What's a science fiction movie? How is it different from action/adventure movies that take place in space (Armageddon, Transformers, basically most Michael Bay movies)? After all, Armageddon used science in explaining how asteroids could impact the earth and how they could, potentially be destroyed. And the engineers at Mission Control are shown to be heroes as much as the drilling crew. And Armageddon is about a threat to humanity that has to be solved.
What makes a movie something more than thrills? In science fiction, the questions the characters must answer have no easy, or satisfying answers. In science fiction, the way forward is never clear for the heroes, because the answers address not just a problem, but a deeper question: just why does humanity have to survive in the first place? Action movies take it for granted that we deserve to survive, and the heroes deliver survival on a platter to humanity. Science fiction movies make humanity earn its salvation.
And now, to address the comparisons with 2001: A Space Odyssey. I'll be honest, I compared the two films right there in the theater while I was watching. Both movies present space exploration as the way humanity pushes the boundaries of what humans can know and do. Both movies show humanity as babies as an intelligent species, instead of the masters of the universe we like to think we are. 2001's only flaw is its reliance on visual, symbolic pieces set to music that have to be interpreted. (Yes, I know a lot of film critics love that. But people who have to pay $15 of their own money to see a movie tend not to.) The story of Hall and his betrayal of his human masters is in the middle of the movie, and only serves to get the one remaining human character to Jupiter, where he (or maybe the audience) discovers a floating fetus (I'm not kidding).
Interstellar lets the characters solve the big problem, and each saves humanity in their own way that is clearly illustrated. Sure, it's sentimental that Cooper and Brand get their happy endings, and eventual reunion to live happily ever after (I sure hope Cooper's ready to be a dad again. 'Cause Brand's got a big family waiting for him). Brand and Cooper earn their happy ending. They show no hesitation to fight, to bicker, to call out each other's wrongs and faults for most of the movie. But they also demonstrate their loyalty to each other, even if it costs them resources to get home the old-fashioned way.
Unlike 2001, Interstellar's human technology doesn't betray the humans. Humans betray each other, both back on Earth and in space. Interstellar, is, at its heart, a story of humans deceiving each other for competing plans to preserve the human species. Brand and Cooper have the decency to at least openly debate their own strategies, and lay their own motivations out in the open, and go with the option that wins fair and square.
Unlike 2001, Interstellar keeps people on Earth in the action. The Earth team and the space team are like teams digging a transit tunnel; they start on opposite ends, hoping by repeated calculations and site measurements to meet precisely in the middle, both tunnels connecting perfectly. That never happens, the tunnels are always a little off. So, Interstellar shows Cooper and Brand reconnecting with the Earth team,which eventually narrows down to his daughter, Murphy, and her assistant, only in bits and pieces. And like tunnel builders, Murphy can only get info to her dad by relay, with time delays that Cooper has to deal with in space. It's only at the end, that he gets the chance to communicate with her in real time. I won't spoil their reunion for you; except to say it's the bittersweet kind that makes you realize all victories are partial.
Besides the problem of humanity's survival, there's the mystery of who "They" are. "They" refers to humanity's unknown helpers, beings far advanced from humanity who give us the chance to survive in the first place. "They" show only briefly near the beginning, as a wave in space-time that Brand just can't help interacting with. Is the worm hole "They" provide a trap? The space team doesn't know, and is honest that it could be one. But, the information they're getting from the galaxy "They" lead humanity to is too good not to investigate. The current space team searches for the space explorers who landed probes on the best planetary candidates for humanity before the movie begins. The space team has to balance all their resources, including time, after debating what they're really going to need every step of the way. Losing lives is only the beginning; because they're near a black hole, their time has slowed down considerably while time passes more quickly on Earth. Losing a life means extra work and risk for the team, losing time means that humanity dies out back on Earth.
In the end, the movie's only flaw is that it creates a circular loop. It's hard to pinpoint what about this circular time loop is wrong. Maybe what's wrong is that humanity as a species depends on this circular time loop for its survival. This time loop depends on the actions of the plot in the movie, and the writers do a great job of making it tight; at no point can I find where the future could never know how to influence the past. But, maybe, a plot point based on a paradox the Earth team could never solve is also Interstellar's most satisfying point, too.
There's a lot that Interstellar delivers as a commercial movie. There's a lot it delivers as thought-provoking science fiction. There's a question it solves beautifully, and there's a great story of human characters trying to satisfy their need for connection with loved ones in circumstances where both space and time work against them. If you think that maybe the universe has it in for Cooper, you may be right. But, the universe seems to like his daughter, Murphy, enough to make up for that.
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