First Take Classics: Interstellar - Christopher Nolan shows how sci-fi SHOULD be done

SYNOPSIS: When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.

Nolan's a director who has always nailed the idea of scale - look at Inception's dreamscapes and you'll see what the man can do with no limits to his chequebook. So when brother Jonathan finished the script for this film after a four year journey... there was only one director destined to take this project.

It's directed incredibly well as ever, coming in at a long but justified 2 hours 49 minutes, but inside of it you've got enough character development to fill a cornfield for a crop, enough emotion to make cinemas' cleaners lives a nightmare, enough practical VFX to make the accountants wince, and of course enough technical understanding from Nolan of his love for early space travel efforts like 2001 - this is a film made with love by those who love film. Behind the camera and stepping in for Wally Pfister (Nolan's long time DOP) is Hoyte van Hoytema, and of course, the tradition continues for Hans Zimmer as he rewrites yet another rulebook for the score.

Matthew McConoughey has proved his worth as an all round actor- could this film get him a few more Oscars on his mantelpiece? The supporting cast were brilliant too, and Hans Zimmer’s score echoed 2001: A Space Odyssey at points. For the best experience, see it in IMAX. If you can’t, see it at your local Vue- they’ve got the UK rights to 4K screenings of it. 

THE VERDICT

This is 2014’s defining cinematic masterpiece. From cinematography to score and performances, it's hard to fault anything about Interstellar, and that says a lot about the kind of film we have here. See it big, see it loud, and see it on film if you can - just the way Nolan and Hoyte intended it.

RATING: 5/5