Interstellar
Plot Summary[edit | edit source]
Set in the not so distant future after blight wipes most of humanity's food and population, humanity is left in a race against the clock as the blight continues to destroy is food. After an astronaut turned farmer, Cooper and his daughter Murph discovers the location of a secret Nasa base, he is asked to pilot their ship to go through a worm hole and find a suitable planet for earth to transfer to. Previously NASA had sent out 12 astronauts to try to find suitable planets and send their data back, only 3 had reported good things. After some debate and the adamant disapproval of Murph, Cooper joins the other astronauts and goes into space on his years long journey to see all 3 planets.
After months of cryo-sleep they reach the wormhole and enter in heading to their first planet, Miller's planet. Miller's planet is circling a blackhole causing time to move a lot slower around the planets orbit, meaning an hour there is 7 years on earth. After landing they find the wreckage of Miller's ship and realize that she had just landed and died but the time difference made it seem like she'd been there for years on earth. They soon discover why she died as the ocean like planet had mountain sized waves crashing down on them. They barely managed to avoid death but were unable to leave for more than an hour causing lot of time to pass. They get back to the ship in orbit and realize because of their time spent on millers planet they no longer have the fuel to go to all 3 planets and return home.
Back on earth Murph is trying to unlock the secrets of gravity to be able to get propel a large enough ship that is capable of getting the rest of humanity off of earth. They choose to go to the leader of the 12 astronauts, Dr. Mann's planet who had reported signs of life. After arriving and waking Dr. Mann, Cooper and Mann explore the planet. After they go some distance from the camp site, Mann reveals that he lied about his planets hospitality in order to escape dying there alone. He fights Cooper, cracking his helmet leaving him exposed to the toxic air and strands him. Cooper manages to call for help and as they get there they see Dr. Mann leaving to their ship in orbit. They go after him and attempt to get him to stop, they are too late as Mann tries to dock but ends up blowing a hole in the ship and killing himself in the process.
They board what's left of the ship and find themselves in the pull of the black hole. Cooper sacrifices himself in order to push them out of the pull and to safety. Cooper is launched into the black hole and discovers the 5th dimension of time, after learning he can interact with the past he sends a message to the past telling Murph the equation to gravity allowing for everyone on Earth to escape. He travels through the blackhole and is brought back to his solar system where he meets and old Murph and tells her about his travels. He then goes to the 3rd planet which is capable of sustaining life and prepares it for humanity.
Film Facts[edit | edit source]
Film Techniques[edit | edit source]
Like in most Christopher Nolanmovies, the concept of time plays a very big part in this movie. The technique known as foreshadowing was heavily used in the beginning but in such a complex and unique way that it has a way of sneaking up on you. When they leave earth you are so wrapped up in the incredible cinematography and score and the story at hand that you almost completely forget about all the little references and moments that would become a large part of the ending.
Cinematography[edit | edit source]
Other things utilized in this movie was the cinematography. Most of the movie being set in space and on alien planets, the editors creating those things had a lot of work ahead of them with the watery planet of Miller, to the frost planet of Mann. By far the most impressive cinematographic feat was the creation of Gargantuan, the black hole. It took a team of 30 people, a super computer and 100 hours to create it and was praised as being the most scientifically accurate portrayal of a black hole ever, with later images surfacing of a real black hole to back it up.
Score[edit | edit source]
As good as the cinematography was, the score was just as good if not better. Created by the legendary Hans Zimmer, the score for interstellar was played for almost the entirety of the movie and told the story in its own way. During the scene on Miller's planet, the legendary score Mountains, begins with the ticking of a clock. The clock in this scene ticks at an abnormal rate of a normal clock at about 1.25 seconds per tick, this was intentional as each tick on Millers planet marked a whole day on Earth going by, giving the audience a sense of just how long they spent on that planet in earth time.
Inspirations[edit | edit source]
The movie is directly inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey, sharing many similarities in the way they depict space and size, both showing planets as a way of making their characters feel small in order to introduce awe into the viewer. There are many similarities to Cooper and David, both dealing with rebirth as David died and was reborn in the white room and Cooper "died" in the black hole but was reborn into his hospital bed. Christopher Nolan leaned into the focus on how 'you weren't just experiencing it from the characters perspective but you were lost in it.'
Debut and Reception[edit | edit source]
The movie did very well internationally and fair in the local market achieving $188 million and $731 million total. The movie is regarded as one of Nolan's best and also did very well at the academy earning it an Oscar for visual effects along with nominations for sound mixing, sound editing, and production design. It is still talked about today as one of if not the best space movie, and has been brought back to theaters because of well like it was. The movie has inspired many other movies that use this sort of loop story telling and Christopher Nolan has continued to make many other excellent movies after it.