"Ad Astra" Movie Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 4/5 Stars

There are some films out there where I go in having no expectations whatsoever. I don't know what I'm in for. With "Ad Astra", this was definitely the case. Both trailers for the film were pretty vague, only giving the bare bones of the plot. The movie wasn't even really one of my most anticipated movies of the year. But, the trailers intrigued me just enough for me to want to go and see it. What did I get? Well, honestly, this movie is one of the biggest surprises of the year, as I found it to be quite excellent. It could even end up being one of my favorites of the year. In this film, astronaut Roy McBride is tasked by a future version of the military to find his father, who has mysteriously gone missing and might be the cause for these surges that could wipe out the population of Earth. What he discovers is frightening on a more personal scale.

Something about this movie that really works which wasn't established in the trailers very much is the way director James Gray builds this dystopian future version of Earth. I am always very cautious about dystopian films these days, as many times they can feel cliched and not very intriguing. I would say that this dystopian world is one of the most interesting and original I've seen in recent memory. I appreciate that Gray is able to show how the world operates organically rather than tell us through constant exposition dumps. Like most dystopian protagonists out there, Roy has a typically dead-eyed expression and is emotionless. But, we see that the world requires him to be like that. I love how the film lets you naturally figure this out over time. As more scenes unfold, we discover that Roy isn't the only person in the world that has to be emotionally stilted. Gray shows how this world operates in other ways too, through simple character interactions or through intriguing visual cues. There are some expository parts here and there, but I think that exposition is only fed when it is necessary. Another very obvious positive of the film is the visuals. Wow, is this movie beautiful to look at. When I go in to a film about space, I expect to be awed by its expansiveness and otherworldly allure. This movie really does that well in many moments. We even get to see visuals here that aren't typical of space movies, such as the rings of Neptune. There are lots of cool visual moments that even have clear symbolism attached to them. There's one particular scene where Roy is interacting with another character named Helen, and the way the lighting works in the scene speaks volumes about the way Roy is feeling in that very moment. I appreciate when a film is able to utilize its visuals to emphasize on the emotion of its characters even further. That may well be this movie's biggest strength, and Gray plays this to his advantage whenever he can.

Another big advantage to this film is its thematic arcs. Even with all the excellent space visuals, this film is NOT a movie about space at its core. The movie doesn't even really seem to be about the mission that Roy is going on. The mission is what spurs what Roy's really concerned about: his own isolation caused by his father leaving him at a young age. The idea of isolation and separation here is big. The fact that the movie is set in space perfectly encapsulates this theme further. After all, space is vast and empty, with little to no life present. So, it only makes sense for a character as lonely as Roy to be attracted to space. He claims that he loves doing the missions and serving Earth, but really, it's a place for him to retreat further into himself. This movie does an excellent job building on this fatal flaw Roy has, and as the movie goes on, we see how his isolation destroys him from the inside out. It's interesting to see this film ruminating on the idea of men adventuring into space as a way to escape their emotions- and the world Roy lives in only further serves to make space a very appealing outlook for him. These themes are made more poignant by Brad Pitt's superb performance. It's hard to say whether I like him better in this or "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood", but it's safe to say that both performances are in close competition with each other. Pitt proves himself to be able to be compelling by himself many times on screen. Not many actors can nail the task of having the camera constantly on them, but he does it very well. We see Pitt go through the emotional ringer in this film; his performance is really touching and compelling. Even his voice overs speak volumes; the way he says a sentence only serves to make Roy that much more interesting of a character. Though he wasn't in the film much at all, Tommy Lee Jones was great as Roy's father Clifford. He plays this character very well; I appreciate that Clifford is a little unpredictable and hard to read, as it provides an interesting counterpart to Roy. The movie shines the absolute brightest when the two of them are on screen together. Donald Sutherland is also great in the film as Thomas, though I wish he was in the movie a bit longer.

I think that final statement can lead me into some of my critiques, because I do have some that can't be ignored. One of my main issues is that no character, besides Roy and Clifford (to an extent), has much of a personality or screen time. I understand that the movie is concerned with Roy primarily, but I do feel that some of the bigger names here aren't used to their full advantage. This is true of both Sutherland and Ruth Negga. The latter is only in the movie for about 3-5 minutes (and that's a very generous estimate). They establish something very interesting about her character, but the movie puts her out of the picture almost as soon as they introduce it. Sutherland's character also seems like he could play a key role, but as soon as he's getting interesting, they also take him out of the plot. If it weren't for the fact that the movie is clearly more of a film focused on one character, this would be a bigger criticism. It is still a bit of a problem for me, but ultimately it does not irritate me much. What is a bit of a bigger problem is there are a couple of scenes in this movie that are just too over the top, and don't seem to fit in with the atmosphere the rest of the film has. One of them involves a scene where Roy and a space crew he's working with go to investigate a distress call. While the scene that ensues has some interesting horror elements to it, it just doesn't fit, and is even a little bit silly. There's also a scene that takes place at the climax of the movie that really pushed my suspension of disbelief. I know this movie is partly a sci-fi flick, but this climactic scene in particular really seemed illogical-even impossible- in almost every way.

Other than those specific issues, I really enjoyed this movie. In fact, I thought it was excellent. There are some really poignant moments here in this very intimate character study of a man who is isolated in more ways than one. The film is often heart-breaking, but the way it wraps up is actually very powerful and inspiring. Brad Pitt is superb here, and it wouldn't surprise me if he got an Oscar nomination (he should at least be considered for a Golden Globe). I definitely recommend this movie!