Yeah, Christopher Nolan likes games, but one of the most common criticisms of his movies is that they're nothing more than that. They're elaborately constructed puzzles, scripts with interesting structures, stories with big ideas and theories, movies that turn pop cultural icons into realistic and believable situations. Which are all very impressive technical achievements, and they're enjoyable on a surface level, but where's the heart, man? We'd argue that Nolan isn't as bad as people make out - if you step away from Memento thinking solely "oh that non-linear storytelling was clever" and not "OMG POOR GUY PEARCE", it's probably you who's the emotionless robot - but he's obviously making a big effort with Interstellar. The previous trailers focussed on McConaughey's earthbound family life to emphasise this, but we think even expanding the worldview with this third teaser serves to hit that notion home even stronger. Sure, there's all the exciting shots of alien planets and space shuttles and Hathaway looking concerned whilst dressed as an astronaut, but the family drama is still the crux of the thing. Throughout the three short minutes McConaughey's character keeps emphasising that he's doing this for his family, that his motivation for saving the human race is more specifically about his kids. There's even a part where he confronts his young daughter, Murph, insisting they have to "fix" something before he goes. To space. For some reason he can't tell her that he's going to save the world, possibly because he isn't going to be coming back - the refrain throughout this Interstellar trailer is that McConaughey and the rest of the astronauts are going away, but none of them know when they'll return. Maybe they won't. Maybe it's a suicide mission. Which makes us incredibly pumped for awesome hard sci-fi thrills and dreading what sounds like it could be the most totally heartbreaking blockbuster this side of The Winter Soldier. And that's all before you get to the Dylan Thomas recital and the line we assume will be a tagline at some point: "Love is the one thing that transcends times and space."
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
