredible work of the art department and Hoyte Van Hoytema’s work with the cinematography. Last, but certainly not least, are the stellar performances by the cast, especially from Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway who both create utterly believable characters.

With a film of this magnitude, it is no surprise to see that Interstellar went home with several awards. It deserved its Oscar win for Best Achievement in Visual Effects as the imagery of the film is quite rightly, and literally, out of this world. To truly prove just how good this film is it won six Saturn Awards, ranging from writing to production and to special effects, which shows that Interstellar is an all around amazing movie. To conclude Interstellar is a masterpiece of a science fiction film. It is kept at a more realistic level than most films in its genre, but that doesn’t add a dent in the film as it just shows how amazing and confusing and mind-blowing the universe can be, there for Interstellar earns a four out of five, and is a must-see for any sci-fi film fan.