Ad Astra
IMAX Dole Cannery
Pupule rating: 3.2 (out of 4)
Brad Pitt's new drama is set in deep space, and as astronaut Roy McBride, the emptiness of his relationships eat away at his soul. This film is very good, and it makes sure that viewers are deep in the void — in multiple ways — like Pitt's Roy McBride. Maybe just a bit too deep, but at least it ends with a crucial glimmer of hope.
Review; First of all, there's nothing quite like the sight of two moon dune buggies (or seven) going full tilt over and through craters, people firing weapons at one another. Has there ever been a film that had a moon shootout on wheels before? This is a small, almost insignificant part of this plot, but I'm probably not the only member of the audience who would've liked a movie filled with this kind crazy fun.
Alas, Ad Astra is not about fun. The setting is the "Near Future", as the intro explains. It is about regret. Selfishness. More regret. The void of a missing father. More regret. Brad Pitt's Roy McBride has sealed off the doors to his emotions, except for the classic American male staples of silence and rage.
But it's not just about emotions, either. Along the way to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, Roy cannot deny that, like his missing father — who is possibly still running a space lab of sorts seeking intelligent alien life forms — he has missed the boat on what real life is.
The quest and the voyage are what make this tale compelling, even if Roy has to follow his father's path in more ways that one, and that means the loss of lives. It is a crushing reality that Roy has to ponder as he makes that 7-billion-mile trek, 79 days and 4 hours one way.
There are some entertaining nuggets along the way that I missed, but a friend noticed an Applebee restaurant during a pit stop on what is now an occupied moon.
I wanted more. But in the end, much like space flicks by other mega-stars (Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Matthew McConnaghey), the silence reaps introspection and it feels like a psychedellic slap in the face. For all the Star Wars we've seen over the past four decades, this run of films in zero-gravity heavens can feel stifling and enormously massive at the same time.
Yes, I'd love to see a variety of rewrites of Ad Astra, not because I didn't enjoy the ultimate moral, or the special effects. I suppose I needed a bit of levity. Some humor. Some lightness, and not just the kind astronauts get in outer space.
We left the theater and its wondrous IMAX vibe all a little wanting. Did Ad Astra cut corners emotionally for some viewers? I have to wonder. Every female voice is condensed. We rarely even hear the voice of Roy's estranged wife, muted by the infinite bigness of his space-obsessed career. No comedy. No fun. No female perspective. It felt, in an odd way, like a one-man stage show.
It is sparse in that sense. And by the closing scene, as Roy submits his final psychological feedback for evaluation, the words ring truer than ever. He has come to grips with his shortcomings. Unlike his father — eloquently played by Tommy Lee Jones — he has a reason to return to Earth. He has something to give.
Over the past few years, it seems more and more like Pitt is following a sensible maturation akin to the work of Robert Redford, producing cerebral films. At this point in his career (late 40s/early 50s), Redford starred in The Natural. Space-flight flicks were just a bit beyond his prime years. Redford's best films all had a common denominator — connectivity in the present. Pitt is willing to work an entire epic film lamenting his self-destructive choices, and then longing for that connectivity. I suppose I would've liked to have seen him make more connections, especially with his wife (Liv Tyler) a bit more.
Comments