Despite Christopher Nolan's conscientious efforts in keeping his filming projects secret, what he cunningly gave out to feed the press was enough to indicate his latest outing would be a very simple story. Months before the release date, I was looking forward to something similar to Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity". I knew it would be spectacular, but never expected it to be so phenomenal.
At least in China, the space epic stirred up huge ripples. Comments about the film were flying all over the internet: movie experts wondered how the amazing special effects were created, young women relished the loving family connection tale, the scientific community picked on a few bugs but were generally satisfied with the reportedly accurate presentation of certain astrophysical theories, science fiction lovers were probably bored by a lack of originality in the storyline but nonetheless made themselves useful by highlighting the director's tributes to previous, classic films, still some people complained they didn't understand what the film was all about, but they cared enough about it to put their ideas out there. So, in a word, the film was the topic of the day and everyone wanted to be a part of the discussion.
The nerds have been thorough in their examinations. Simplified scripts can now be found online, explaining every detail of the story and helping people understand the intellectually challenging parts. It seemed most viewers were simply awe-stricken by the powerful images: the menacing look of an all-engulfing black hole, the thrilling journey through a worm hole, the bizarre environment of extraterrestrial planets, all of which amplified and thrown at you on an IMAX screen, accompanied by the haunting scores from Hans Zimmer.
But above all the visual glamour, there is one point that the excited viewers and critics were missing, that is, the passion for space exploration. Just like the teachers in the movie who claimed America's moon landing mission was just a scam and a waste of money, people of our times are not showing much interest in space missions. Let's face it, Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" was just a visual stunt, albeit a smashing one; the reboot of Star Trek franchise is not longer about the spirit of going boldly where no man has gone before, as it is about action choreography and big budget special effects; and Marvel's cinematic universe is all but a fancy dream.
Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" may not be as realistic as "Gravity", or as funny as the Marvel's comic adaptations, but the space epic has successfully captured the sentiment of space explorers. Their fears are genuine fears that we all share and their love is true love that registers in our own hearts. So when you are watching "Interstellar", dwell not on the scientific aspects, just embrace all the sentiments that it can inspire on you.