Brad Pitt stars in new film “Ad Astra” directed by James Gray. Photo from IMDB.
“Ad Astra” is a science fiction action drama directed by James Gray that follows the story of an astronaut (Brad Pitt) who is assigned to go to Mars and try to contact his presumed deceased father. The father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, is crucial in stopping electrical power surges coming from his ship.
This film has a good set up and interesting world building that utilizes the future of space travel being as easy as a plane ride and making other planets similar to Earth with malls and roads. This aspect, complete with fantastic visuals simply doesn’t have a good enough story to sustain it’s two hour runtime.
To explain, “Ad Astra” is a slow-burn film with some good performances and interesting ideas surrounding the solar system that never goes anywhere unexpected. There are a few entertaining space sequences that incorporate a good deal of suspense and yet are too far and few between to make a difference. The film has just enough interesting action sequences and intriguing mystery surrounding Tommy Lee Jones’s space mission that keep the film investing yet never completely interesting.
The film’s performances are mainly good except for some of Pitt’s monotone voice overs that feel unnecessary around half way through. Otherwise, actors Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and Ruth Negga are very good in their brief roles to advance the plot along.
Furthermore, the film’s visuals are truly breathtaking with plenty of space sequences that feel unlike anything I’ve seen before. The problem is that the film lacks any real tension with its main plot of saving the world from the “surge” never becomes fully investing.
The theme of a restrained father-son relationship is there and yet never fully realized because of the pretty slow second half that barely goes anywhere unexpected. Even some of the film’s dialogue feels vaguely stilted due to its monotone delivery by some actors especially during Brad Pitts voice over during the second half of the film.
There are some very odd moments such as breaking into a spacecraft or some weird cinematography on the Mars station towards the middle of the film that simply feel unnecessary to the overall story. “Ad Astra” does have a pretty emotionally effective ending that simply goes on too long to live the lasting impact it really wants to have.
Overall, “Ad Astra” is a visually-interesting sci-fi film with an intriguing premise and some good performances that suffers from an overly dark tone and slow pace without any real surprises to make it worthwhile. For me, “Ad Astra” receives a six out of 10 rating.