Ad Astra Movie Review
3 out of 5
Jeremy Wood
Brad Pitt’s space odyssey is in theaters, and not since Luke Skywalker has there be a character is space with so many Daddy issues as there is with Roy McBride. I imagine many critics will be well satisfied with this film, but I suspect for movie goers (and I know for me) it will be deemed mostly eye candy, and in the end, a very thin story.
From the trailers Ad Astra (which means To the Stars) looked like a sci-fi mind bender along the lines of Interstellar, and instead it’s just a visually stunning film that could have been so much more. The story is set in the near future, and Earth is being attacked by strange electronic bursts that threaten to destroy not only our planet but the entire solar system. Roy McBride (Pitt) is a military man, raised under the giant shadow of his hero father, played by Tommy Lee Jones — considered to be the greatest astronaut of all time. Thirty years prior, McBride’s father and a crew were sent to the edge of our solar system in the search for intelligent life — only to disappear and apparently perish — or at least that’s what was thought. Now with billions of lives on the line, McBride is brought into a highly classified meeting where it is disclosed to him that his father may have lived, and that the electronic pulses threatening everyone may be coming from that doomed mission. In fact, those in charge believe McBride’s father may actually be sending the pulses on purpose — and they need Roy to reach out to his father in an appeal to get him to stop. Of course, McBride accepts the mission (otherwise it would have been a very short movie), and begins the necessary steps to communicate with his father — though he feels it all to be contrived and wrong, as he still believes his father to be dead.
The first half of the film starts off very strongly, with Pitt and Donald Sutherland (playing an old friend of McBride’s father) taking a trip to the now commercialized moon — in order to then go to Mars to be close enough to send a laser beamed message to Neptune — where it is believed McBride’s father is. The site of a rocket ship going to the moon, and being treated as a commercial flight to New York or something is amusing — but feels like something that will one day be a reality. So does the “airport” on the moon, as people are hustling and bustling through terminals and gates to get to their flights or head off on their vacations. McBride and Thomas Pruitt (Sutherland), must act as though they are just fellow tourists as they make their way to a military base not far from the airport, in order to launch for Mars — as no one — not even other military personnel are privy to what they are doing. The scenes on the moon are spectacular, and the brief mission to get to the military launch location is tense as the moon is still very much in a “Wild West” stage, and “pirates” or terrorists attempt to kill and stop them in the unchartered areas in between. After being nearly the only survivor — McBride then makes his way to Mars, and attempts to contact his father.
After several failures to lure his father into communicating back, McBride, breaks protocol and just tries to tell his dad he loves him and misses him — to which the military says McBride is no longer fit for the mission. Being convinced that his message went through and desperate to reach his father, instead of going home as commanded — McBride stows away on the mission to Neptune to negotiate with or kill his father. To me, that is where the movie ceased to be interesting as far as the story is concerned. Everything after that is anti-climactic. Without telling you how it all goes — you could probably guess how the movie ends, and even if you couldn’t you wouldn’t be surprised with what you see.
Where the story is weak though, the scenery and visuals are unbelievable. As McBride ventures deeper and deeper into space, we see Jupiter, moons, Saturn and eventually Neptune. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to see those planets up close and personal — this movie will answer those questions. I can’t imagine this film appealing to and gaining a large box office return — but when awards season rolls around, it could very well end up being nominated for and winning awards for the work done on everything around the characters. It is stunning, and that alone makes the film better. What is sad to me, is that the movie starts off so strongly — with an interesting situation, characters and potential story. Then it just fizzles into Brad Pitt trying to reach his dad. That’s a movie that has been done a million times over…A son trying to live up to his father, find his father or get closure with his father. I wanted so much more, but just as Pitt’s trip to Neptune and back seemed to go on forever, so did that part of the story once it hit. If you’re an astronomy nut, or just appreciate space and what is out there, be sure to go to the theater — so you can see the planets and space on the big screen…But don’t get your hopes up for too much more.
Ad Astra is now playing and is Rated PG-13 for some violence and bloody images, and for brief strong language.
