Directed by – Christopher Nolan

Since his directorial debut in 1998 with the enjoyable Following, this Englishman (usually with the aid of his brother and wife) cranks out a feature film every two years.

In the last 14 years he’s given us Memento, Insomnia, 3 Batman films, The Prestige and Inception. Now his latest effort Interstellar combines every trick he’s learned along the way and the end result is nothing short of phenomenal.

In what must be a transparent love letter to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Nolan weaves the tale of Cooper – Matthew McConaughey, a man born either 40 years too late, or 40 years too soon. In a timely, and timeless story of our Earth on the brink of environmental collapse, as dust storms wreak havoc and our last edible crop – corn –  is threatened with extinction, Cooper stumbles across a secret project designed to give the human race one last shot at survival.

This is a story of survival, both in the personal sense of a father protecting his family, and in a wider sense of a human being on a mission to assist his tribe.

If you liked Nolan’s previous films, and if you liked the epic Gravity, then this is a sci-fi blockbuster you’re going to love.

Possibly too high brow for mainstream audiences, Nolan asks more questions than he answers about the meaning of life and what our purpose on Earth may be.

As I sat there in the darkness enthralled and illuminated by the stunning visual sequences of deep space and far away planets, I was transported far from my everyday environment, where money rules everything and mankind’s stupidity and barbarism know no bounds.

Bringing to life incredible visuals is something Nolan has made a career out of – but his success comes not just from the amazing pictures – but the characters that hold up his dreamscapes.

Matthew McConaughey is in marvellous form once again, Anne Hathaway plays well, and the surprise appearance of one of my favourite actors more than halfway in to the film delivered a sizeable shock.

Like Gravity, 2001, Star Wars and all the greatest Sci-Fi films, do go and see this on the biggest screen you can.

Pack some snacks and settle in for a film that in a shade under 3 hours takes you not just to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and beyond, but to the very limits of what man may one day be capable of.

5 Stars.