Interstellar Movie Review

Introduction

I just recently watched Interstellar and was blown away. I was in tears every time space came on screen- and don’t even ask how I was when Gargantua became the center of attention...ok I’ll tell. I felt so overwhelmed with joy that I melted on the spot. It was very refreshing to have a film so accurately depict and even responsibly speculate science. It was exhilarating how pleasing to the eye it was. I’m getting choked up as I write this. This film is certainly underrated and I am greedy for more like it. After I saw the movie I immediately went looking for a book about it and stumbled across Kip Thorne’s The Science of Interstellar.

Interstellar and its companion The Science of Interstellar both came out in 2014. That was when I was in high school. 10th grade in fact. Back then I was not really paying attention to the movies at the time as I had a lot going on. Now, as an undergraduate physics major yearning to do research in astrophysics and particle physics, I leaped for joy as many avenues of science were explored.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

INTERSTELLAR BRIEF SUMMARY

Cooper is the gruff and rational protagonist. He works as a farmer in a world that is collapsing because of a blight killing crops. Although he is necessary for immediate survival, both to his children and the world, he yearns for more. Not just for survival, but out of pure human instinct to explore and discover. As it turns out he was a former pilot for NASA and later, what's left of NASA promises him a chance to explore again in order to save humanity. Unfortunately, that involves leaving his family behind. Murphy, his daughter, took his departure particularly hard. Cooper feels it’s necessary to leave to find somewhere suitable for Murphy and her generation to inhabit safely. This is due to the blight, but not because they’ll necessarily starve, but rather because the world’s oxygen supply is depleting and the amount of nitrogen is increasing. The nitrogen in turn fuels the blight which will ultimately cycle until all the crops are dead and/or Murphy’s generation dies out. As it was stated by Dr. Brand, “Our atmosphere is 80 percent nitrogen. We don't even breathe nitrogen. Blight does, and as it thrives, our air gets less and less oxygen. The last people to starve, will be the first to suffocate. And your daughter's generation will be the last to survive on Earth.”

Murphy spends years angry and sad with her father and uses it to fuel her research. While she solves the equations pertaining to gravity, Cooper eventually collects data while in a black hole and sends it to her through morse code in a watch. This allows her to solve the missing piece of information they need to survive and leave Earth. With that, Cooper survives, ends up in a space station, and sees Murphy one last time as she is on her deathbed. She lived her entire adult life trying to see Cooper and their final goodbye broke my heart. It’s not over though, Cooper has another mission and that’s to find Dr. Brand’s daughter, Amelia, who was one of his crewmates during the treacherous journey. She is off on some planet as Murphy states, “Brand. She's out there. Setting up camp. Alone in a strange galaxy. Maybe, right now, she’s settling in for the long nap, in light of our new sun.”

The movie ends with Cooper going off with his robot friend and companion, TARS to find Amelia Brand.

(Please keep in mind I have ADHD and that movies no matter how great will escape my attention at some point. I'm aware there's much more which is why I plan to review the book next.)

INTERSTELLAR MY FINAL THOUGHTS

A heart wrenching plot about a daughter and father separated by spacetime, poetic script, beautiful visuals, exciting on-the-edge-of-your-seat adventure, accurate science, high stakes, and responsible speculation, this movie is absolutely the greatest science fiction film of all time. I can only categorize it as such because our current understanding, data, and experience is so limited that the speculative science and space travel is fictional -for now. It is highly underrated and underhyped. It may be my favorite movie of all time now. I am hoping for more like it. All of Hollywood, take notes, because if you’re going to make a non-franchise space movie, this is how it’s done. Christopher Nolan and Kip Thorne, much thanks to you. Interstellar has only emboldened my love for the unknown, fueled my curiosity for physics, and inspired me to follow my dreams of becoming a physicist.