Interstellar

🔥 5th Watch | Top 100 | Christopher Nolan Ranked A grandeur on epic proportions with the fate of humanity on the line. It's a film with so much scope that it needs to extend beyond our galaxy for its ambition and horizon to fit on the screen. However, despite being impossible to achieve, Interstellar did what was necessary, and took one of the biggest films ever made and somehow also turned it into one of the most emotional and touching films of all time. In my cinematic journey, there was a point in time where after watching a Christopher Nolan film, usually it would rise very high. There are six films that I believe fully deserve each of the five stars I have awarded them. Except The Dark Knight, which I have always labeled as my favorite Christopher Nolan movie, the rest of the five films could've been displayed in any order, and I would've approved that list. Whether Interstellar was 2nd or 6th, I would still perfectly agree with the list, because from my personal experiences watching Nolan's films, when I rewatch one of them, usually they rise near the very top of my ranking. However, when I started Letterboxd and created my Top 100, in order to create consistency, I sort of felt repelled to update my Nolan list because it would mess around my Top 100 in a way I didn't like. However, by watching Christopher Nolan's films in preparation for Oppenheimer, I have learned that with Christopher Nolan's films, there is no true ranking. Where his films stand on my Top 100 are meaningless. Where his films stand on my Nolan list are meaningless. In my opinion, Christopher Nolan has two tiers of movies. One tier includes his masterpieces, such as The Dark Knight, Memento, Interstellar, Inception, The Prestige, and Dunkirk. The second tier includes great movies but not masterpieces, such as Batman Begins, Insomnia, Following, and The Dark Knight Rises. From my experience watching Nolan's films, Tenet is the only outlier, and even in that film's case, I would still call it a "good" film. In my opinion, one could rate each of the films in the first tier in any arrangement and then rate each of the films in the second tier in any arrangement, and when they put it together, the list will always be valid no matter what combination. It's so remarkable how I feel this way, because no other filmmaker has been able to produce an effect even remotely similar to what Christopher Nolan has done. Even my second and third favorite directors (Stanley Kubrick and David Fincher) still have a pretty definitive ranking in my opinion that I wouldn't deviate much. However, Christopher Nolan is a different breed. Much like how I think Christopher Nolan's movies could be arranged in practically any order and still be correct, I firmly believe that each of Hans Zimmer's scores could be ranked in any order as well. I do think his work in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises is on the worse side, but every other Nolan score of Zimmer's is utter perfection. Whether it's The Dark Knight, Inception, Dunkirk, or Interstellar, Hans Zimmer's scores never fail to amaze me and stick inside my head. Upon this rewatch of Interstellar, I felt no different. Hans Zimmer truly captured the spectacle that came with the grandness of space, creating a score that truly felt celestial. It was the closest soundtrack ever, except 2001: A Space Odyssey, that truly made me feel like I was a part of the infinite emptiness of space. However, much like how Interstellar feels so grand yet so personal, Hans Zimmer's score of Interstellar is also strikingly emotional. It touches the audience perfectly with how it exemplifies Cooper's relationship with his children. Although there were other factors to what made the takeoff scene so emotional, the driving force was Hans Zimmer's score. Christopher Nolan (director) and Hans Zimmer (composer) have been regarded as one of Hollywood's best duos. However, a duo that I feel is equally as important is the duo between Christopher Nolan (director) and Hoyte Van Hoytema (cinematographer). Christopher Nolan started out his career working with Wally Pfister in films like The Prestige, the Dark Knight trilogy, and Inception. However, the cinematographer of the back half of Nolan's career has been Hoyte Van Hoytema who has shot films including Dunkirk, Tenet, the upcoming Oppenheimer, and of course Interstellar. Cinematography is very important to Christopher Nolan, and Hoytema is one of the best to ever shoot a movie. In addition to Nolan's work, he also shot films like Ad Astra and Nope. Both are very striking from a visual standpoint, and that was due to Hoytema's genius behind the lenses. His work in Interstellar is no less than remarkable on every regard. The way the camera is handheld in the cockpit, making the audience feel like an astronaut themselves was an incredible way to produce an immersive experience. The way multiple wide shots are utilized to show tiny figures of the characters was amazing as it symbolized how huge the stakes truly were; it truly felt as if the existence of humanity was on the line. The way Hoytema used IMAX cameras to capture the vastness of space was marvelous. The way Hoytema was able to produce some of the most striking and beautiful visuals possible in general was a feat in itself. The cinematography was a crucial part of the film's success. However, cinematography was only one aspect of the brilliance of the visuals in Interstellar. Kip Thorne worked closely with Interstellar, as he was a theoretical physicist who was working on developing an accurate depiction on what a blackhole truly is based on math and physics. After Kip Thorne had gathered the data and sent it to the production team, they needed a way to translate Thorne's data onto the big screen. After using a large amount of insanely powerful computers, the production team was able to assemble the black hole Gargantua that you can see in Interstellar. Note that this depiction of the blackhole was before any photo of such a celestial body had been captured. It wasn't until multiple years later, where the first true picture of a black hole was discovered. And guess what? Kip Thorne's depiction of a black hole was perfectly accurate, and here is a video of Thorne actually explaining how they are the same. In short, Kip Thorne's work is in my opinion the most impressive feat of the entire movie. Thorne's work instantly makes me respect Interstellar a whole lot more, and how Kip Thorne's work was brought to life is the cherry on top. Every shot featuring Gargantua had transfixed my eyes on the screen with how impeccably crafted it was. In addition to Kip Thorne's work on the blackhole, Christopher Nolan also used a lot of practical effects instead of full-on