Wright or Wrong: Ad Astra

In the near future, Commander Roy McBride grapples with the recent revelation that his father, long believed dead on a space mission intended to discover life on other planets and with whom he holds a complicated relationship, is alive and may be related to odd scientific phenomena causing debilitating electronic blackouts on Earth.

Before the problem escalates to send humanity back to the dark ages, Roy must conquer his emotional baggage after a lifetime of emotional suppression in order to literally cross the solar system and back for the fate of humanity as we know it.

One might not expect such an emotional journey to be crafted from a director shown to be as introspective James Gray but "Ad Astra" has a lot to say about the need for humanity to healthily come to terms with its emotions in the face of our perception of logic and rationale being something attainable only in a vacuum devoid of feelings. Admittedly, the biggest problem with "Ad Astra" is the presentation of its story; Gray's direction, enforcing a slower and deliberate pacing style as well as technical choices made to enhance character-centric atmosphere run counter-intuitive to the frenetic and kinetic trappings of blockbuster formatting.

Brad Pitt in Ad Astra. Images courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

Despite this however, the movie becomes heavily reliant on monologues delivered by Brad Pitt regarding his emotional state and pontificating on his own perception of his life up to this point that it almost feels like the movie cuts corners in the name of telling instead of showing to speed the film up for less patient audiences. While far from experience shattering, this flaw becomes so prevalent that I can't help but speculate on whether or not a more meditative director's cut of the film ala "Blade Runner" exists that had to get hacked down to make the pass on a studio executive level. Whatever may or may not have happened to "Ad Astra" in post production however, the final film that we have received is still a very welcome and very thoughtful adventure movie.

Pitt's journey will ring powerfully for anyone that's ever been raised in an environment favoring personal emotional suppression by authority over actually dealing with problems with complex solutions but should be nevertheless solvable and much of that is hinged on his performance, portraying a man that is dealing with some painful baggage but shines through as a determined and resourceful individual that won't be stopped by his pain, even as he comes to accept the need to come to terms with it rather than push it back down again.

Add in a painfully blunt and cynical but undeniably true outlook that capitalism may be the only way space colonization comes to pass in our lifetime, leading to a gaudy and sardonically corporate looking future complete with brand advertisement galore and a dedication to fairly grounded aesthetics that keep space looking both wondrous and dangerous all at once, and the end result becomes one of the more unique adventure movies from a visual perspective to come along in quite some time whether the emotional investment lands or not.

Fortunately "Ad Astra's" ability to link a man grappling with the reality of his father loving his job more than himself actually manages to blend well with scenes featuring lunar roving space pirate shootouts. That's an impressive feat in and of itself.

4 out of 5