The longing of man to explore the far reaches of the heavens, and the enduring power of a promise from father to daughter, fuels the epic yet intimate Interstellar, filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s most ambitious and emotionally potent movie yet.

Where Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life took a theological approach to the creation of our Universe and mankind’s place within it, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is all about the science of creation and how those with the curiosity to explore and study the outer reaches of our universe should be cherished.

Within the grandiose scope of both movies is a shared intimacy for the love between parent and child.  In Interstellar that love – all consuming, all too human – strives the guardians of the young to preserve not only a better world, but one different from an Earth that has become a dustbowl that is choking mankind into extinction.

A man who knows full well the fate that awaits the human race is Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a widowed father, farmer, and engineer who once flew for NASA, yet now must contend with a world where the height of scientific advancement is how to grow better crops, and where schools teach that the moon landing was merely propaganda used against the Soviets.

When otherworldly events lead him to a NASA gone underground yet working on a colonization plan – taking advantage of a discovered wormhole that leads to a new galaxy with planets that can harbour human life – Cooper is recruited on a mission where he has to leave his family in order to save them.

Cooper is the most approachable leading character yet to appear in a Nolan movie. Although Cooper is an incredibly intelligent character, McConaughey injects the role with a rustic, everyman quality that breaks down any snobbish temperament that can come from the intelligentsia (something that other characters do inhabit). There is also a “hotdog” swagger to his performance that reminds of the thrill seeking pilots, turned astronauts in Philip Kauffman’s 1983 space-race epic The Right Stuff.

The most alluring aspect to Cooper is the strong emotive ties to his children, especially his equally intelligent and stubborn daughter Murph (young version played by Mackenzie Fox, old version played by Jessica Chastain). This is especially felt in a pivotal scene as Cooper - fresh from losing 23 Earth years while stuck on a potential colony planet for mere hours- watches decades of video messages from his family with joyous sadness, McConaughey putting on the waterworks in convincing fashion and breaking hearts while doing so.

Where last year’s space opus Gravity did not have the emotional weight to match its visual majesty, Interstellar packs a mighty emotional wallop to make it as much a stirring experience as it is a visually and intellectually stimulating one.

Nolan’s films have always been incredible visual experiences, so the idea of a Nolan movie set in outer space was one met with high anticipation, and boy does it deliver on its promise. With Let the Right One In cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema (replacing Nolan regular Wally Pfister who made his directorial debut on Transcendence) providing crisp, dense, rich imagery alongside excellent VFX work by Double Negative, Interstellar is a visionary space odyssey that will unlikely be matched for a very long time.

The one factor that will be a sticking point for some is the very element that separates Interstellar from the norm: its science. With renowned Theoretical physicist Kip Throne as Nolan’s science consultant, great pains are taken to accurately portray the science within its science fiction. Yet that can be a problem with talk of black holes, gravity anomalies, and fifth dimensions likely to befuddle than illuminate those whose sci-fi high cues are of the Michael Bay variety.

Repeated viewings and extra research into the science portrayed will be needed to fully embrace its smarts, and this is a good thing. While space research does have a dedicated fan base, it hasn’t pierced the mainstream as it did in the 1960s. Interstellar is a film that will not only putt butts in seats, but will hopefully also have the same pundits look to the stars and contemplate the many wonders that generations of scientists and space explorers have presented as fact.