Metrics
Genre:
Sci-fi
Rating:
9.6 /10
Audience:
Solo, maybe a quiet group. First view should probably be solo. Family-watchable.
Rewatch Time:
SUPER emotive, so maybe once in a couple years (?)
Winner:
INSERT WINNER
Review
As he tends to do, Nolan brings in the powerhouses for Interstellar's cast, including but not limited to Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Matt Damon, and surprisingly not Leo DiCaprio. The premise is solid, and the visuals and score are on another level. The movie plays with different aspects of humanity, celebrating our legacy as pioneers and our capacity for love while looking down on our drive for individual self-preservation and fear of the unknown. The chemistry between McConaughey's character and his daughter is played to its fullest, and their connection is a focal point for the entire movie. There's a fair amount of religious symbolism as well, but it all takes the form of concrete human achievement, which seems to tell us that even miracles can be made possible by ingenuity and perseverance.
Spoiler Territory
I'm gonna lead off by saying that the moment where Mann betrays Cooper, Brand rescues him, the camp explodes, and Murph torches the cornfield might just be my favorite scene in all of cinema. There are probably more iconic or critically acclaimed examples out there, but everything about this set piece is just amazing. From the nerve-wracking score to the constant cutting between everything going around to the exceptional performances from literally everyone, I can never take my eyes off the screen when this part is on. On another note, I totally get the criticisms of how the third act tried to be too brilliant for its own good. I find myself having to explain the tesseract scene to basically everyone I watch this movie with, which is fair, since I spent an hour or so reading about it after I first saw it in theaters. But hey—this is a Nolan movie, after all, and that pitfall was completely to be expected. Seeing Murph on her deathbed hit different. I don't know what to say. The words "No parent should have to watch their own child die" left me feeling devastated at all the years she and Cooper should've been able to spend together as father and daughter that she'd had to live out on her own.