Interstellar

Christopher Nolan's sprawling epic Interstellar wants to be Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by way of David Lean. Does is succeed? Not quite, but still it is an intelligent science fiction journey that is ultimately a rewarding experience.

In the near future, Earth is becoming unstable. Farmer and NASA pilot Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is recruited to fly a space craft through a wormhole in an attempt to find an inhabitable planet for the people of Earth. But that isn't the half of it. The most intriguing part of the drama is that hours for the space travelers on other planets equal years back on Earth.

The emotional core here is Cooper's relationship with his daughter Murph. McConaughey delivers a supercharged performance, but he doesn't carry the picture alone. Mackenzie Foy is excellent as the ten-year-old Murph, and the character graduates to the equally fine Jessica Chastain as the adult Murph. Anne Hathaway is also very good as the chief scientist/biologist of the expedition.

The introduction of a flesh and blood villain at the end of the second act doesn't really work. It seemed to be included so the film would have a fast-paced action sequence, as if the filmmakers were uncertain that the audience would still be invested in the story if they didn't amp up the action.

Still, Interstellar is a thought-provoking mind-bender in the vein of Nolan's Inception (2010), and is a trip well worth taking.