Ad Astra Review

Ad Astra Review

     In the not-too-distant future, anti-matter pulses are erupting from Neptune, causing power surges across the galaxy and resulting in the deaths of thousands on Earth. Space Command enlists Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) to communicate with an experiment called "The Lima Project," which was headed up by his father Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) and disappeared into deep space when Roy was sixteen. Now Roy must discover the connection behind The Lima Project and the dangerous pulse waves that threaten the entire galaxy.

     Disappointment layers itself throughout the two hour running time of this sci-fi flick. At least that's something of a theme that I sensed. We hear Roy give monologues about his marriage falling apart due to his distant behavior as well as his tedium with humanity and its inability to escape it flaws (consumerism, piracy, etc;). He later talks about his disappointment in his father never returning (despite emulating him in not just work ethic but in attitude towards others). He is further depressed by the notion that his superiors at Space Command are using him for nefarious purposes. And in the end, Roy's encounter with his father Clifford leads to one more heartbreaking disappointment. 

     It's not without reason that Roy feels so detached from humanity, which is a well-written indication of his characterization. Roy emulates his father, Clifford, a cold, distant man who seemed obsessed with proving the existence of non-human intelligent life to the exclusion of everything else. Roy most likely didn't have any sort of healthier alternative to deal with the trauma that his father's disappearance had had on his young psyche, so he did the only thing he could think of, become his father in just about every way possible; even to the point of becoming an astronaut and working on space stations. 

      It seemed at first that the narrow-minded viewpoints of Roy (and later we discover Clifford) are considered to be validated. Despite technological advances in science and especially space travel, humanity essentially brought all of its problems off-world. There are malls on the Moon, as we see a Subway and other corporate chains enjoying residence on a commercial moonbase that people affluent enough can afford to travel. There's even crime on the moon with scavengers roaming the surface to steal parts and kill any resistance to their goals. But then I think to myself, "that sounds utterly ridiculous." Not the moon mall part, I'd believe that capitalism and consumerism would grow rampant to the point where they'd want corporate chains paying for prime lunar real estate. 

     The film shows us Roy's perspective on the world and I'm not sure if we're supposed to agree with his viewpoint, at least where his less than positive opinions on human progress are concerned. And the world's not a flawless utopia, that's for certain. However the viewpoints of both Roy and Clifford are supposedly framed as both McBride men being either unable or unwilling to connect with other people. Brad Pitt gives a solid turn as a man who is learning how to be human after putting up what his character calls "a performance". He puts on a stoic face for the first half of the movie which begins cracking with each new revelation and he becomes further entrenched in the mission.

     Ad Astra is essentially Brad Pitt's character using isolation therapy to learn how to reconnect with humanity and work through his daddy issues. Honestly, the message of "We're all alone, so we're all we've got" isn't necessarily a bad message. But I think a better message would be "Even if we're not alone in the universe, it's no excuse to leave your loved ones behind." Tommy Lee Jones does not play a sympathetic character in this film. Clifford McBride is an asshole who bluntly tells his son he never gave a damn about him and would rather search for alien lifeforms than be a father to his child and a husband to his wife. 

     While I'm not a fan of the characters and the clunky way it handles the themes and messages, the movie is visually stunning and has some of the best space scenes I've ever witnessed. In the beginning, there's a harrowing scene of Brad Pitt's Roy falling to Earth from the space station he'd been working on. The perspective of falling from such a height was an intense opening sequence. There's even a brief (if entirely contrived) scene of a rescue attempt on a Norwegian space station that was a little bit disturbing despite the jump-scares in the scene. 

     Ad Astra is not a poorly made movie, far from it. It has a stellar (if miniscule) cast, and asks interesting questions about human progress, togetherness, and the virtues and necessity of being part of a community. However, it doesn't quite answer those questions as deftly as it might think, becoming little more than about a forty-year old boy learning how to become a man through deep space isolation and learning that his father is a murderous jackass.