A film with a lot of rough edges, and yet having watched it last week for the first time I can't stop thinking - or more precisely, feeling - about it. The last 15 minutes is probably the most hauntingly emotional piece of cinema I've experienced. I tear up a little just thinking about it.

The score of this film blew my mind!

Glad to hear some appreciation for The Prestige.

I totally agree with you. I am not a Nolan fan, until now. This film is among the best SCI-FI storytelling I've seen in quite some time. It's actually far more than standard sci-fi.

I loved the ending. It brought a tear to my eye, and that's no mean feat.

Just saw this Movie an hour ago and it is amazing. I agree with the good Dr. here and Mark also has some good points especially as he included Contact. I think Interstellar will be a classic film, as do I think Inception will also be a classic. These are films people will call "must see" movies. Interstellar is just...go and watch it.

Brilliant visualizations in the third act...the themes and concepts being explored and how Nolan did his best to accurately visualize it on screen is quite well executed. I loved the film.

I went to see Interstellar at IMAX, I realised half way through that if i was on E this would be the most intense and awesome thing ever. Either way Interstellar is a highly enjoyable film :)

Greatest poster quote for Interstellar "I really like Contact" - Mark Kermode

This film is a masterpiece. I've seen it more than 10 times and each time I watch it I see new things I didn't notice before. The science blows my mind. The visuals are outstanding, even almost 10 years on. Until this came out my favourite film of all time was Back to the Future. Now it's this. By far!

There's a great actor in Interstellar, revealing who would spoil parts of it, but he plays a wonderfully dark character who acts as the complete antithesis of Cooper. He's someone who ventured out as a pioneer, but feels himself lost and alone in the ether, begging for a human connection, and when he finds it, will fight tooth and nail to hold on to it. Nolan does a really neat trick of nailing the human side of space exploration, abandoning home and being brave enough to explore.

My greatest experience in the cinema ever. By far. Not my favorite movie, but an amazing, thrilling ride.

its been two years since interstellar came out and i still yet to come across a movie that hits the soul like that movie did.

I really liked the ending actually. Surprised by people's reaction to it

Having watched it roughly 5 times. I had the same reaction as mark the first viewing. The second viewing had me in floods of tears and it's become a top 5 fav for sure

I rewatch Interstellar every few months. While 2001: A Space Odyssey is the undisputed grandfather of science fiction cinema, Interstellar is the finest example of its genre so far this century. A true gem that stirs every fibre of my being from beginning to end. A masterpiece. 👏

I saw it again recently...and it very quickly reduced me to floods of tears. I think its a very beautiful and bold film, overwhelmingly cinematic, and ambitious in the best possible sense.

Saw it last week. definitely up there in my top films of all time! (in my opinion of course)

One of Mark's best reviews..glad you like it!

well i weeped like a child at the end

People in our cinema cried a lot, felt a lot throughout the film, It was an awesomely enjoyable movie with many plots to think about, and some may need another try (watching the movie again) ... so may the story might be not understandable some places, the whole experience itself is a great epicness. And also, the film was well built up, I loved that I found myself watching a sci-fi which unreasonably went into an Action flick, but with the hypercube and similar sci-fi elements in the end it saved the whole movie for me. So Overall great movie, another top notch product from a top notch director and music composer.

One of the few great movies I've seen. Was totally blown away, I had no idea what to expect.

Agree 100% with this review. There were always parts of the film that I liked, but the huge flaws and overly-contrived plot (especially at the end) designed to serve the sentimentality of the film ended up making this just miss the mark of being a truly great film for me.

Just amazing just amazing it was incredible one of the best sci-fis to date

Very accurate review by Mark Kermode. I did really enjoy this movie. I just wish it had better exposition. One of the best films I've seen in a while.

Matthew McConaughey is brilliant in this.

Fantastic movie. I found it very emotional. Not Nolan’s best but all his other movies are just so great.

