Ad Astra (Review)
Ad Astra Boldly Goes Where a Lot of Movies Have Gone Before.
Ad Astra is the newest entry in the sci-fi subgenres of space movies serving as commentary on the human condition. Despite all the spectacle and homage to classic science fiction movies, Ad Astra doesn’t really have anything new or necessarily insightful to say. The entire film is basically one long metaphor for mental health and the journey to wellness that we all must take in order to become who we really are. While Brad Pitt gives a compelling performance in the film (his second this year), the truth is that this film is pretty boring for the most part. Still, it’s visually stunning which makes it more than bearable to sit through.
Ad Astra is essentially “daddy issues” the movie. Brad Pitt stars a Major Roy McBride, a soldier serving in the military’s futuristic space division. His character is the embodiment of everything that we now know to be false about good mental health. He compartmentalizes everything and stoically tells people what he thinks they want to hear in order to keep doing his job. He’s more or less the astronaut equivalent of American Psycho’s Patrick Batemen, even going so far as to reference the “mask” he wears. The root of his self imposed emotional isolation stems from his relationship with his father, American hero H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), who disappeared years earlier on a mission in search of intelligent life. So, when it turns out that his daddy might still be alive and might even be launching attacks on Earth, Roy goes on a mission in search of him. Roy’s mask of sanity starts to slip the closer he gets to finding him.
What I loved most about Ad Astra is the feel of the film overall. It blends together modern cinematic perceptions of space travel with what films in the 70s and 80s imagined the future of space travel to be. The moon is now both a tourist attraction where the wealthy go on vacation and also a borderless wild-west where pirates attack rovers in search of valuables. Ad Astra has a grainy, celluloid feel for a number of sequences that stirs a sense of nostalgia for those classic science fiction movies. At the same time, it features some stunning visuals on space travel as Brad Pitt travels billions of light-years to reunite with his father and stop the destructive attacks originating from his research vessel. The film takes place in the “near future,” so it keeps one foot firmly planted in the realm of possibility when it comes to space travel, but it’s far from the same level as films such as Interstellar. Still, it creates a compelling “world” for the story to take place in.
Brad Pitt gives an impressive performance over the course of the movie, which is fortunate because the movie doesn’t really give many other characters much screen time. In fact, I can’t even remember any of the other character’s names. Even top-billed talent like Liv Tyler and Ruth Negga only get a few minutes on-screen with him. Pitt’s performance is more than enough to make up for it. At the beginning of the film, he’s a hollow man. Empty of emotion and focused solely on the mission at hand, which he confuses with his purpose. As he goes on though, he’s forced to confront his past and when literally isolated, he is left to look inward in order to truly find himself. Most of this introspection is done through voiceovers (a specialty of director James Gray) as he contemplates the meaning of humanity. Despite the fact that Pitt has proven himself capable of heavy lifting when it comes to philosophical concepts in films (see Fight Club), the problem is that Ad Astra never manages to make any genuine revelations.
As much as it wants to have something to say, Ad Astra is more or less the movie equivalent of a man who’s read his first self-help book. Its insights are superficial at best, as the hero slowly realizes what most Millenial’s have figured out by now. Bottling up emotions is bad. Pushing people away is bad. Not dealing with past trauma is bad. Even it’s underlying philosophy of humanity is uninspired. It gets pretty heavy-handed at times with the whole “sins of the father” theme, but that’s to be expected given the plot. Ad Astra also contemplates the existence of intelligent life and seems rooted in science fiction, but sprinkles in plenty of references to God with plenty of prayers and mentions of “feeling his presence.” Now, I’m not one of those atheists that thinks not believing in God is some sort of indication of intelligence (those guys are just jerks), but it felt out of place considering supposedly how devoted to science so many of these characters were. It’s just a movie that thinks it’s a lot more intelligent and insightful than it really is.
Despite its fumbles, Ad Astra really isn’t a bad of a movie. In fact, I would go so far as to say it’s an interesting and intriguing film. However, I believe general audiences will struggle with the glacial pacing and superficial philosophical themes. It’s a film that is very excited to say what it has to say, and that eagerness is charming to a certain degree. However, it’s a superficial examination of humanity with a character with so many issues, it’s impossible to really look at all of them. Still, I appreciate that the film does have such a focus on mental health and Pitt does a tremendous job showing the growth and emotional journey his character goes through. Ad Astra didn’t knock my socks off, but it’s rather well made and it’s heart is in the right place. Because of that, I’d definitely recommend it, but only to those who know what they’re getting into.
