“For years, when asked ‘how do you know a movie is great?’ I've had the same reply: I feel a tingling in my spine.” -- Roger Ebert

Interstellar is a lot. Interstellar has a lot of imagination, a lot of plot, a lot of characters, a lot of music, a lot of emotion, a lot of settings, a list of influences that’s light years long--and it even has a few jokes. With so much in there, not everything in Interstellar is going to work like a Swiss watch. It drags here and there, some stuff feels extraneous, and I’m incredulous as to how a few things worked or make sense. But for a film of highs and lows, the highs are incredibly high. There’s suspense (the waves, parts of the third act), emotional moments (those video messages, the ending), and visuals (beautiful location shooting out of Iceland, stunning long shots in space). Though Interstellar is a lot, it has an almost embarrassing sincerity that I fell for. It’s sincerely trying to entertain, make you feel, make you think, and it sincerely loves people.

The budget and scale has increased dramatically through Christopher Nolan’s original films, from Memento through The Prestige, Inception and now Interstellar. Even though his canvas is bigger than ever before, Nolan’s style hasn’t really changed. He writes stories about family men, lays out the rules of a scenario, and, using elastic timelines, layered narratives and twists, he creates puzzles for the audience. The films have a mission. They’re designed to make you think, rethink and rewatch them repeatedly, urging you to get lost in the world and themes again.

For me, Interstellar was so emotional and such a blast; not only did I want to dive in, research, and unpack the puzzle, but I couldn’t resist it. The next morning’s work output was slim, as I dove into reviews and comment sections and discussions. I read many complaints online (it’s certainly in the running for Nolan’s most divisive film), but those did not prevent me from turning back to it, thinking about it all day, and wanting to rewatch it. Any flaws I perceived or criticisms I read can’t take away that spine-tingly feeling as we walked out of the theatre. The highs were high enough, and the narrative engrossing enough, to make it one of the best movie experiences I’ve had this year. And I want to go back.

Mission accomplished.