Came out of the cinema blown away by this epic grandiose film. I think its as good as Inception and the other films Kermode mentioned. The last 40 mins is Nolan's tip of the cap to Kubrick's A 2001 Space Oddesy. An excellent cinematic experience.

Absolutely fascinating film that feels like one hour and a half instead of like the 3 hours it lasts. Best cinematic experience of 2014 and one of the best 3 films of 2014 for sure. And that´s difficult to do when the scale and ambition of the film is this huge. Kudos to Nolan again. The acting is better than some of the acting offered by a few of the oscar nominees this year, the score, the cinematogrphy... everything baby, everything! 9.5 out of 10.

The film was incredible, I was left speechless as I left. 2nd favourite film after Bladerunner!

I have seen this three times already, twice in IMAX and I plan to go see it again. It is an astounding film, quite possible Nolan's best. I saw that because of the sheer intimacy, emotional heft and grand spectacle it brings to the big screen (Amateur review coming up, remember a review is opinion you are allowed the politely disagree, potential minor spoilers). Nolan has always been a big proponent on celluloid image, and as the good Dr. pointed out, the scale brings back thoughts of 2001, Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, one of the most breathtaking examples being the establishing shot of Saturn before cutting to the tiny Endurance floating in the midst of its rings. This is the cinematic scale of old. Moving onto the emotional heft, as again the Dr. points out Nolan has always had the theme of family in his movies e.g. Memento is driven by getting revenge for his wife, Batman is ultimately created by the death of his parents, Inception Cobb's ultimate goal is to reunite with his children, but this is the first movie of his where I felt truly connected to the family and the challenges it faces. The scene when Cooper departs is one of the most heartbreaking things in cinema. On another note it seems that this is the first time we have seen the family broken up in a Nolan movie, instead of the movie starting after those events with the protagonist already in his predicament. Concerning the plot and actual plot devices, I don't mind exposition through character, it shows that they are there more than to simply be background dressing and can engage with the primary characters. Also the fact that many of the things in the film are based on established scientific laws and/or scientific theory also helped pull me into the film further. I have seen some people in the comments section here say people are complaining about not understanding the plot because they are stupid. I disagree in the fact that statement is just plain rude, but it does help if you are somewhat interested in science fiction as you will naturally grasp the ideas of that element, even though the film does a perfectly good job of explaining to the uninitiated. On a final note concerning the movie itself (and returning the intimate point made earlier) this feels like Nolan's most open film, the passion project closest to his heart like no other movie in his back catalogue. Even though Inception had been brewing in his mind for longer, Interstellar seems to harken back to the days of the space race, when children and adults alike would look up into the night sky and let their minds wonder, instead of locking their dreams up and throwing away the key as they do today. If you read this far thank you for paying attention to one fan's amateur review of Interstellar :)

I THINK everyone (including critics) are grading Nolans work very harshly because he is Nolan. People are nitpicking at him expecting classics after classics and going in with such high expectations that they come out as little nit pickers. I reckon if movies like 'Guardians of the galaxy" and "Boy hood" and "night-crawler" (some of the highest rated movies this year) were under his name, they would receive allot less praise than they do, thus receiving lower ratings. Maybe we just need a new scale for nolan movies. A Nolan scale?

I wouldn't call myself a Nolan fanboy, I do think he's made some very flawed films, though I don't think he's made a bad one yet. I'm also rather cynical as well. That being said, I was completely taken with this film. It's Nolan's best and most emotionally charged work as far as I'm concerned. My legs are sore from being so tensed up during certain jaw-dropping, awe-inspiringly intense moments. Also I have to say, I was reminded a lot of Tarkovsky's films during the time spent on earth. Specifically the Mirror, the Sacrifice, and a bit of Solaris of course. Anyone else feel the same?

It only took sixty seconds of this man speaking for me to click the like button.

