"Interstellar" Braves New Horizons, Leaves Pacing Behind
Connor Strange
Co-Editor-in-Chief
“Interstellar” is an objectively good movie; it’s got a very talented cast, an engaging plotline, relatable characters and an immense special effects budget. Despite all that, it’s quite hard to say I enjoyed the movie because the pacing was so utterly disorienting.
The film finds itself on an Earth near its end, with crops continually failing and dust storms creating an uneasy lifestyle for its inhabitants. One crew of engineers and astronauts is tasked to pass through a wormhole in order to rendezvous with precursor missions that went to test distant worlds for possible colonies. The race is on to find a new home before Earth is all used up.
The plan isn’t foolproof, however. Issues still arise concerning two very important, very science-y facts: transporting all of humanity to another planet is seemingly impossible; and the astronauts in search of new worlds are speeding through time much faster than those on Earth because of their proximity to a supermassive black hole. For the former, scientists Murph Cooper (Jessica Chastain) and Professor Brand (Michael Caine) devote their lives to finding a means of relocating billions of people. For the latter, astronauts Joseph “Coop” Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway) have to use time as a resource as precious as fuel while they visit prospective planets with their crew.
This movie doesn’t lay its scientific nature on the audience easily. If the viewer isn’t at least acquainted with some more advanced astronomy and general relativity, they could have a hard time. Though “Interstellar” doesn’t hold back on its scientific themes, it should be applauded for presenting space in a manner relying a lot on science theory rather than science fiction. Of course, that didn’t stop the main plot from being far-fetched. It was more that all of the small details that could be made realistic were just that.
However, the realism was definitely reserved for the background. The events of the centerfold were outlandish, and eventually devolved into a series of plot-twists best described as really, really weird. The biggest issue with the story was Albert Einstein and his really complex theories. No, he wasn’t a character, but his crowning theory led to acceptance of many things, including gravitational time dilation. It’s complicated and boring, but the gist of it is that time goes slower for something as it goes faster through space - years pass on Earth where only hours go by at extremely high velocity. Coop’s crew runs into that problem time and again, which throws the pacing of the entire film out of whack. Back on Earth, people are suddenly way older and the stability of the plot wavers because of it.
That means the actors for earthbound characters are constantly changing in a disorienting race toward old age. It’s off-putting and distracting, but the cast pulls it off as well as possible. Murph has three different actors, all of which do phenomenal work. Michael Caine’s portrayal of the progressively ancient Professor Brand is outstanding. And, in response to all this sudden old age, Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway both bring out their heart-wrenching talent aboard their vessel and unaffected by the ravages of time. In light of all the great acting, the most compelling and interesting character is still the robot TARS (Bill Irwin’s voice), who sets his sarcasm setting high and somehow manages to outshine a star-studded cast from the trappings of a fancy sheet of metal.
For those looking into a mind-bending science fiction with all the elements of a great film to back it up, “Interstellar” is near-perfect. For the average viewer, it might be a smidge too disorienting to watch years go by in one setting as only a few hours advance in another.
“Interstellar” might be a little overhyped and overrated, but it’s a refreshing, original film in the genre of cosmic science fiction.
