Review 523: Ad Astra

 

Ad Astra is a  and a showcase for tour de force performance by Brad Pitt.

In the near future, astronaut Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) less a voyage into deep space, but the ship and crew were never heard from again. Thirty years later, his son Roy (Brad Pitt), now a fearless astronaut himself, embarks on a daring mission Neptune to uncover the truth about his missing father as well as a mysterious power surge that threatens the stability of the Solar System.

At the core of Ad Astra is a story about self, discovery of self and it ponders some pretty philosophically profound questions on what is strength? What is vulnerability? What does strength really come from? The father/son relationships and becoming a father. The film shows that while Space travel and exploration are important, it's equally important to not forget about what's at home.

These father/son dynamics are great reflected in Roy's relationships with his father Clifford and his surrogate father figure Col. Thomas Pruitt (Donald Sutherland)

Over the course of the film, we see that strength, most notably Roy’s comes from many places such as his perseverance, his love for his father as well as his memories of him

 

In an effort to keep hilight Roy's isolation, the screenplay (written by Grey and Ethan Gross) frequently abandons supporting characters never to be seen or heard from again. Roy doesn't really meet anybody on his journey. He doest meet them but he never sticks around long enough to properly get to know them.

It also hightens the films realism because the more connection he has the more risk there is: The more risk to the mission and the more risk there is to him personally. 

References to 2001 as well as recent sci fi films Gravity, Interstellar and The Martian

 

There is action to be found in Ad Astra but not that much of it. There's a terrific chase against scavenger pirates on the moon that feels like it was ripped right out of a Mad Max movie as well as a skirmish at a research station but it comes in small bursts and is contained to the first half.

 

Ad Astra is, however, a film that is very full of itself.

Director James Grey's direction is  and an eye for world building that's never too flashy or distracting. 

The cinematography is luminous and captures the beauty of outer space as well as the films futuristic settings, the scenery is breathtaking, the score by Max Richter & Lorne Balfe is beautiful, the production design (product placement not withstanding) is terrific; an excellent blend of the contemporary with futuristic tech; the space crafts are incredibly cramped spaces that are built for military grade tolerances. The costumes are fantastic, the special effects are splendid,

Brad Pitt delivers a winning performance playing Roy McBride, expertly and effectively capturing his emotionally reserved and distant nature. He's a character who has very buttoned up emotions. Maybe in some ways, Roy would be the right person to travel in space because of his lack of interest in relating to others. He is a guy who is excavating the depths of his exeperience as a human being and asking some very difficult questions of himself and wondering what kind of person he is and wants to be.

Tommy Lee Jones  Clifford was considered a hero in the Lima Project and he'd gone further than any other astronaut.     Clifford was once very close to Roy when he was a kid but after joining the programe they became distant and disfunctional. He went on a mission when Roy was a teenager (16 or 17) and dissapeared; went off the map and it brings out feelings in Roy that he thought he had put away in its right place a long time ago.
By the time Roy does find him, he's a shell of the man he once was, disillusioned, been isolated for so long and
All he wanted was to prove that extraterrestrial life existed and that went to hell, he lost all sense of self and purpose.
He knew that his father had been through a lot since he left Earth and was at the very least expecting to find someone who was damaged but until he finds Clifford it doesn't occur to him just how far he has fallen.

Close behind Pitt is Preacher’s Ruth Negga in the role of Mars SpaceCom facility director Helen Lantos. Helen is presented as a foil to Roy, she's also been orphaned bey people on the Lima Project but unlike Roy she didn't really bury that and for many years she's been seeking answers about what happend When certain aspects about the Lima project his father was working on are revealed, Helen is one of the few people to empathise with Roy’s predicament and he begins to understand the significance of what his father has done.

Donald Sutherland also has a small part playing Col. Thomas Pruitt, an old assiciate of Clifford McBride and even knew Roy as a boy. He was supposed to be his surrogate father but he's a failed father figure, he can't go on the journey to Mars or deeper space because his advanced age has left him weak.

 

Regretably, the lovely Liv Tyler is relgatted to a small role playing Roy's wife, Eve only really being seen through a couple of tellicalls. Too often, her character felt superfluous

4/5.

The Anonymous Critic.