(This is Ad Astra film review, which is an original movie featuring Brad Pitt in Sci-fi story)
Original movie, especially Sci-fi, that is both big budget and is not part of the sequel/reboot/remake faction is getting rare nowadays. And Ad Astra appears in this year as one of the few original movies that tries its best to tell a compelling story with its own twist.
It is directed by James Gray and stars Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland. Without further ado, let’s delve into the Ad Astra film review below!
Premise
When a mysterious power surge threatens the safety of the whole solar system, Major Roy is informed that it originates from an experimental project of his father. And thus he goes off to search for him…and dangers lurk behind the deep dark space. Could he manage to find his father while surviving the unknown threats?
Ad Astra Film Review
Ad Astra. If you go in expecting interstellar, you will be disappointed. This is much closer to gravity… But at the same time not exactly either. This movie is a slow burn and is not for everyone. I won’t talk much about the plot here because its something better experienced firsthand. This movie has a lot to say, it has quite a few themes however a lot of them are sort of touch and go and the film ends up feeling a bit unfocused.
Premise/Theme
The main themes are that of the relationship between absentee father and neglected son which is actually a pretty common parent-child relationship especially with fathers belonging to the baby boomer generation and by extension how damaging toxic masculinity can be to yourself and people around you.
Touch and go themes include how in this modern, hyper-connected society, there are some of us who just wish to be left alone but at the same time when we achieve that isolation, we come to realise that humans are social creatures and we need that interaction to maintain some semblance of sanity.
An extension of that also showcases a… Dystopian(?) future where consumerism is king, space travel and space stations are luxuries only reserved for the wealthiest and the days of space travel to explore new frontiers and boldly go where no man has gone before are slowly becoming a thing of the past.
Character/ CGI
This film only works because of two elements.
A) our charismatic anchor of a leading man, Brad Pitt, who delivers a very nuanced and controlled performance here which not everyone could have made compelling to watch.
B) the gorgeous visuals and amazing cgi. The film has such an interesting vision of the future and it truly makes you think… What if? You know. Of course this vision is realised with the help of cgi and well designed sets. There were only 2 things I found distracting.
The cgi of the zero G scenes, there were certain moments I found them a little… Fake? Like they aren’t moving how you’d really move in zero G, not sure whether it was a purposeful flaw there as it could be a stylistic choice. Also there’s a scene at the end where Pitt has a beard and I think it’s cgi??? And not a very good one at that lol.
There are action scenes and they are few and far between as this film is very much more a drama but when they do come on, they are absolutely intense and I was hooked.
This film isn’t a masterpiece but it was absolutely gorgeous to watch and had themes that made you think. I really enjoyed it but I once again reiterate it is not for everyone, if you’re looking for an exciting space action movie, ad astra is not it.
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