In most serious discussions of science fiction, the concept of “world-building” gets thrown around probably more than it should. But, whether it’s a novel, a TV series, or a film, the only important rule of sci-fi world-building is how fast you can convince the audience that your sci-fi world is real. Case in point: Less than 15 minutes into Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film Interstellar, you know pretty much everything you need to know about this future world, and you’re utterly captivated by it. Well before Oppenheimer but right after the conclusion of his Dark Knight trilogy, Christopher Nolan gave us a nearly perfect science fiction masterpiece. And almost a decade later, when it comes to films that take place in outer space that aren’t part of a massive franchise, no other sci-fi movie has touched Interstellar.
