A One Mann’s Movies review of “Ad Astra” (2019).
I really love sci-fi films with high ambitions. “Psychological” sci-fi like “Solaris” for example. And “Arrival” topped my movie list for 2016. In similar vein, “Ad Astra” is also a movie concerning attempted contact with alien life. So I had high hopes for it. But would this Sci-fi epic ultimately challenge my brain again, or end up in the “Crystal Skull” sin bin with a dodgy alien meeting?
Bob the Movie Man’s Rating:
Certification:
US: PG-13; UK: 12.
The Plot
Set a few years into the future, Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is the son of a legend. H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) was a space exploration pioneer. His picture hangs in the NASA hall of fame next to Buzz Aldrin’s. McBride senior went missing presumed dead near Neptune during a mission. The mission was to get outside the Sun’s heliosphere to scan for potential alien transmissions from nearby solar systems.
But something went badly wrong, and now the earth (and potentially all human life migrating into the solar system) is at risk from massive electromagnetic bursts arising from Neptune. Is Clifford alive and involved in the emerging crisis? The authorities send Roy on a secret mission to Mars to try to communicate with his father.
“The sun is not your friend” – why space visors have pull-down shades. (Source: 20th Century Fox).
Majestic cinematography
Let’s start with a real positive. The cinematography here is first rate. Hoyte Van-Hoytema – well known for “Interstellar“, “Spectre” and “Dunkirk” – knocks this out of the park. In the same manner as “Blade Runner 2049“, many of the frames of this film could be blown up and placed on art gallery walls around the world.
Add to that some cracking film editing from John Axelrad and Lee Haugen, and some beautiful sound design and I predict the movie should feature strongly in the technical awards at the Oscars.
Point it in the general direction and light the blue touchpaper! But impressive visual effect throughout. (Source: 20th Century Fox).
But “science fiction” has the word “science” in it….
I’d like to park my physics brain sometimes when I go to the movies, but I just can’t. So I really need sci-fi films to live up to the science part of their name. There are a number of areas, particularly at the back end of the film, when credibility goes out the window.
I can’t really say more here without giving spoilers, so I will leave them to a “Spoiler section” below the trailer…. don’t read this if you haven’t seen the film!
What IS this movie trying to be?
In my view the film is pretty schizophrenic in nature. This is what confused me about the trailer, jumping from a cerebral sci-fi vibe to moon buggy shoot-outs.
On one hand, its the standard (but always interesting) tale of a child abandoned by a hero-father and his attempts to reconcile what that’s done to his life and relationships. How can he ever square that circle without contacting his dad? As the film’s tag-line goes “The answers we seek are just outside our reach”.
On the other there are episodes of action that would fit happily into an action scene from Star Trek.
The two elements never really gel, leading to the feeling of the film having been written as a set of disconnected pages and the writers then saying “Hey, Jimmy, once you’ve finished making us the tea, could you just write a few lines to join those pages up into a shooting script?”. Then later, “What do you mean Jimmy you used BOTH piles of paper?!”.
A scene that confused the hell out of me in the trailer… what is the film trying to be? A serious drama or a space shoot-em-up? (Source: 20th Century Fox).
The greatest sin of all
Unfortunately, the film commits a cardinal sin in my book. Those of you who follow my blog regularly might know what I’m going to say….
Voiceovers! I BLOODY HATE THEM!! It’s at the very extreme of what the great Mark Kermode calls “show don’t tell”.
Here, we don’t just have a little Brad Pitt set-up intro and he then shuts up. He just drones on and on and on with his inner thoughts. At least Matt Damon in “The Martian” got away with it by cleverly filming his video blog. And it’s not as if there isn’t a prime opportunity to use that device here! He is constantly having to talk to a computer to do his regular psychological tests! But that option is not picked up.
BIG BLACK MARK!
But the film has its moments
Bubbling under all of this are some stand-out moments where, for me, the film soared. One of them (ultimately setting me up for as much of a disappointing fall as some of the characters!) is the stunning opening shots aboard the “Sky Antenna” structure. Impressive and exciting, with falling bits of metal playing Russian Roulette with Roy’s iife.
A terrific opening… Pitt on the Sky Antenna. (Source: 20th Century Fox).
