‘Interstellar’ is an ambitious, spectacular sight to behold

“Interstellar” is basically “Gravity” squared. Last year’s big sci-fi blockbuster was a spectacular depiction of the perils of life in outer space for one emotionally vulnerable astronaut.

This year’s big sci-fi blockbuster is twice as long, twice as ambitious, even more spectacular to look at, and equally sappy at its core.

Seen in 70-millimeter at an IMAX theater, the way director Christopher Nolan wants us to see it, “Interstellar” is such a sight to behold that it more than makes up for its somewhat creaky storyline.

Set in the near future, this movie depicts a world that’s suffering from some sort of ecological disaster. Our country has been reduced to a veritable dust bowl where fewer and fewer crops can withstand the worsening conditions.

Secret remnants of a now-underground NASA plot to save the planet by sending a spaceship of astronauts to find an alternative planet somewhere outside our solar system.

Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper, who leads an expedition that includes a handful of other scientists/astronauts including Anne Hathaway’s Amelia Brand, and a flexible robot with a dry wit.

What’s most heart-wrenching for McConaughey is that he has to leave behind his kids, a teenage son and an even younger daughter named Murphy, who feels shattered and betrayed by his departure.

From here on, the movie moves along two tracks. Most of the time is spent exploring the universe. The rest of the time, Cooper and Brand fret about their loved ones. The first track is infinitely more compelling.

First off, we get absolutely gorgeous depictions of outer space, with enormous space stations majestically spinning through the universe, reminiscent of Kubrick’s “2001.” Since the planet Saturn is a marker along the way for these pioneering astronauts, Nolan gets to linger on the magnificent rings of Saturn, a visual that’s simply mouth-watering. And we purportedly get the most accurate visualizations of wormholes and black holes possible. (Nolan hired a top astrophysicist, Kip Thorne, to help him design them.)

Cooper’s spaceship has to actually enter a wormhole and later skirt a black hole and we get to experience what it’s believed to be like. Not surprisingly, it’s pretty trippy, especially on an IMAX screen.

We also get short stays on a couple of very extreme and very different far-off planets. Finally, Nolan gives us his best interpretation of what a fifth dimension might look and feel like. It’s all quite stunning and satisfying.

But Nolan wants more than just a visually overwhelming presentation of cosmological possibilities. He wants a human story, too. This is where the film falters.

I know Nolan wants to make some grand statement about the importance of human values and love in the grand expanse of the universe, but every time he broaches the subject, the film seems to diminish in importance. I know Nolan believes in the majesty of the human as much as he does in the majesty of the great beyond, but to me, the film’s human side just comes off as puny by comparison.

In the grand scheme of things though, “Interstellar” is so spectacular that its flaws seem relatively puny, too.