'Interstellar' Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. Directed by Christopher Nolan.
Science fiction and space journeys rarely turn me on. Stanley Kubrick's '2001' stunned me long ago with its dramatic visuals. Yet for me the film failed. After this, Kubrick kept churning out flicks. Yet none of his later works ever matched his 'Paths of Glory'.
A decade later in the 1970's, George Lucas's 'Star Wars' hit the big screen. Again the visuals were impressive but the message struck me as a right wing one. And the same was true of the t.v. series and later the movie 'Star Treck'.
Now comes 'Interstellar' that takes place in the near future. Earth is running out of some precious gas. So Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), and a few others, set out in a spaceship to start up a colony of humans on a distant planet. McConaughey dominates the film and shows us he's one fine actor.
Yet for all its high-tech glitz, and Stephen Hawking type science terms, the core of the film hinges on the power of family. "We're not here to save the world," Michael Caine, the overseer of the mission to outer space says. "We're here to save it." So at film's end, McConaughey meets his family again. he is still young, but his daughter, played by Jessica Chastain, is now an old woman.
Chastain is a very fine actor and Anne Hathaway, who heads out on the mission as a co-pilot, has a strong supportive role. Yet in the end, the film descends into a sermon about the importance of family. My questions is: Shouldn't we first try to save the earth, before fleeing to outer space?Wouldn't that help all the families who may be left behind?
One other problem is the length of the film: It's far too long. The flick, directed by Christopher Nolan, has suspense, action and drama. Yet in the end I found it boring. Anyway high marks go to McConaughey and others, especially Jessica Chastain. Yet I'm not going to any space travel flicks for a long time after watching 'Interstellar'.
Its Harperesque massage is not my trip.
