Ad Astra

Ad Astra

Many of the science fiction movies are about people who need to travel through space in order to discover themselves and thus their real purpose is known but none can quite offer a ride like James Gray’s “Ad Astra.” This movie is dense in terms of theme and rich visually too; therefore, it won’t work for those looking for an action packed adventure (it’s more Solaris than Gravity or The Martian), although it does have great effects beyond what meets eye serving as an inquiry into masculinity as well as commentary on becoming our fathers besides searching for god whom we think abandoned us. This kind storytelling is special because it has never been done before while being supported by Brad Pitt’s best performance ever plus outstanding technical achievements from different parts. It’s an extraordinary film.

In a spacesuit nobody can be cooler than Roy McBride(Pitt). In the not so distant future where space travels frequently happen, he becomes a legend for always keeping his heart rate under 80 even when he falls from sky like in one early scene. A power surge originating near Neptune, which happens to be the last place anyone heard from famous mission called The Lima Project whose aim was to go further than any other human being had gone before and look back at rest of universe hoping find intelligent life forms there according suits responsible for space exploration.

And guess who captained this ship? None other than Roy’s dad Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) whom Roy believed dead all along until now that they realize may still be alive somewhere out there after causing explosion on earth among thousands other deaths caused by same event that initiated his fall from height into earth atmosphere. They send him Mars try communicate with father who has been presumed dead many years hoping reply could enable them know where exactly he is located between stars.

“Ad Astra” contains a religious allegory about earthly disasters possibly created by an absent creator who seems to have given up on world because everyone hopeless but it needs not be emphasized in such a manner that takes away from its urgency; if anything, science fictions usually involve quests for meaning but this one goes further by telling man’s story about searching for his maker and demanding answers including reasons behind abandonment.

First stop on Mcbride’s journey after leaving earth orbit is moon briefly depicted as tourist trap complete with Subway then mars which marks farthest point human beings have colonized Gray’s last film “The Lost City of Z” showed us how travel changes people however even though hero whose heart rate never changes leaves behind familiar routines along safe paths leading to realization that everything may go wrong at any moment. This director always maintains closeness between characters making sure we only see things through protagonist eyes so that even though there many big ideas explored they still seem very personal

Don’t get me wrong, but it’s a highly philosophical movie with action elements in it too, and through McBride’s journey they feel like real stakes. People die. People screw up. People are selfish and scared and greedy. It feels like the people he meets along the way–including Donald Sutherland and Ruth Negga in some of his most straightforward encounters with other characters exist to humanize him. The perfect man who fell to Earth becomes less perfect as he gets closer to his creator and witnesses the imperfections of those around him.

Throughout all this, Pitt is carrying the emotional and physical weight in one of his career’s most understated performances; many directors might have been too bedazzled by the space around or within which their hero finds himself perpetually adrift, but Gray lets the camera rest on Brad Pitt’s face in ways no director ever has before, with arguably no performance ever more complex (Pitt’s).

At every turn Pitt avoids showy choices, but he also doesn’t err in the opposite direction McBride isn’t stoic so much as perfectly calibrated emotionally; indeed 2019 may be Brad Pitt’s best year ever as an actor, this alongside “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,” both instant classic performances that showcase how underrated he is as an actor given how completely different they are from each other.

Of course with James Gray you know there will be craftsmanship. The colorwork alone here is staggering Hoyte Van Hoytema does for Gray what Deakins did for Denis Villeneuve: turns his signature black-and-whites into shades of rusty orange (on Mars) or blue gray green shot through steel fog (the vastness of space). Moonlight was never this unromantic on film before. I still don’t know how Max Richter managed to make a score that feels both personally creepy and all-out epic at once.

We’re currently in what some are calling the era of highbrow sci-fi, where movies like “Gravity” and “Arrival” make hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office and get nominated for all the awards. Neither seems likely for “Ad Astra.” It’s a bit too weird to be a hit with mainstream audiences, and it’s being put out by a studio in flux as it transitions into Disney ownership.

But time will be kind to Gray’s film; it might take place in space but it tells something that’s always true about how we try to figure ourselves out when what we used to believe in (and lean on) stops doing the job. It’s a very moving movie for me it got me in the last couple scenes so stick around. Sit with it. It pays off at the end.

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