Ad Astra

Space travel is often used in science-fiction films as a way to explore human nature, either in the form of our natural curiosity of what exists beyond our atmosphere, our need to survive in the harshest, most unforgiving of places, our quests to give our lives meaning by our accomplishments, or even just our relationships with our fellow men being tested.

Years into the future, Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is recruited by U.S. Space Command to track down his esteemed father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), whom they believe is responsible in causing life-threatening power surges all across the solar system with experiments he’s performed after he left Roy behind as a boy to find life on other planets. During his travel through space, Roy is forced to come to grips with the dark side of his father’s mission and how his coldness has rubbed off on him as he struggles to patch things up with his wife (Liv Tyler).

From the movie’s opening scene, I thought Ad Astra was going to be just a standard, survivalist sci-flick, more in the style of Gravity, and I wasn’t sure why critics were calling it the “next 2001”. But as the film went on, I was more and more aware of why they were giving it that label, and not just in the obvious homages.

Ad Astra takes the epic and makes it personal. It uses what would usually be a romantic and humanity-affirming quest for intelligent life, and shows the ugliness of such ambition. It tells the story of a scared, fragile little boy in a man’s body going through a complicated relationship with his father. It’s not interested in answering one of mankind’s most festering questions at all, but instead in the implications of asking such a question and the consequences of finding an answer to it. I was hooked the entire time. It was such a unique experience that I only wish the narration wasn’t quite so heavy-handed at times.

I wasn’t just enthralled by the questions themselves, but how the movie gave me time to ruminate on them. I love films that give the story room to breathe, and one like this that is all about exploring the cold loneliness of space that drives us to find life in it was the perfect choice for it. The still moments allow us to absorb the inner pain that Roy is going through.

What made it better was how committed the film was to display such loneliness. Even the more thrilling parts were depicted with amazing subtlety and even horror, leaving no room for cheap thrills. An encounter with lunar pirates (as silly as that may sound) is actually played very straight and not “exciting” in any way. Although the movie uses the space setting to its advantage in scenes like this, it’s never over-the-top, nor does it aim to tug on the heartstrings in the same way Interstellar or Gravity did. The bleakness is always on display, except for again, the first big set-piece.

It also helps that Brad Pitt absolutely sells the repressed fear and anxiety his character is going through. Tommy Lee Jones is also great at displaying the crazed Ahab-like obsession that brings him further and further from humanity. Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler, and Ruth Negga, aren’t given as much to do, but they do just fine with what they do have.

Science-fiction, in my opinion, is in its purest form when it’s used to tell human stories; narratives that make us question where we are in the universe, as well as the nature of humanity and its relationship with technology.

The genre itself is ripe for this kind of material, and has been used for such practically since its inception. There has been a renewed interest in both Hollywood and independent circles in more challenging sci-fi, like Ex Machina, Arrival, Annihilation, High Life, and Blade Runner 2049, paying homage to the greats like Close Encounters, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes, and Metropolis. Ad Astra fits perfectly into this new trend and reigns as one of the best films of the year. I say that it’s a type of film that audiences should make that great discovery on.

I know some of you may not be on board with more subdued and slow-paced space exploration movies, but I promise that the beautiful cinematography, fine performances, and intelligent questions brought up, it’s more than worth the wait.