Beware there be Interstellar
spoilers below! ARRR!
I think the music is the best part of Interstellar. The soundtrack
is simple as Hans Zimmer plays a basic organ driven score, but it is damn
effective in emphasizing key moments in the film. The highlights come at the failed Matt Damon
docking scene and at the end when Matthew McConaughey sets off for Anne
Hathaway and the stars. The former score
ensures to the audience the impending doom that will befall that cowardly Dr.
Mann with music that sounds like it’s coming from an organ surrounding an apocalyptic
sermon. Everybody but Dr. Mann knows
that Dr. Mann is going to die due to what I’ll refer to as the “space crazies”
and the score drives that point home with its frantic escalation and sudden
stop when he shoots out into space. The jarring
emergence of space silence ends Dr. Mann’s life in a whimper rather than the
crashing boom we all were expecting due to the preceding crazy tomes (there truly
is nothing like a scientifically accurate film). As good as the docking sequence music was, my
favorite musical moment occurs at the end when Cooper’s dying daughter tells him
to leave her side and go find Dr. Brand.
I’ve heard people criticize this scene because it looks like Murph is
pushing her father away after they finally reunite after a long, long time with
the general sentiment being why would she push him away after all the fuss she
made about him possibly never returning?
I will defend old, dying Murph by saying that her character comes full
circle. At first, she demanded her father
stay and not abandon her despite the consequences it may spell for humanity,
but now after realizing he never did nor would abandon her and having grown
wiser, is finally able to let her father leave to further help the human race. She accepts her father’s quest and is able to
finally let him go (I teared up during this scene so shut up). Also, Murph
wanted to spend her final moments with her children who she knew her whole life
rather than a metaphysical father spirit.
It harkens back to the monologue about dying in front of your children
(that evil Dr. Mann be discussed later).
The score at the end when she tells Cooper to go out there is again simple
but very effective. It is hopeful and a
little sad, but more importantly is expansive and conveys the need for us as
humans to explore and fight for each other.
We are at heart explorers and adventurers and the ending music tells Cooper
to keep embracing this role and to go out there and do all we can to survive
and help others. It is my favorite
musical piece in a beautiful film.
Dr. Mann is a dick and I knew it from the moment I saw Matt
Damon emerge from the sleep tank because I never forgave him from being the
mole in The Departed (there I said
it). His role in the movie was the most
annoying as he fulfilled the obligatory stupid human role that so many films
seem to include (i.e. like the stupid gun bearing guy in Dawn of the Planet of Apes).
I will forgive his stupid character by just saying he got a case of the “space
crazies” that surfaces when one is left to die alone on a planet light years
away from home. I know I could never
have survived that mission without going insane, but then again unlike Dr.
Mann, I would never have volunteered for the suicide mission. Plus, having the evil character be called Dr.
Mann and involve him in a fight so that people can say it’s a battle between
Mann and man; genius. I’m a sucker for
obvious symbolism Christopher Nolan.
I did not understand why Murph ever thought her father
abandoned her once she got older. When
she’s a kid I understand her resentment completely, but when she’s a 30
something year old scientist? I don’t
think so. What in her memories of her
father would ever point to him wanting to abandon her? Was it the time he took her to a baseball
game after she got suspended due to him standing up for her? I just couldn’t understand the hatred. And another thing, give Cooper a break for
not responding back! The guy went
through both a wormhole and a black hole; I think it’s quite understandable
that he can’t Skype back a message. Cut
the savior of humanity some slack.
Interstellar is
unlike any blockbuster film out there because it is not afraid of
ambition. The movie is not another
sequel or prequel or movie based on a popular teen series. It is an original idea (with about a million
allusions) imbued in a love of science and adventure that is presented to the masses. Immediately after seeing this film I walked
around in a daze staring at the night sky until I got home and looked up
everything I could find on space travel.
This is a film that inspires us to look up at where we may go and to
utilize our potential rather than just succumb to being caretakers (thank you
Cooper). This film is a success if
people race home after having several hearty discussions to go look up footage
from the Apollo 11 landing or to check out if the events of the movie are
possible. Not many films will have the
same effect as Interstellar in terms
of discussion and exploration. A great
companion piece to Interstellar would
be to watch footage of a moon landing or learn about how we just landed on a
comet. Get interested in what NASA has
for us and let us push to Mars and beyond.
Space exploration isn’t a useless and money wasting expenditure as it
forces us to innovate and create (watch Neil deGrasse Tyson on Bill Maher for more
on this). Interstellar is an ode to human potential and the explorer in all
of us and it is unlike any blockbuster I’ve seen this year.
I would like to have a TARS or a CASE in my life as those
robotic Kit-Kat bars are delightful. It is
always pleasant to see a future where the robots aren’t as evil as HAL. If only we could program everything to have
the exact humor and honesty levels we desired.
Overall, I heartily enjoyed Interstellar and am willing to look past any plot holes or
annoyances I had with the film. It was a
beautifully shot film and was also one of the saddest films I have seen in a
while (to miss your children’s lives and see them right before they die is one
of the saddest thoughts one can ever have).
I hope Christopher Nolan keeps making original films like this because they
stand out so much in the creative marketplace and instill a scene of wonder and
awe that I don’t find at many movies (until Star
Wars 7 comes out). So I say a toast
to Christopher Nolan and the hope that he keeps chasing his muse into beautiful
mind bending places.
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