CGI, such as in the singularity scene. By utilizing practical effects as often as he could, Christopher Nolan created as authentic of an experience as he possibly could. This authenticity was also achieved by the math and physics concepts that were in the film. In the past, one small critique I had of Interstellar was how it had to present each physics concept like it was for a dummy. The pencil explanation for a wormhole has been used over and over again to the point where it has become cliche. However, that was honestly the only time where I felt a little annoyed by how Christopher Nolan introduced a physics concept. Firstly, it was cliche and secondly, Cooper had shown a lot of interest towards physics and had been able to identify a picture of a wormhole, but somehow couldn't understand the fundamental concept how a sphere is a circle but in three dimensions and why that applies to wormholes. I would've appreciated it more if the film took a similar route explaining the concept of a 3D wormhole as Interstellar did with Einstein's theory of relativity, where the film did a great job at expressing what the concept was without making it seem like Cooper didn't know anything about it. For those saying that it doesn't matter that the film uses the pencil-through-the-paper trick, you're right. It doesn't matter and it's just a movie. It's a little detail that I would've preferred to be slightly modified but it didn't hinder my enjoyment or appreciation in the slightest. In fact, what was exponentially more important was actually giving great explanations to these concepts. For example, no matter how cliche it is, the pencil/wormhole explanation is so common because of how effective and simple it is; it's a remarkable explanation for showing what a wormhole is. The film does an incredible job at visualizing time as a physical dimension. The way time dilation and Einstein's theory of relativity are explained were also done spectacularly well with Cooper's little talk to Murph in the bedroom and scene where the group chooses their first planet to visit. In fact, Interstellar did such a remarkable job with the science aspect of the film that it inspired many people to become astrophysicists. Interstellar is not just a masterpiece of cinema, but it is also a warning. There was a scene from the beginning of the film that stuck out to me as tragic and depressing. In this scene, there is a parent teacher conference involving Cooper and the teachers. In this scene, one of the teachers says the following, "We don't need more engineers. We didn't run out of television screens and planes; we ran out of food." Even though hearing the teachers deny that we landed on the moon, this quote honestly got me sadder, because I feel as if people don't understand the true impact that engineers can have. Engineers cover a lot more ground than just planes and technology. They cover all sorts of fields, whether it's genetics roads, or even agriculture, engineers are in all sorts of fields. Engineers can design tools that can be used to yield better crop results. Furthermore, there are engineers who could alter the DNA of crops to make them more resilient to the dust, allowing for greater yields as well. By implementing new technology and practices in the fields, engineers can make sure that the results are better each harvest. Although farmers are required to actually physically harvest the crops, without engineers, their tools and methods to produce these great yields are significantly diminished. I feel as if when many people consider a profession, they only think about the people that can directly impact it, such as the people who are physically picking the crops. However, I feel as if many people forget that there are many people who indirectly play a factor into professions, such as engineers. The bigger picture is that many people fail to critically think, but rather just put things at face value rather than actually putting any intelligent thought into anything. The tragedy of what happened on Earth in Interstellar is that most likely, certain people couldn't think critically on how to solve climate change and then those people developed a sense of arrogance as they got annoyed when people would call them out and became unwilling to commit any action. This shares many parallels to what is happening today. I don't usually like to get political in my reviews, but for my interpretation of Interstellar, it is personally one big fat warning to us. Christopher Nolan is aware that we are not as lucky as the people in Interstellar. We are not going to magically get a wormhole that can allow us to gain the necessary data to solve a gravity equation as such in the film. As Cooper pointed out, we would have to travel the dreadful 1000 years to even approach the nearest star system, let alone find a system with the possibility of suiting life, and let alone even more that the system could actually contain life suitable for humans. And even on the impossible chance that we do have the capability of finding a planet suitable for human life, would it be more desirable than Earth? One thing I loved about Interstellar was how it showed that each of the three planets weren't that desirable. Either the conditions were unsuitable for life, or the landscape looked dry and distasteful. On Earth we have beautiful trees, bushes, flowers, oceans, lakes, rivers, mountains, hills, valleys, beaches, deserts, forests, snow, grass, and so much more. No matter whether we impossibly find another planet that we could travel to in a reasonable amount of time, there is no way that it would be more beautiful than Earth. I don't think people realize just how precious Earth is to us. In summary, Interstellar is a spectacular movie that excels in every category. With its incredibly scientific accuracy, important message, phenomenal screenplay, stellar direction, perfect cinematography, excellent score, authentic performances, and so much, Interstellar is one of the most beloved films for a reason. Some may refer to some scenes and specific moments that overall feel a little silly, but they didn't impact my enjoyment or appreciation of the film. And whatever "flaws" may exist, they are completely overshadowed by the astronomical positives in Interstellar. Despite finishing the movie at three o'clock in the morning, I never felt one bit of tiredness. My eyes were transfixed on the screen from the beginning to the end; only a truly amazing film can do that. If you loved Interstellar, definitely rewatch it again. If you thought Interstellar was overrated, definitely rewatch it again. It's such a rewatchable film, because despite being three hours in length, it only felt like two. ⬅️ Previous Review: Across the Spider-Verse