Classic in every department!!! A masterpiece in film making!!! My girlfriend & I love it x

You can tell when Mark is not really taken with a film he wanted to like. He always skirts around the edges in his review and doesn't really talk about the actual movie - but every film that was better that it reminded him of.

A life changing film.

This is by far Nolan's most ambitious and most personal film. I think by the end of this decade, critical reassessment would be more positive.

Time has been necessarily kind to this masterpiece.

Interstellar is a masterpiece. Period.

I saw it Friday night in the US and - I don't know why this should matter - kermode is spot on. As ever.

I really liked the last third. It's worth putting up with the sometimes clunky first two thirds for the quite thrilling end.

This film is a 10/10, just forget the reviews and go see it.

I mostly agree with Kermode's review. Nice effort, but all the sentimentality and new-agey stuff put me off. But I have to say, the scene on the planet orbiting the black hole is amazing. I find the basic concept terrifying... just the idea that you could spend a couple of hours in this place, and meanwhile everyone you ever knew has grown old and dropped dead. It's so bleak and chilling, like something Lovecraft might have come up with. And then you remember that it's not sci-fi, it's reality...

This film is possibly the best film I have ever seen. As a huge fan and follower of current research in to the scientific theories explored in this film, I think it is by far the best visualisation of concepts and even dimensions humans have never fully explored. 10/10

I'm finding it difficult to find people who have all out good things to say about interstellar. For me it was the best space film I have ever seen, I found it extremely immersive and also fantastically thought provoking. Interstellar requires you to give it your undivided attention otherwise you will get stranded trying to follow the story, the acting was also at an extremely good level. For some reason I found interstellar very emotional, I don't usually cry at films but I did for this one within various scenes, not so much your typical emotions, I felt a kind of awe and compassion but I still find my emotions for this film unexplainable. Overall I have to give it a 10/10 due to its immersive, intellectual and emotional directive.

After The Dark Knight, my next favourite Nolan movie is the underrated Insomnia!

agree 100% regarding interstellar but memento has to be nolans best movie

Just seen it in IMAX for its 10 year anniversary. It’s doesn’t get much better.

I feel so satisfied that the first film on the list of potential best Nolan's is Batman Begins - people usually look at me funny when I say that's the most complete Batman film as well as my favourite one.

Yes!!! i too felt exactly the same way with the last few mins of the film, everything up till then was an epic journey

I suddenly don't feel alone loving this movie

One of my very favourite films 🚀

I'm a huge Nolan fan. One of the few people that think TDKR is superb but I respect others opinions. I saw Interstellar in IMAX and visually it is stunning. Overall I have mixed feelings. I kinda liked it but I thought it was flawed and the longer it went on the more it dragged. However the scene when cooper leaves his family is pure cinema and the scene where he looks back through a video on the years he has missed out on with his kids is heartbreaking. Overall i thought it was ok but I really wanna see it again :/ Nolans magic i guess.

The pandemic got me to finally watch this for the first time and what a fantastic film.

Well, I wouldn't say family is a big part of ALL of Nolan's movies, but I mean he DID write this one with his brother again so family being part of it is not too much of a surprise. But the way 'love conquers all' ended up shaping the ending is where I agree with Mark, in that it needed a bit more grit/rigor perhaps.

Good to see some objectivity in this review despite Kermode being a "Nolan fan".

It's a beautiful film. Nolan's films are the last bastille of blockbuster movies with life and red blood running through their veines instead of gas and oil and bile (see Bay and friends). Let's praise him lavishly !! Let's celebrate Nolan and Del Torro (Pacific Rim) :) !

