Ad Astra

I am liking this trend we're starting to see that one time a year we have a pretty unique science fiction film that defies the conventions of the mainstream science fiction films we get too often. These are not movies that are going to have a franchise or really make a whole lot of money, but they do go down as the more cerebral and under appreciated films of the year. Previous films in this category have included Annihilation, Ex Machina, Interstellar, Edge of Tomorrow, Snowpiercer, and others. This year, I think the underappreciated science fiction film award is probably going to go to Ad Astra.

The movie takes place in a "near future" where space travel is becoming more and more common and humanity is making its way across the solar system. It doesn't go too far with flying cars, or other science fiction tropes but instead creates a seemingly realistic future where technology is expanding and space travel is a huge part of that.

The movie focuses on Major Roy McBride (played by Brad Pitt), an officer in the United States Space Command. Roy is a pretty accomplished officer living in the shadow of his father Clifford McBride who led a team into deep space exploration of the solar system for signs of intelligent life, and never came back. Roy and the rest of Space Command believes that Clifford McBride is dead until a series of solar flares reach Earth and start causing major damage to space infrastructure and these flares seem to be originating from Clifford McBride's original exploration vessel.

Roy is recruited to travel to Mars and reach out to his father in an attempt to save humanity from these reoccurring solar flares. The mission is top secret, and takes Roy through a maze of futuristic intrigue and adventure to try and save his father.

So the truth is, this movie has a lot of ups and a lot of downs. The downs aren't movie ruining, but they are noticeable enough to talk about in a venue like this. I'll talk about the good things first.

I really like Brad Pitt in this movie. I think its easy to point to Brad Pitt as just another big name actor but its movies like this that remind us why he's there. Since he is the constant of the film and the movie centers on him, he carries it and keeps the film interesting, even if its just him hanging out by himself in a space shuttle for around 10 minutes.

When its not Brad Pitt monologing, which I will get to, the movie is a pretty interesting odyssey through space.

The really interesting thing about this film is the world that it creates around the characters. It's establishing a world where humanity is figuring out space travel, how the world might react if living on the moon was available, and kind of the politics of it all with a serious space force that is applicable to the world created.

The movie also takes a page from movies like Gravity and The Martian as it tells a story in a hyper-realistic scientifically accurate space. Imagine if Matt Damon and Sandra Bullock had to deal with space pirates or political agents. The movie by no means a huge action film, but it keeps the action pretty intriguing.

Also, Tommy Lee Jones actually seems to care in this movie.

Tommy Lee Jones is a good example of an actor who was really prominent in the 80's and 90's, earned his accolades, and only appears in films if they really want to, or Disney, or some other studio writes him a huge check for a quick appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger.

I haven't seen Tommy Lee Jones really bring it in a while and its good to see him actually give a little bit of a crap in this movie.

They do some de-aging with some scenes that take place in the past and its done really well. And I loved how the movie portrays Clifford McBride as this young guy in archive footage and it builds up to him.

Overall, the movie has some really great father-son themes that always seem to hit me right in the feels so I will never turn down a movie like that if its done well. Ad Astra does it well for the most part.

One issue I had with the film is that no matter how great Pitt is in the movie, it does not really negate the fact that its a movie about a single dude going on a journey by himself through space with accurate gravity physics.

The movie has moments that feel really drawn out moments that go on for a little bit longer than I would have preferred. It also doesn't really give us enough time to get to know the characters outside of Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones. And I get it, its not really about Donald Sutherland's character, but if you're going to draw the movie out to almost three hours, I wouldn't have minded knowing a little bit more of the interesting world we're living in, the characters in it, or at least the characters that seem to mean the most to Brad Pitt, like his ex-wife played by Liv Tyler.

The movie also has Brat Pitt doing some inner monologues and its kind of weird. They eventually explain why he's doing it... sorta. But it feels weird sometimes that they insert these monologues.

I like how the movie feels very cerebral, but there might be some moments that just feel very drawn out.

Overall, I don't think I'd put Ad Astra above some of the other unique science fiction films I mentioned before, I like movies like Annihilation and Ex Machina more, but I like it enough to carry on this trend that I really like. I do recommend you checking it out if you haven't already.

But those are my thoughts on Ad Astra. What did you think of Ad Astra? How does it compare to the other unique science fiction films that have been coming out over the last few years? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should send in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for Reading!