JTA The Film Passionator’s review published on Letterboxd:
Interstellar - Emotional and Shocking!
Interstellar (2014) is a science fiction adventure drama movie directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathon Nolan. The movie features Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Wes Bentley, Bill Irwin, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, John Lithgow, Matt Damon, and Michael Caine.
The movie focuses on a farmer named Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) returning to his career as a NASA pilot to work with a researching team, so they can find a new planet to call home after home has became uninhabitable. However, this adventure has caused serious consequences to Joseph after he discovers the future of his family.
The story was fantastic and engaging as it has the same charm of Christopher Nolan's other movies. It has an emotional weight that will make the viewers heartbroken in some scenes, surprising twists, relatable characters, and intense moments. Exploration, future, and family were key themes that the movie explores. These were shown when the researchers explore different planets in outer space in the future while Joseph Cooper continues to think about the love of his family. In my opinion, this was done by Christopher Nolan's writing and directing because of his experience in film making.
The performances from the cast were phenomenal because they have developed strong emotions with strong realistic movements, which were powerful enough to make the audience relate to the characters better. Matthew McConaughey has delivered the best performance as Joseph Cooper because of his powerful emotions and energy that make him a caring father for his family. The same can be said for Anne Hathaway, who does an excellent performance as Brand.
The special effects were incredible as they resemble a real life space atmosphere by making everything realistic and accurate to the recent researches about space. They also have a great attention to detail that keep the viewers more engaged with the film. For instance, the docking station Endurance looks awesome and well designed.
Although the movie has 2 hour and 49 minute runtime, the pacing was perfect and just right because there were plenty of scenes that did not feel too slow or too fast. This helps the audience become more interested with the movie as it progresses.
The production design for this movie was impeccable. This is because the production crew have successfully brought the movie to life with the impressive set designs for the planets, accurate costume designs that connect with the story and its characters, and well designed props. In my opinion, the water-based and winter-based planets have the best production designs in the film since they appear realistically with their great lightings, creativity, and surroundings.
Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography skills for the film have got to be some of the greatest movie cinematography of all time since he has came up with some amazing camera shots and angles that establish the settings, and to match the movie's dramatic mood with the support of the different lightings. For example, there were establishing shots of the winter-based planet with light grey-white lighting. Christopher Nolan has wanted Hoyte van Hoytema to create these shots because he wanted the viewers to feel like they are really venturing the different planets with the characters.
Hans Zimmer's music score was beautiful since it creates an emotional impact to the story, as well as a tension to build up the intense moments in the film. This will make the viewers feel relaxed while they watch the movie as they get to understand Joseph Cooper's true motivations as the music plays slowly. In my perspective, the best scores in the soundtrack has to be "No Time for Caution" and "First Step" because they have a stronger connection to the movie's overall story and mood. In my opinion, this has got to be Hans Zimmer's best movie soundtrack along with Dune: Part Two (2024), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), The Lion King (1994), and The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005 - 2012).
The movie's target audience are people who enjoy Christopher Nolan's movies. This is because the story is too intense and complicated for younger viewers to follow.
In conclusion, Interstellar (2014) is still an amazing movie Christopher Nolan succeeds to keep the audience engaged and feel emotional. It has a beautiful story, a great cast, plenty of intense moments, and outstanding cinematography. In my opinion, this is certainly worth watching. This will make you cry like I did.
