Film Review: Ad Astra

Originally published January 16, 2020

Ad Astra’s constant pop culture reference point is Apocalypse Now, but it’s far from the only thing James Gray’s film pulls from; Mad Max, road trip films and the films of Andrei Tarkovsky and Terrence Malick are all faucets tapped. Ad Astra’s problem is that Gray can’t synthesize these elements into something original. Even for star Brad Pitt’s magnetism and performance, Ad Astra feels like a lesser director playing pretend rather than a unique piece of work.

The film is a technical achievement and a visual stunner. The production design and special effects sell the idea that these characters are in space. The sets feel lived in and real. They’re dirty, grimy and a little worse for the wear. It’s a far cry from the squeaky clean vessels and stations usually seen in science fiction films and it’s a welcome turn toward realism.

The script is the film’s major problem; not necessarily in its themes, but in its execution. Ad Astra is thematically quite substantial. It discusses masculinity and family legacy in a way that sticks with the viewer after the credits roll. Brad Pitt’s Roy is continuously reminded of his father’s greatness even though Tommy Lee Jones’ Clifford is far from a perfect man.

Both are consumed by their work and one is ultimately destroyed by his “destiny.” The other learns not to be and how to open up to the people in his life.

Unfortunately, Ad Astra tells us these things rather than allow Brad Pitt to show us. The constant and on-the-nose narration hamstrings Pitt’s performance. His face is blank throughout most of the film. The audience is told Roy’s heart rate never rises above 80 beats per minute, which aside from making zero sense, telegraphs to the audience that Roy is a stone-cold badass.

But the film never shows him being a stone-cold badass. The film shows Roy to be a pretty emotional person who’s well aware of his genetics, family legacy and their impact on him as a person. He is a person filled with rage after a fellow astronaut dies and he talks about it in a psychological evaluation. He’s filled with optimism by the end of the film, reconnecting with his estranged wife. This only happens after a commander first tells him he is exceptional. Roy then responds that space is a “dangerous business” and that’s its “best not to subject others to it” after he’s told, to his face, that he’s been married once with no children.

And that’s not even the most egregious example of overly expository dialogue. Yeesh. Ad Astra makes a decent double bill with Brad Pitt’s other star vehicle in 2019, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Both films tackle similar topics, albeit in very different ways. Yet where Hollywood benefitted from its script, Ad Astra would have been better served shutting up and letting space do the talking.

Final score: 7.3/10