Interstellar is a science fiction movie directed by Christopher Nolan about a desperation journey into the far reaches of space to find a suitable home for humans since Earth will be uninhabitable in a few decades. It’s not much better now with the climate change being so bad that the most important job in the world is that of a farmer since it’s almost impossible for crops to survive. Cooper, a former NASA pilot is one of these farmers and does the best he can to raise his 2 children with the help of his father-in-law. Ever since his wife died it’s just been the 4 of them, and his son, Tom has the aptitude to be a great farmer while his daughter Murphy takes more after him and is on the path to be a scientist or engineer, which are both deemed less than a farmer. That’s just indicative of how dire the situation is on Earth. But even this situation won’t be possible for much longer, and Cooper learns this when the latest dust storm creates an anomaly in Murphy’s room that neither one of them can explain. Murphy has always felt that there was some ghost in her room growing up based on small occurrences but this is unlike anything else. They decode the message in the anomaly, which gives them coordinates, and when they reach the location they discover it’s actually NASA’s secret base. Taking this as a sign, Professor John Brand recruits Cooper, who he already knew, for this one desperate mission. The plan is to travel through a recently formed wormhole created by mysterious aliens to check out 3 potentially habitable worlds. He agrees to this mission when he’s told that Earth will be completely unable to sustain any life in a matter of decades, and the only hope is one of two plans succeeding. One plan would help those already living on Earth reach a new home while the other would leave all those on Earth to be doomed but give the human race a chance elsewhere. Can Cooper and his team succeed in finding a habitable planet?

As a sci-fi fan I had some interest in seeing Interstellar but I wasn’t entirely sure about how to approach it. There have been many movies where some apocalyptic event had to be prevented with a shuttle launch or a mission and not all have been thoroughly enjoyable. It was Interstellar’s premise of having to find a new planet for all humans that made me feel there could be some unique elements. And it started off simple enough but the situation on Earth was intriguing to me as I wondered how things could’ve reached the point where the planet was pretty much a dust bowl and downright hostile to crops. So there was either a food shortage on the planet or it was only capable of producing one type of crop for a period of time based on the weather changes. But it was made clear that there was nothing that could be done to reverse the decay of the Earth despite little to no attention paid to rectifying it or explaining the causes of it. However, this would allow the story to move forward and make the mission more intense since failure wasn’t an option. There was also the tinge of the supernatural, or rather what was deemed to be the supernatural in the form of the belief of mysterious alien helpers known as “they.” No one ever saw them nor did they have a screen presence but everything from the placement of the wormhole to the clear signs in Murphy’s room were just examples of them taking an active role in wanting humanity to survive. This added an interesting angle to the story early on and it wasn’t heavy-handed either but key in Cooper being selected to lead the mission. It wasn’t just the fact that he was the only one on the team who actually had experience in space due to severe cutbacks but the belief that “they” selected him too.

SUMMARY

Interstellar is a riveting and surprising sci-fi film that touches on the depths of humanity and what binds us together. It tackles some very interesting concepts despite playing somewhat loose with them but it’s done in a brilliant way. Not much time was spent exploring the causes behind Earth’s demise but ultimately that was better for the movie and the messages in it. The casting was great and so were the performances, and even the clumsy looking AI won me over by the end. The twist is incredible, and there is a possible paradox but one that is so much more entertaining than it is perplexing or anything else. If you enjoy the type of sci-fi that excites the imagination and makes you ponder possibilities then I highly recommend Interstellar. You can enjoy it in many dimensions.