Writer and director James Gray’s eighth film “Ad Astra” aims for the stars, but unfortunately a deadpan performance from Brad Pitt adds to its mediocrity.
“Ad Astra” sees Brad Pitt playing Roy McBride, an astronaut that embarks on a mission to Neptune to uncover the truth about his missing father, who went missing 30 years before the events in the film. While Roy encounters increasingly hostile environments, he finds himself contemplating what may have happened to his father's mind and what may be happening to his own.
Together, James Gray along with production designer, Kevin Thompson, and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, best known for his work on “Interstellar” and “Her,” create a jaw-dropping near future reality equipped with moon bases and all.
The film begins with Roy working on a terrifyingly tall antenna which is designed to make contact with the furthest reaches of space. There is an electrical blast that sends Roy into a vertigo-inducing fall. This tense opening sequence does a great job of grabbing your attention, but the film has trouble maintaining this level of engagement for the entirety of its two hour and three minute run-time.
The press-pitch for this film is “Apocalypse Now meets 2001,” which is generous to say the least. “Ad Astra” is similar to “Apocalypse Now” in storyline, the main character goes on a personal mission to the outer reaches in search of a previous expedition which appears to have gone off the grid. But this is where the positive comparisons to the classic film end and where the failings of this space-epic begin to take orbit.
The serious, grounded and cerebral story about a man on a journey to the dark heart of mankind by going to the outer reaches of the solar system is regularly broken up by episodes of “Interstellar”-like-action, lunar shootouts and strange encounters. The logic of these scenes is much closer to “Star Wars” then they are to the scenes preceding or proceeding them. This obnoxious tug-of-war between moods is relentless in “Ad Astra” and it causes the film feel like a collage rather than a singular vision.
In terms of films about loneliness in outer space “Ad Astra” does not bring enough originality to stick out from the oversaturated space-movie-market. Even Claire Denis’ “High Life” which came out earlier this year is head and shoulders above ‘Ad Astra’ in terms of originality and a coherent mood palette.
“Ad Astra”is a perfectly adequate movie with awe-inspiring visuals, nuanced acting performances and a notable score from Max Richter. But the lack of a coherent trajectory takes away from the films self-imposed-grandeur. The sleepwalking last hour leaves audiences feeling tired and taxed rather than enthralled and emotionally stimulated.
Ad astra is a Latin phrase meaning “To the stars.” But “Ad Astra,” despite its pretensions, collapses before it reaches anything more than average.
Score 6/10
