Astrophysics is already a topic that a very little amount of people are going to understand, so when you make a space movie and have to be in contact with astrophysicists and theoretical physicists, you’d assume that the movie would not pertain to the general audience, right? No. Especially with Christopher Nolan, the most over-the-top director of the 21st century taking charge.
Interstellar is a film released on October 26, 2014, with actors Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway and Timothée Chalamet in this suspenseful sci-fi movie. It takes place in the year 2067 on earth, when the magnetic field of the earth has changed so much that soil and dust in the atmosphere is constantly moving. This causes aggressive dust storms to occur way more than civilization is able to prepare for. Almost all the crops in the world went extinct, so many people had to quit their jobs to become farmers to sustain their families. When the population reached only one billion people, NASA knew they had to do something. Cooper, (Matthew McConaughey) a former NASA test pilot and aerospace engineer, ended up being the person that they needed. A state-of-the-art rocket was being secretly created to find a place for the remaining survivors on earth to relocate to and live safely. Although he was originally completely against the idea and wanted to live the rest of his life with his remaining family on earth, the weight of all of human civilization suddenly fell onto his shoulders, and he couldn’t bear the weight. NASA explained to him how a wormhole had opened near Saturn. This space-time distortion was the gateway to the black hole “Gargantua” which was orbited by three planets named after past astronauts that were sent there. Miller, Mann and Edmunds planet had three respective scientists who were sent on a mission to collect data then be put to hyper-hibernation to preserve their lives and wait until they were rescued. Cooper’s mission was to go to these three planets and see which one would be the habitable future home of the humans on earth. Cooper is launched off into space with bio-technologist Amelia, (Anne Hathaway) scientists Romilly (David Gyasi) and Doyle (Wes Bentley) and robots TARS and CASE. They enter the wormhole, where the fate of not just their family, but the whole world depends on their skills and proficiency in outer space and other galaxies.
The plot itself of this movie is insanely deep and heart-tugging, but it is enhanced tenfold by the custom soundtrack and score created by Hans Zimmer. Intense scenes are backed by huge synthesizer and piano parts that make you start to actually get goosebumps and fear if they will make it through the scene alive. If you don’t take my word for it, then hopefully Hans Zimmer’s nomination for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures will prove it to you. The music really brings every single scene of the movie to life and makes the chaotic planets even more chaotic. Even though it has a spectacular original soundtrack, the lack of music in scenes makes that dramatic effect feel completely real. Watching a huge space-shuttle fly through the void of space in dead silence speaks more words and emotion than any Concerto or Sonata I have ever heard.
Nolan’s masterpiece was nominated for its beautiful music, but it won in other categories too (multiple times). Interstellar won three separate awards in 2015 for its insane special and visual effects. Not many people in the world have actually gone out into space in general, and we have explored a miniscule fraction of the entire universe, so it is hard to create detailed and complex images past our solar system. Hoyte Van Hoytema and his team absolutely blew it out of the park, creating huge elaborate planets with their own ecosystems, gravitational pulls, land features, weather effects, landmarks and so much more. This doesn’t even scratch the surface of the complexity of the scenes in this movie. The real grand slam of the film was animating Gargantua, the supermassive black hole that is the whole reason that the plot could play out. Franklin and his team created the most accurate depiction of a blackhole and wormhole that any film has ever done and probably will ever do because of their connection with astrophysicist and executive producer Kip Thorne.
This movie was generational for the future of space and aerospace movies and will be the pinnacle of science fiction for years to come. I rate this movie 54 supermassive black holes out of ten, and I would do anything to watch this masterpiece for the first time again. If you haven’t seen Interstellar yet, grab your popcorn and watch this movie.
