Ad Astra Movie Review
Nathan Swank
September 20th, 2019
Ad astra is a Latin phrase that means, “To the stars.”
In a breathtaking opening moment, Roy McBride steps over the edge of a space station just within the limits of the earth’s gravitational pull and begins to climb a little ways down a ladder that ultimately stretches to the earth’s surface. The camera moves along with McBride giving the audience almost a forcible push as it peers over the edge. Our heart rate rises while our lead character remains calm and collected even while disaster strikes.
Sometimes there is a true beauty to filmmaking that can override any story shortcomings. The new philosophical space drama, AD ASTRA, if nothing else, is a magnificent sight to behold on the IMAX screen and well worth any qualms someone might otherwise have about the film.
AD ASTRA follows astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) as he crosses a dangerous and unforgiving solar system on a secret mission to uncover the truth about his missing father, Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones). Considered a space pioneer and hero, Clifford’s doomed expedition now, 30 years later, threatens the universe. Ultimately posing the question: why continue to search for life when it’s right in front of us?
A paranoid space thriller, AD ASTRA, does not quite contain the excitement and non-stop energy or even the emotional thematic symbolism that 2013’s GRAVITY so perfectly achieved (not many films will). Nor does it contain the incredible emotional punch of 2014’s criminally underrated INTERSTELLAR. Nor does it achieve the same dramatic character study of last year’s underrated FIRST MAN so aptly conveyed. However, AD ASTRA is another remarkable technical achievement with a few solid thematic structures that director James Gray (THE LOST CITY OF Z) threads throughout the picture, delivering a worthy cinematic event.
Brad Pitt is the perfect star to lead this cold stoic character with a wounded soul through this equally cold film. If any other actor was in the lead role, I’m not sure the audience would care about Roy McBride. There is not much that we have to care about, other than the fact that we know Brad Pitt. His face is familiar. He is likable. He oozes charisma even when he stares quietly. The pain, struggle, indifference, doubt, confidence, and fear conveyed without saying a word or even changing expression is nothing short of amazing. Pitt delivers the impossible task of an emotional lack of emotion exquisitely.
Set in an all too real future, the dangers that Roy encounters are, for lack of a better expression, out of this world. They are wild yet seemingly practical assumptions about who we are as a species and what we might encounter from our own foolish desires and flawed human thoughts of what we believe to be right. The government space program in AD ASTRA has an overwhelming desire for its people to be emotionless, robotic even, to ensure a better working mind within the pressures of space. The dilemmas that arise for Roy to face stem from our own creations, which continues to beget problems for ourselves. It’s Adam and Eve continuing to eat the forbidden fruit.
I’m not always a fan of narration throughout a story, but Roy’s thoughts have a relatability and help lead the story, even if it sometimes is a bit too on the nose of what we are seeing. While I found the pacing to be tone-appropriate that kept me wondering where the next turn in this exploration of space might lead, I could see some audiences getting restless in some stretches of the 122-minute PG-13 film. While I did not find the last act wholly satisfying due to its lack of originality and emotional resonance, which is sort of a theme in itself, I appreciate the message and have found myself enjoying the film more in reflection.
Regardless of any problems I believe the film may have, if you love science fiction and the vastness of outer space, then AD ASTRA still warrants a ‘must see’ label.
It’s unfair to expect AD ASTRA or any film about space to recapture audiences the way Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY did for the first time in 1968. But James Gray joins a list of filmmakers who continue to surprise us with some awe-inspiring works of art using space as a backdrop. Unfortunately, AD ASTRA will probably land outside the best films of the year list, but it is surely one of the more ambitious films of the year.
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