Interstellar Review

Just go see it.


You're still here? I told you to go see the movie. I'm not going to mince words here; Interstellar is probably one of the most redefining movies you'll ever see in your life. I won't say that it's life changing, because as of this writing I'm not perceiving my life any differently, but it will leave you so absolutely drained and impacted unlike any other movie you've seen this year, last year, or ever. It's so rare for a movie to make a person feel like they have had their soul destroyed, but that's the best way to analyze Interstallar. It is a movie that will leave you battered and beaten emotionally and psychologically, yet leave you wanting more.

Out of complete fairness to everyone who hasn't seen it yet, I will not talk about the plot in any capacity. All you need to know is that Earth is dying and a farmer named Cooper is drafted to go into space with a small team of astronauts to search for habitable worlds that the human race can live on. That's all you're going to get out of me in terms of plot or summary, because this movie is best experienced blind. You should go into it with minimal spoilers and see just exactly where the movie will take you, and it'll take you into some devastating territory. Instead, I'm going to give you a play by play of my experience with this movie.

I saw Intestellar in a group of six people, including myself, as a little birthday gift for myself. We went to a normal screening of the movie and most of us were curious to see what it was like. IMDB said that the movie was the third highest rated movie of all time, which made all of us skeptical. I mean, the only two movies higher were Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather. That's pretty much saying that this movie is just as good as those. And so we saw it.

Whoa...

The entire first act wasn't too interesting honestly. It mostly centered with Cooper and his family on Earth. The best that I can describe it is a modern The Grapes of Wrath, but with Matthew Mcconoughey. It's not exactly riveting stuff, and it mostly comes across as dull and waiting for the main attraction. We're waiting for them to go to space so all of the time spent on Earth, while necessary, just comes across as set up. It's a forty-five minutes of setup, but it'll all pay off.

As soon as they go to space, the wonder and atmosphere of the situation comes in, and while it was interesting, I wasn't sold yet. It wasn't until Cooper got to the first planet that this movie sold me. As soon as I saw the first planet and what happened on it, I was hooked. I was immersed inside of the movie, and so was everyone else I was with. We all were immersed beyond our wildest dreams. Then the movie started to throw its emotional punch at us. The first major twist of the movie left everyone in tears and I am not ashamed to admit that I held back tears at it.

The rest of two hours was a mix between emotional distress, sci-fi wonder, and undeniable awe. I never turned away from the screen once, and the only time I ever turned away was to look at my neighbor who was freaking out at the movie. The movie was taking everyone on an emotional roller coaster that no one had ever felt before, or at least in this capacity.

People have often cited a criticism against Christopher Nolan that his movies had no emotional connection or heart. They're just vehicles to show how smart he is and not to give the audience an experience they can relate too. Most of his movies, especially Inception, are centered solely making his audiences think rather than feel. Interstellar changes that perception. This movie has such a strong emotional connection that you can feel every feeling that Cooper goes through during this movie. You see his devastation and the love that he feels for his daughter whenever he thinks of her or mentions her in space.

So beautiful...

And with that, I'm done. I have nothing else to say about this movie without ruining the experience for people. The special effects are phenomenal, the Hans Zimmer score fits and gives an otherworldly charm to the movie, and the acting is some of the best seen this year. I don't know if it is necessarily Oscar worthy, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few actors were nominated from this movie. Just see this movie.

When the movie ended, my entire group all walked outside and had a giant group hug from what we experienced. We were in so much awe that we had literally nothing to say about the movie. All of us loved it and all of us were so emotionally devastated by the movie. Everyone has tears in their eyes at one point or another in the movie, and we all agreed that this was one of the best movies any of us had ever seen period. And you know what? I agree with them.

            

Happy birthday to me, my soul was destroyed!