The 2010’s saw a surge of
thinking man’s space films where space travel is often used as a metaphor for
the protagonist confronting some aspect of life, whether they’re running away from
it (Gravity), correcting it (Interstellar), or finding closure
and atonement (First
Man). What differentiates Ad Astra from the rest of the flock is
that the baggage is in space. While the awe and majesty of the stars is
replaced with a great inky emptiness, and no matter how far away you may get
from home, the suicidal despair of it still follows.
Our story is set in the near
future when an electrical surge from Neptune reaches all the way to Earth. The
government suspects that it has something to do with the Lima Project, a debunked
mission to find intelligent life, and its head researcher Cliff McBride (Tommy
Lee Jones), who many people thought died decades ago. To find the answers, they
send Cliff’s son Roy (Brad Pitt) to an underground base on Mars, the only place
unaffected by the surge, so that he can find him and put an end to the mission
before another surge happens and wipes out all life in the solar system.
One thing that makes it so
different from its high-concept hard sci-fi brethren is its jaundiced view on
space travel. There are hints that we’ve moved to the stars and funneled our
resources into planetary colonization and space exploration, most notably a heart
stopping opening scene on a stratosphere penetrating space antenna, the further
we delve into it, the less awe-inspiring it becomes. A pit stop on the Moon
reveals that it’s no different from a run of the mill shopping mall (it even
has a Subway), while the lunar surface is being fought over by rival mining companies
and moon pirates, but aside from a pretty tense attack from said pirates, is
treated just like that: a pit stop. The Mars base, by comparison, is a never-ending
labyrinth of concrete walls awash in a hazy red light. And on the rocket ride
between the Moon and Mars and between Mars and Roy’s final destination, he’s
met with grizzly deaths that leave him the sole passenger in his already
isolated voyage.
And in that vast emptiness,
Roy is left with mostly himself and his own thoughts, manifested in this case
by a gruff whispered voice-over reminiscent of a late era Terrence Malick film,
where he ruminates on his own loneliness and the hole left by his father’s
absence. The metaphorical becomes painstakingly literal as space becomes more vast,
empty and void of life the closer he gets to his target. In that sense, Ad
Astra is arguably more Apocalypse Now than it is 2001: A Space
Odyssey. Although there’s a revolving door of supporting cast members,
including Roy’s estranged wife (Liv Tyler), an old NASA comrade of Clifford’s
(Donald Sutherland), and a Mars administrator (Ruth Negga) whose life was
directly and negatively impacted by Clifford’s actions, this is Brad Pitt’s
movie through and through, as he carries this film with the same taciturn
aloofness that Ryan Gosling brought to Neil Armstrong in First Man.
Tommy Lee Jones also serves his typical grumpy old man routine, even if he’s
mostly shown in video logs that gradually reveal the deterioration of his mindset
and how it jeopardizes the mission.
Keeping with the theme of
space travel being overrated and healing parental wounds being a gradual
process, the movie is the slowest of slow burns. Although it reaches just above
the two hour mark, there are stretches where you really do feel like you’ve
been cooped up in a tin can barreling through space, especially in that third
act, and especially when they’re wrapping things up and provide enough false
endings to give Return of the King a run for its money.
Ad Astra is a
puzzling movie. That doesn’t mean its plot is super complicated or there’s a
bunch of loaded imagery or symbolism just begging to be interpreted, but rather
that it’s hard to make one’s mind up on. I didn’t hate it, but I’m having a
hard time deciding if I like it. That said, it’s still expertly crafted and
there’s definitely a certain stripe of film fan who’s more enthusiastic about
this kind of movie than I am.
7/10
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