Ad Astra’s cinematic shots are more exciting than the drama it offers

Ad Astra opens in a not-so-distant future where humanity has decided to search far out into the galaxy for life. One of these people pioneering this movement is Roy McBride’s (Brad Pitt) father, Clifford. Set out on a ship called the LIMA Project to look for extraterrestrial life when Roy was only 9, then vanished off the grid when he was 29, Roy believed his whole life he is dead. Until, NASA tells him he may be alive just hiding, and the only one who can lure him out, is of course, Roy.

Throughout the whole film we are guided by the internal monologue of Roy, which does help give us a deeper look into the character and what he is thinking and feeling. We can clearly see that he holds a great deal of resentment towards his father for leaving and still walls himself off to this day as a result. Brad Pitt plays this character fantastically. We see him suppress and compartmentalize his sadness and anger as he tries to remain stoic for the program. Through it does all come out in one fantastic bout when he does finally receive the first response from his father in years. I feel empathy for him and his situation as he struggles between the decision to confront the father who abandoned him.

Most of the drama of this film is talking. It is Brad Pitt talking out his issues to a virtual therapist, or him sitting down with a higher up about the LIMA project, etc. There are very few action sequences, which I won’t spoil. But most of your time in the film will be spent in a room talking to someone, floating in space, or just in a spaceship traveling from point A to B. Which I am actually totally fine with because the visuals as you are in these spaces are some of the best you will ever see and also, the plot did not grab me as much. Roy McBride as a character grabbed me. But not Clifford. We get conflicting stories throughout the film saying “he was a hero”. Then “wait, he might not have been?”. Then, suddenly, “he was a horrible man”, which was all told via voice messages and second-hand stories. We never get character development from Clifford or see his descent like we do in films like Martian or Interstellar.

The ending of the film, as Roy and Clifford first meet, was also jarring and made me considering the fact that we did not get character development from Clifford.

The one aspect that carries this film through and through is the stellar cinematography and beautiful orchestral score. All throughout you are reminded of the vastness of space, the loneliness of it, but just the breathtaking beauty. Meanwhile this is all accompanied by soft pianos, violins, and organs softly in the background. It is almost reminiscent of Hans Zimmer’s score for Interstellar. So, if you are looking for something fantastic and similar, I would highly recommend.

Overall, the story of Roy McBride and his father did not catch my eye, but what did was a masterpiece in sci-fi cinematography and score as I was lost in space.