Ad Astra (B or 3/4 stars)
'Ad Astra' - Latin for "to the stars" - is a meditative, deliberately-paced drama directed by James Gray (We Own the Night, The Immigant, The Lost City of Z). This film is set in the future when interplanetary travel is commonplace, & the search for intelligent life in outer space continues. Brad Pitt stars as Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt), who struggles to keep his emotions in tact & prove to his superiors at SpaceCom that he is pragmatic & invulnerable to errors. It is all a facade, however. Roy is a melting pot of fear, doubt, anger & hurt. But he has conditioned himself to maintain his composure in ALL situations, as demonstrated during an incredibly filmed, potentially fatal accident in which reacting calmly saved his life.
When a series of energy pulses start striking Earth, creating mayhem & thousands of deaths, Roy's SpaceCom leaders believe said bursts may be related to the ill-fated Lima Project, which was led by McBride's father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), a legendary astronaut whose mission was to discover intelligent life in outer space. The Lima Project took Clifford & his crew to Neptune, where they lost contact with them. But these bursts cause a re-evaluation, & Roy is assigned to travel to the Moon & Mars in an attempt to make radio contact with his father, who is now believed to be alive near Neptune. Over-colonized, Moon dwellers battle congestion & pirates. Then it's onto Mars, where Roy's stoic tenacity is questioned by enigmatic Helen Lantros (Ruth Negga). SpaceCom hopes Roy can reach his father, stop the disturbances & halt the calamitous events. But drama ensues.
Technically, 'Ad Astra' contains 2 hours of impressive filmmaking. The acting is solid. Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography is astounding; capturing the vastness of space. The futuristic sets are wondrous. The action - when there IS some - is well choreographed, staged & executed. The sound design is crisp. Max Richter's score is haunting. And the exploration into the deep, dark essence of humanity is palpable. This is a good film. Having said that, it left me a bit cold {not unlike other space operas, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, last yr.'s First Man, and others}. And I'm afraid that, while I desperately want to love James Gray's canon of films, there's always something about them that prevents me from loving them. They are beautiful, well acted, but produce a distancing effect for me. For all the positives here, I didn't overly care about what was going on.
Brad Pitt escapes criticism from me, here. If the film succeeds at all, it is because of his subtly moving performance as this man who, abandoned by his father, carries his rickety emotional conditioning as a badge of honor. He actually reminds me of Ryan Gosling's Neil Armstrong from last yr.'s First Man; cols, clinical, analytical, unable to attach himself to the people in his life. But Pitt's eyes convey so much; when he allows himself to express the smallest ounce of emotion, his {and my} tears spilled over. Donald Sutherland is quite good in an extremely limited role. Ruth Negga {Oscar-nommed a few yr.'s ago from Loving} has an IT factor that made me wish she were in the story more, as well. And Tommy Lee Jones is great in his few scenes.
If 'Ad Astra' resonates with audiences, at all, it is for those with daddy issues, people who crave solitude {and why}, & for those obsessed with knowing the unknown. To that, this film is similar to Gray's last film, The Lost City of Z, where someone travels to faraway places to find new civilization, much to the detriment of their domestic life. Other than this film being 'cold' in tone, it also doesn't thrill plot-wise. Is it so much about discovering if Clifford is alive or dead? Nah. Or that he is responsible for the catastrophe happening on Earth? Not really. No, the plot mainly relies on the surface dangers of an existential voyage, the tricky father-son dynamic, and why Roy is as closed-off as he is. There is a lot to like about 'Ad Astra', but I wanted to love it.
When a series of energy pulses start striking Earth, creating mayhem & thousands of deaths, Roy's SpaceCom leaders believe said bursts may be related to the ill-fated Lima Project, which was led by McBride's father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), a legendary astronaut whose mission was to discover intelligent life in outer space. The Lima Project took Clifford & his crew to Neptune, where they lost contact with them. But these bursts cause a re-evaluation, & Roy is assigned to travel to the Moon & Mars in an attempt to make radio contact with his father, who is now believed to be alive near Neptune. Over-colonized, Moon dwellers battle congestion & pirates. Then it's onto Mars, where Roy's stoic tenacity is questioned by enigmatic Helen Lantros (Ruth Negga). SpaceCom hopes Roy can reach his father, stop the disturbances & halt the calamitous events. But drama ensues.
Technically, 'Ad Astra' contains 2 hours of impressive filmmaking. The acting is solid. Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography is astounding; capturing the vastness of space. The futuristic sets are wondrous. The action - when there IS some - is well choreographed, staged & executed. The sound design is crisp. Max Richter's score is haunting. And the exploration into the deep, dark essence of humanity is palpable. This is a good film. Having said that, it left me a bit cold {not unlike other space operas, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, last yr.'s First Man, and others}. And I'm afraid that, while I desperately want to love James Gray's canon of films, there's always something about them that prevents me from loving them. They are beautiful, well acted, but produce a distancing effect for me. For all the positives here, I didn't overly care about what was going on.
Brad Pitt escapes criticism from me, here. If the film succeeds at all, it is because of his subtly moving performance as this man who, abandoned by his father, carries his rickety emotional conditioning as a badge of honor. He actually reminds me of Ryan Gosling's Neil Armstrong from last yr.'s First Man; cols, clinical, analytical, unable to attach himself to the people in his life. But Pitt's eyes convey so much; when he allows himself to express the smallest ounce of emotion, his {and my} tears spilled over. Donald Sutherland is quite good in an extremely limited role. Ruth Negga {Oscar-nommed a few yr.'s ago from Loving} has an IT factor that made me wish she were in the story more, as well. And Tommy Lee Jones is great in his few scenes.
If 'Ad Astra' resonates with audiences, at all, it is for those with daddy issues, people who crave solitude {and why}, & for those obsessed with knowing the unknown. To that, this film is similar to Gray's last film, The Lost City of Z, where someone travels to faraway places to find new civilization, much to the detriment of their domestic life. Other than this film being 'cold' in tone, it also doesn't thrill plot-wise. Is it so much about discovering if Clifford is alive or dead? Nah. Or that he is responsible for the catastrophe happening on Earth? Not really. No, the plot mainly relies on the surface dangers of an existential voyage, the tricky father-son dynamic, and why Roy is as closed-off as he is. There is a lot to like about 'Ad Astra', but I wanted to love it.