Another strength for me is Brad Pitt. I’ve seen wildly differing views on this, but for me its a quiet but strong acting performance. There are many scenes when he has no lines, his inner (and our outer) voice gives it a miss, and he acts the socks off his peers. What with “Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood” its been a really good year for Pitt. I suspect “Hollywood” might be the one though that gets him his fourth acting Oscar nomination.
For a 2019 film, it’s actually a very male-heavy film, made more so by Pitt’s love-interest (Liv Tyler) being given virtually nothing to do other that look a bit sulky from a distance. I’m not even sure she gets a single line in the whole film! (“Miss Tyler – please sign for your script”. “But, there’s nothing in the envelope?”. “Quite Miss Tyler, Quite”).
The only decent female role goes to Ruth Negga as the Mars colony leader. Even then, she only has limited screen time and although having the title “Mars CEO” really doesn’t seem to have much power.
Elsewhere, its great to see both Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland back on the big screen again.
Space Cowboy back in space. Great to see Donald Sutherland turn in a great performance as old-timer Donald Pruitt. (Source: 20th Century Fox).
Final Thoughts
As any veteran RAF person will know, “Ad Astra” is Latin for “To the stars”. In space terms this is less “to the stars” and more “just beyond your front door”.
James Gray‘s film undoubtedly has high ambitions but, through its spasmodic script, never really gets there. It has the beauty of “Gravity” but none of the refinement; there’s an essence of “Space Odyssey” in places, but it never goes for the mystical angle; it has the potential to reflect the near-insanity through loneliness of “Silent Running” but never commits fully to that storyline. But if its novelty you’re looking for, it ticks the “floating monkeys in space” box!
I think it’s worth seeing on the big screen just for its visual beauty and Pitt’s performance. And as a major block-buster sci-fi film I enjoyed it to a degree. But for me it had just so many irritations that it failed to live up to my high expectations. A great shame and a frustrating disappointment.
But at least it’s great news for Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic shareholders. They can be assured that the future is bright for their “long distance” flights in the future!
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6AaSMfXHbA.
Spoiler section
Don’t pass this point if you haven’t seen the film… you have been warned!
Dodgy science!
- Douglas Adams in the “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” famously wrote that “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” Why then do the writers James Gray and Ethan Gross think it’s acceptable to mock this concept not ONCE but TWICE:
- Roy pushes off from the Lima project, using just his knees! We’ll quietly ignore the implausibility of him using a metal panel for protection against Neptune’s rings, many of which I suspect are the size of cars and probably orbiting the planet at bullet-speed (remember “polo-man” from “Gravity“?). We’ll also ignore that the momentum of the rocks hitting his shield will impart negative momentum to his forward motion. But when his “wild guess” at where to aim in space puts him, on emerging from the rings, a few hundred yards from his ship, my eyes rolled back in my head. (When I came out of the cinema, I forgot where I parked my car, but I just ‘pushed off’ in one direction and – do you know – I found it….. NOT!).;
- Roy announces his attention to “ride” the Lima explosion back to earth. He points the ship vaguely at the sun and waits for the enormous and unpredictable wave to hit. Then ends up back at earth! P-p-p–lease!
- There’s one of the most unrealistic uses of gaffer tape since Dwayne Johnson‘s exploits in “Skyscraper“, making a smashed helmet airtight with it. (Now true, the captain died, so perhaps this was a case of hope over reality).
- Roy – after an extended period of entering the Mars atmosphere at the wrong attitude – wrestles the controls off the pilot and then – miraculously – descends directly onto the original landing point!
Familiar story for Lee Jones?
Was the story of Tommy Lee Jones (sacrificing himself and flying off into space, to eventually sit and die on Neptune perhaps?) an in-joke for movie-goers who know their movies? This is EXACTLY what happens to Tommy Lee Jones‘s character at the end of “Space Cowboys” (swap Neptune for the Moon)! And that also starred Donald Sutherland as fellow old-crock astronaut!
But this does give me the opportunity to comment that the performance of Lee Jones at the end of the movie is absolutely superb, one of the outstanding supporting performances of the year in my book.
Very generous Bob. I agree Brad Pitt did a good job but I was bored very early on. By the end I assumed I had dozed off (I don’t think I did) as things didn’t come together. It seemed to have more holes than a string vest. I won’t give it away but his journey home was way too far for my fetch!
Reluctant 1 Star.
Ha ha – good to see a film that you really dislike Trev! Thanks for the comment.