The "Interstellar" filmmakers discuss concepts behind the plot at a conference (Grant Singer/Neon Tommy).

In the future, there are no advanced technologies to usher in a new phase of human progress.

Instead, the world is overtaken by suffocating dust storms, food shortages, and an infrastructure on the verge of collapse. “This world’s a treasure,” says Matthew McConaughey’s character Cooper, “but it’s been telling us to leave for a while now.” The question that remains is: Where do we go?

Christopher Nolan, with his "Dark Knight" trilogy completed, turns his attention to a broader canvas than ever before and the sky really is the limit. Once again pairing up with his brother Jonathan to write the screenplay, Nolan helms a film that is occasionally unsubtle, but entertaining and visually stunning nonetheless. With an imposing score by Hans Zimmer, "Interstellar" was shot on 70mm IMAX by the remarkably talented Hoyte van Hoytema. Go into the film expecting an intense sensational experience and you will not be disappointed.

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"Interstellar" opens with the natural resources of Earth almost depleted, a parched, sepia-toned version of our home no longer hospitable to us. Climate change has caused a second Dust Bowl, creating an agricultural crisis that threatens to starve the world—and an environmental crisis that threatens to suffocate it. Cooper (McConaughey) and his family run a corn farm to combat the worldwide blight, but time is running out. Cooper’s daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy, and later Jessica Chastain) is in the last generation expected to live a full lifespan before humankind becomes extinct. When NASA scientist Professor Brand (Michael Caine) petitions Cooper to search for a new home planet for the human race, Cooper knows the only way to save his daughter and humanity itself is to venture into the final frontier. Cooper is accompanied by Brand’s daughter, Dr. Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), who navigates their exploration of deep space.

In McConaughey’s performance, the warmth of a compassionate father meets the restlessness of a former pilot yearning to chase the dream that was taken from him. He brings a cowboy swagger to his role and fans of "True Detective" may recognize a similarity in his cynical murmurings about the fate of humanity as he sips a beer. Cooper may not be one of the great characters of cinema, but it’s hard to resist McConaughey’s on-screen charm. That said, McConaughey and co-star Hathaway lack the cohesion one hopes for in the leads of a blockbuster. On the other hand, the scenes with supporting actress Jessica Chastain prove to be some of the most powerful moments in the film even though she and McConaughey remain separated by a computer screen.

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Like Alfonso Cuaron’s "Gravity" (2013), Interstellar features its fair share of “space disaster” action sequences, with eerily silent debris moving along frightening, anxiety-inducing trajectories. However, what makes Nolan’s film far superior to "Gravity" is the scale of its storytelling. "Interstellar" presents an epic narrative, following everyman Cooper on a journey to literally save the world. It delves into the depths of relativity and quantum mechanics while simultaneously interpreting the nature of being human in a place where humanity is not all that significant: outer space. Nolan’s film is complex cinema (at times bordering on pedantic) that operates on a level that was not alluded to in Cuaron’s Oscar-winning film. To compare this film to last year’s "Gravity"—as it no doubt will be—is almost unimportant given how far superior "Interstellar" is in nearly every facet.

Like Nolan’s past films, "Interstellar’s" execution does not always live up to its ambition. While its overarching message affirming the necessity of love drives many of the best scenes in the film, Interstellar careens along the edge of platitude at speeds that would make even daredevil pilot Cooper sweat. Nevertheless, what makes Nolan’s film significant is his fusion of the space-action-epic with the strong emotional core of a father-daughter story (Cooper and Murph, as well as Brand and Amelia). During the press conference that followed the screening, Matthew McConaughey, clad in a leather jacket and chewing on a toothpick, explained that the vast scale of Nolan’s film should not mislead viewers from the human story at its center. “The further we go,” he said, “The more [you] realize it’s about you and me, right here.”

"Interstellar" isn’t the story of a spaceship, but that of a family, unmoored from the formalities of time and space, but connected by bonds that neither blight nor blackhole can untie.

Reach Contributor Grant Singer here.