Ad Astra - Review
Director: James Gray
Cast: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland
In the near distant future, the entirety of human life is threatened when unexplained power surges hit the Solar System. Astronaut Roy McBride (Pitt) is approached by U.S Space Command and informed that his missing father of 16 years, H. Clifford McBride (Jones), is suspected to be alive and that the surges are a result of Clifford's "Lima Project" in deep space. Roy accepts the mission to go to Mars and establish communication with his father in order to prevent a worldwide catastrophe.
As deeply personal as it is visually gorgeous, Ad Astra is perhaps the most artful and impactful big budget movie since Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (2017). The film relies less on action sequences (although there are a handful of those to be found) and instead favours an introspective view on humanity, touching on densely thematic and allegoric philosophies. Gray enacts all of the above with a sharp incisiveness and has elected the most compelling leading man in Pitt to convey the film's meaningful message.
Unlike his comedic and virtuoso turn in Tarantino's Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, Pitt delivers a much more subtle and vulnerable performance as the stoic and emotionally stunted astronaut. Roy's heart rate rarely peaks above 80 BPM, even when faced with probable death and his expression remains passive and unrevealing of any inner turmoil that he may be experiencing. However, through Roy's melancholic voiceover we are indulged to the thoughts that plague him and drive his self-destructive behaviour. He yearns for closeness and intimacy but his distance from it has rendered him an emotional recluse and virtually incapable of addressing his issues. Roy is a flawed protagonist and willingly knowingly so, but his voyage into the vastness of the Solar System promises salvation.
His coldness has created a rift between him and his wife, who so desperately wants to form a reconnection with her husband. Being loved and not being able to wholly love in return without fear leads to a lonely existence - an affliction that Roy and his absent father share."In the end, the son suffers the sins of the father" Roy broods in voiceover and the film successfully delves into the burden, legacy and responsibilities that we inherit from our parents and the heartbreaking experience of watching your heroes fade before your very eyes. Space is a void that presents thousands upon thousands of questions and offering very few answers in return but Ad Astra proposes one very clear solution; human connection and intimacy is what gives our lives purpose, and the love that, if we're lucky, we get to experience is the only answer that truly matters. Sometimes it takes a trip to the stars to find ourselves.
Moving, ruminative and deeply existential, Ad Astra never sacrifices its intimacy and thoughtfulness for the sake of a dazzling spectacle. Not everyone will find the film's sincerity and sentimentality agreeable, but Gray's efforts mark a giant leap for the art of the blockbuster.
EB
Cast: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland
As deeply personal as it is visually gorgeous, Ad Astra is perhaps the most artful and impactful big budget movie since Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (2017). The film relies less on action sequences (although there are a handful of those to be found) and instead favours an introspective view on humanity, touching on densely thematic and allegoric philosophies. Gray enacts all of the above with a sharp incisiveness and has elected the most compelling leading man in Pitt to convey the film's meaningful message.
Unlike his comedic and virtuoso turn in Tarantino's Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, Pitt delivers a much more subtle and vulnerable performance as the stoic and emotionally stunted astronaut. Roy's heart rate rarely peaks above 80 BPM, even when faced with probable death and his expression remains passive and unrevealing of any inner turmoil that he may be experiencing. However, through Roy's melancholic voiceover we are indulged to the thoughts that plague him and drive his self-destructive behaviour. He yearns for closeness and intimacy but his distance from it has rendered him an emotional recluse and virtually incapable of addressing his issues. Roy is a flawed protagonist and willingly knowingly so, but his voyage into the vastness of the Solar System promises salvation.
His coldness has created a rift between him and his wife, who so desperately wants to form a reconnection with her husband. Being loved and not being able to wholly love in return without fear leads to a lonely existence - an affliction that Roy and his absent father share."In the end, the son suffers the sins of the father" Roy broods in voiceover and the film successfully delves into the burden, legacy and responsibilities that we inherit from our parents and the heartbreaking experience of watching your heroes fade before your very eyes. Space is a void that presents thousands upon thousands of questions and offering very few answers in return but Ad Astra proposes one very clear solution; human connection and intimacy is what gives our lives purpose, and the love that, if we're lucky, we get to experience is the only answer that truly matters. Sometimes it takes a trip to the stars to find ourselves.
Moving, ruminative and deeply existential, Ad Astra never sacrifices its intimacy and thoughtfulness for the sake of a dazzling spectacle. Not everyone will find the film's sincerity and sentimentality agreeable, but Gray's efforts mark a giant leap for the art of the blockbuster.
EB
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