I completely disagree with Kermode here. Not with his review (I haven't seen the movie yet) but with his statement - "Nolan trusts his imagery to convey his ideas". I love Chris Nolan, a lot, but the biggest issue I have with him is his complete lack of faith in the imagery. In almost all his films, it's never the images, it's the characters that convey the ideas. Honestly half the characters in Inception (and Dark Knight Rises) had only one task - to explain the plot. Their motivations and intentions are left blank and there is no aspect of humanity in any of them. It almost feels like Nolan distributes the expository dialogue among the unimportant characters and saves the actual bit for the important characters. Even in Memento, Leonard explaining his condition to EVERY SINGLE PERSON he met felt awkwardly out of place and somewhat incoherent. The first 2 Batman movies somewhat drifted away from the plot explaining business, but only because the characters were too involved in talking about the several ideas and ideologies in the film (and the Dark Knight had more philosophical dilemma's than a book on nichomachean ethics). I hope Interstellar takes a different approach but at the moment if I was to pick Nolan's best movie, it would be either Memento or Dark Knight.

The end ties everything together, it’s not sentimental, it’s humanity at its best, it’s why humanity was worth saving.

Yep, as a visual spectacle, it is often stunning, no question about it.

Ive literally just rewatched it for the 19th time in the cinema yesterday. Its a masterpiece 👏

1. Interstellar 2. The Dark Knight 3. The Dark Knight Rises 4. Batman Begins 5. The Prestige 6. Inception 7. Following 8. Memento 9. Insomnia

It still pains me deeply that we'll never see the Nolans as a 5 piece all singing all dancing family troupe again. I'm in the mood for dancing is an all time classic foot tapper.

I agree with kermode. I thought that it definitely wasn't his best. But the visuals and the suspense at points were inception and memento like

It lost me at the end, not the content I should say. But just when I thought something wasn't going to be explained through terrible dialogue... Oh wait, here's someone the character involved can talk to so that they can, yet again, explain what is happening visually. All of Nolan's films carry audio description, whether you want it or not.

Mark you need to re-watch Contact. The father was not halfway across the universe, the alien took the form of her father as it was an image she was familiar with. The alien did explain that.

Question for those who have seen it: Somebody explain to me why the first 99% of the movie every character in the film is concerned about finding a new planet to populate, and in the last 1% nobody cares about that anymore? So much so that Matthew McCoughnahey needs to secretly steal a shuttle to find the 1 person on that mission (whom also nobody cares about for some reason)? I thought they only solved how to transport people, so why are a handful of people so content on a space station? I thought the whole point of what McCoughnahey taught his daughter is so they could execute Plan A.

I liked it. Saw it in IMAX back in November I'm not the biggest Nolan fan [though I do love Memento and the Prestige] and I've generally not found his recent stuff engaging on an emotional level - I've mostly found the characters in his films like Inception and The Dark Rises to be quite uninteresting. This was the first of his "BIG" movies that got me emotionally [in a similar way to Contact as Kermode points out very well]. Also because I was going with it I didn't really have a problem with the ending - I do, however, think if I hadn't believed in the central relationship the ending would've annoyed to no end. It's also the first Hanz Zimmer score that I've tolerated. For me Nolan's best film is still The Prestige but as huge sci-fi goes, this is pretty good. :)

I think he said all that on one breath.

Brilliant film... as soon as I got home I wanted to back and see it Imax

9 years on and people still mention and refer to this absolutely Legendary extraordinary movie ,it works it still works and it will go on forever,i think its still one of Nolans best

Kermode, ultimate defender of the sentimental Silent Running (and why not?) shying away from sentiment in Interstellar.

First time I've ever 100% agreed with a Mark Kermode review! I will say though that the film felt like a cross between 2001 A Space Odyssey, Grapes of Wrath and Koyaanisqatsi :)

I really liked the ending

Is there any word on how well the early-release celluloid screenings did? Though I know intellectually that it's foolish of me to hope so, I can't help but wonder if they made any dent for film?

Everything I new about movies was changed in 3 hours. Thats all I have to say. I want to get on my knees and thank nolan forever. I really do.

I rewatched it last night and while the Matt Damon scenes are about as unintentionally funny as I remembered, the rest of it is really incredible. When it really works I think it's better than anything else he's done, and overall I'd only put it behind Memento and The Dark Knight.

''There is a moment..''

This movie is a masterpiece. Even if most critics didn’t “love” it

Interstellar is my favorite Nolan film, followed by Memento.

He's nailed it. I agree 99% with this (we only disagree on Nolan's best work!)

Kernode is too harsh about the rigour and last 15mins. You just have to go with it and accept that its an emotional guess. It really worked for me.

You could reveal the entire "plot"and not spoil it at all..

Do y'all not think this subject matter required much more screen time? Would a TV series not have fleshed out the ideas? I'm thinking Athur C Clarkes Rama trilogy. The last half hour wasn't great, which is a shame because two thirds of it are excellent, remember the school vignette about the "fake" moon landings. home Cinema TVs make a mini series of this spectacle plausible.

Ive been looking forward to this since i first heard about it last year. I intentionally avoided all traliers and reviews and even descriptions because i didnt want to know anything going in.

It's simply Breathtaking.

Wow it's so nice to see other people appreciating the Robert Zemeckis film "Contact" - I have always thought it was under-rated. After all a sci-fi film without the human-element isn't really a sci-fi film - as an example, you only have to look at "Silent Running" to realise that. Go on Mark, give us a retro-review of Contact to remind us how great this "little" film is.

I get that this film isn't going to be for everyone, but in all seriousness, if a film maker set out to create the perfect film for my personal tastes, they'd come up with something pretty close to Interstellar. I loved absolutely everything about it. Objectively, it's not my favourite film. But subjectively... yeah, it just might be.

This is exactly how I felt about Interstellar to a tee. Like Mark, I really wanted to unequivocally love this film but the flaws are way to apparent to just let slide.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought of Thunderbirds when they revealed the rocket.

A lot of people are saying that certain parts of the film didn't make sense, while I do agree, there are parts that are hard to follow however I did think to myself that made it all the more entertaining. Science and space has always been beyond my tiny mind so I never went into this film with the intention of understanding it. They could have explained it better but I don't think was Christopher nolan's idea from the start, I think he wanted us to be confused... he wanted us to feel the predicament Matthew McConaughey's character was in which was the threat of never seeing is family again without having a logical explanation for it.

Last 15 minutes Mark I cried like I did when Stansfield shot Leon in the back.

I usually stumble out of the cinema with a vague sense of disappointment, but I thought Interstellar was very good. I don't really like Nolan that much, TDK is the only one of the 3 Batman films I enjoyed. I think Kermode is right, there are some clunky moments and things that don't make much sense, but there's so much good stuff it's definitely worth seeing. I don't want to call it great because I can't tell that after seeing it once a few hours ago. And there are two action sequences that feel like they go on longer than was necessary as what's going to happen is very obvious, you just have to wait them out.

I thought the film was pretty average to be honest. Yes it had a grand story with lots of interesting themes and ideas (bar the last act, which to me tried too hard to be complex and emotional at the same time) but the execution in telling the story was really lacking. Many times I felt that I should have been feeling like I just witnessed something incredibly profound and more than often than not, they just fell flat.

A of people like to knock this movie, but it's one of my favorites.

Well at least it won an Oscar

Best film I've ever seen

His thoughts mirror mine. I loved the spectacle and the grand ideas that inhabit the film, but the moments of over-sentimentality made me roll my eyes, especially near the end. As the good doctor says, it definitely could've used more rigour.

I absolutely love Interstellar and the sentimentality isn't a problem for me, in fact its one of its strongest aspects in my opinion. However, it seems like Nolan may have taken Kermode's advice about having the sentimentality work within the rigor of the film. You don't have to bold and underline specific moments to elicit emotion. Instead, allow the characters' actions to tell the story. That's something I love about Dunkirk and Tenet. Moments of sentiment are rare but when they hit, they hit hard.